A photo from open sources
Mention of people who have lived for 900 years or more is not just in the bible. Ancient texts belonging to the most diverse cultures are told about old men whose age is modern man seems completely impossible.
A photo from open sources
Some attribute this to translation errors; others claim that numbers for our ancestors had a purely symbolic meaning. However there is always a series against each of these arguments counterarguments giving historians reason to make timid assumption: what if the truth over the past millennia human life span has been reduced so much strong?
for instance
One possible explanation is that in antiquity in the Middle East, the concept of the year could be very different from how we understand the year today. Perhaps the ancients called year the cycle of the moon (i.e. one month), and not the time for which the Earth makes a revolution around the Sun (i.e. 12 months).
If we adopt this theory, it turns out that Adam lived not 930, but much more acceptable for our consciousness 77 years. However, then it turns out that he became a father at 11 years old. And Enoch Methuselah conceived at all in five years.
Similar inconsistencies arise when trying to imagine the ancient year, for example, like what we call a season. Does not work plausible picture and any other attempts to match age of people from ancient texts with certain patterns of life modern people (for example, when dividing a specified age by a certain number).
Mathematical models
In two ancient documents belonging to different cultures – Bible and the List of kings of Sumer and Akkad (composed of about four thousand years ago), the life expectancy of some characters which reaches several thousand years. In both texts, according to analysts, squares of numbers were used.
A noticeable reduction can be seen in both documents. life expectancy over time. List of kings of Sumer and Akkada also separates the reigns before and after the Flood. Kings those who ruled before the Flood lived noticeably longer, although after it life expectancy reached several hundred years, and even exceeded one thousand.
The Bible also shows a gradual decline life expectancy – from Adam (930 years) and Noah (500 years) to Abraham (175 years old).
Specialist, Brandeis University (Massachusetts, USA) analyzed the age to which, according to the List of kings of Sumer and Akkad, the rulers lived after the Flood. He noticed that the age of the longest life on this segment of the king named Ethan (1560 years) is the sum of the ages of his two predecessors. Some numbers seem to be derived simple multiplied by 60. Other large numbers are squares much more believable numbers: 900 is 30 squared; 625 is 25 squared; 400 is 20 squared.
On the other hand, according to the findings of an expert from Texas, Arthur Mendes, the rate of decline in the life expectancy of characters from ancient documents after the Flood are comparable to the rate of extinction organisms that have been exposed to radiation or toxic substances.
Perceptions of the ancients’ life expectancy in others cultures, including Chinese and Persian
In ancient China, super-longevity was also commonplace, according to many texts. According to the records of medical books, the doctor named Xu Wenze of the Qin Dynasty lived to 300 years. Guy Yul of the late Han Dynasty died at 280, the Taoist monk Hue Cao – at 290 years and so on. And nowadays, a Chinese doctor named Luo Mingshan from the province of Sichuan safely lived to 124 years.
In China, they say that the key to eastern longevity is to “feed life”. And here it is not only about proper nutrition of the body, but also in taking care of food equally for mind and soul.
Modern centenarians
Even now, according to some accounts, people live up to 150 years and even longer. True, as a rule, reports of such centenarians come from sparsely populated regions where documentation is maintained somehow. Now in such remote settlements, documents are given even less attention than a century ago, so prove the truth declared age of centenarians is very difficult.
One such centenarian lives in the remote village of Nepal, and his name is his Narayan Chodhari. In 1996, he claimed to be one 141 year If this is true, then Chodhari broke the record for the whole 20 years, listed in the Guinness Book. But the centenarian cannot prove this – he has no documents.
A photo from open sources
The only confirmation he has is collective memory of the native village. Almost all the elderly in the area Chodhari is remembered in his childhood, and even then he was very elderly by man. According to local residents, in 1888 this person was already worked – took part in the first questionnaire in the country. By their estimated that at that time he should have been at least 21 years old. Chodhari himself assures that he was 33 that year, and he was convinced single.
There are many old people in the Caucasus who assure them that more than 170 years, but these statements are also impossible to confirm, nor refute, because they have no documents. how as a rule, these are people who lived from a young age to old age very modest and unhurried, day after day they performed heavy physical work, often in nature. They ate simple food, and always were surrounded by numerous relatives.
Questions of Faith
In China, Taoists have linked longevity to “Internal alchemy”, the harmony between the body and consciousness. It was believed that God gave the ancients more time for their outstanding virtues, and food in those days was more suitable for a long of life.
Modern researchers can either believe or that ancient records and collective memory of remote villages really testify to the incomprehensible to us life expectancy of the ancients, or search in the numbers of the ancients documents symbolism, translation flaws or exaggeration. For many the longevity of our ancestors is still only a question faith.
Time Life China Fancy Records
