Herodotus on Diet and Longevity: How the Persians Fed on Dung and Lived to 80, While the Tall, Handsome Ethiopians Ate Boiled Meat and Lived Beyond 120

Herodotus' Histories tell of diet and longevity: the Persians, who ate bread from grain fertilized with dung lived but 80 years, while the tall handsome Ethiopeans ate boiled meat and lived more than 120. These and other ancient texts anticipate current biomedical understanding of aging. However, there little evidence for supracentenarians in the ancient world as noted in Herodotus, Genesis, and other classical texts: only recently have centenarians emerged as a significant age group. Nutrition and hygiene have been major factors in the increasing longevity and of adult height since 1800. It remains possible that some ancient elites achieved modern longevity.