Longevity Myths

Longevity Myths

Longevity myths are basically the beliefs that somehow, against nature, men and women are able to live forever. This occurs often in literature, as well as cultural beliefs, and even sometimes in political beliefs. These can also be personal, such as the story of P.T. Barnum’s oldest woman, who was supposedly around 160 years old, but turned out to be only 80; not really much of an “only” there, but, still, it’s half of 160. Two popular myths of longevity are “Patriarchal Longevity,” and that of the “Village Elder.”

Patriarchal longevity is usually a case of which a monarch or patriarch of some kind claims that God has given him/her longevity in order to rule long and effectively. These claims have been made since humanity itself has existed. In Sumer such claims were made to date kings and emperors; some claimed to have aged on certain calendar cycles, or special dates in the past. Other claims of the same kind spread to Japan, where emperors reduced their ages only slightly, and attempted to claim that they were around since the beginning of Japanese history, for example in 660 B.C. Then of course there are the extreme ages of the Patriarchs of the Bible; characters such as Methuselah who aged to 969. Others claimed that these are merely ancient errors; that 969 was simply mistaken for 85.

The village elder myth is a sort of reduced form of the ancient patriarch mythology. As the village elder, persons reaching to age 60, or 70 years old would be quite a feat, since in medieval times disease, stillbirth, hygiene issues, etc., caused the lifespans of most people to be extremely short. Children were especially at risk, and it was practically a miracle to get to thirty. Being the village elder meant this person would have been there for quite a few generations, so it would be easy for a small populace to think a man or woman to be over a century, or even two centuries or old. This a myth that’s continued on throughout modern times as well, such as in Bangladesh.