Is it true that humans used to live longer in ancient times? A friend who’s a history major claims that humans used to live 100+ years. Is this accurate? If not, how can I prove him wrong with historical evidence?
People certainly lived longer than we give them credit for. There are lots of examples of people who were older than we thought. I hate when I hear someone say that you’d die at 35 in the middle ages. Didn’t happen, at least, it wasn’t entirely normal. Like here, meet my buddy.This guy is known as Towton 16, because he was the sixteenth body removed from the hole they found him in. At Towton. (funny the logic of that)Towton 16 was probably in his late 50’s to early 60’s and felt spry enough to fight in one of the larger battles in English history. And it seems that he was fleeing (most likely fought for Lancaster) when he was killed. As he and the others were some distance from the site of the battle, we can guess he was pretty healthy. He at least kept up with a 24 and a 15 year old.But that said, to a hundred? No, it wasn’t very common. Seventy, and Eighty happened. Ninety was a rarity. And it would have been very very rare that anyone reached a hundred.It seems sometimes, that part of this comes from the Bible. One of the things that people don’t often realize about the Bible, is that the way they recorded the Torah we get the Old Testament from had a tendency to add extra zeroes at the end of numbers.This is also part of the problem we get with some of the crazy army numbers in the OT. Especially since when vowels were removed ‘Thousand’ and ‘professional’ become the same set of consonants. So like at the burning of Gad, KJV will tell you that 400,000 soldiers burned that town. (That’s a lot) But it might have been 400 professional soldiers. And it could have even been 40 professionals.Yay for bad number keeping.Tl;Dr. No, people lived till their sixties and seventies. And bible recorded numbers weird. as did most of history.
What was the rise and fall (and when) of the Ancient Macedonians?
Macedonia rose to a major power during the reign of Anthony the Great, however that is pretty much it. This documentary explains about the different aspects of their rise and fall. The Macedonians - Discovery Channel -Ancient Warriors 1 of 4 http://infoplanetonline.com/Joomla/content/view/161/39/ The Macedonians - Discovery Channel -Ancient Warriors 2 of 4 http://infoplanetonline.com/Joomla/content/view/162/39/ The Macedonians - Discovery Channel -Ancient Warriors 3 of 4 http://infoplanetonline.com/Joomla/content/view/163/39/ The Macedonians - Discovery Channel -Ancient Warriors 4 of 4 http://infoplanetonline.com/Joomla/content/view/164/39/
Was Moses a real person? Were Jews slaves in Egypt?
This was the time of Abraham (1680 BC - 1560 BC) The following was taken from written history books, (not the bible) The Hyksos or shepherd kings were an Asiatic people who took over the eastern Nile Delta, ending the thirteenth dynasty, and initiating the Second Intermediate Period of ancient Egypt. The Hyksos first appeared in Egypt c.1800 BC, during the eleventh dynasty, began their climb to power in the thirteenth dynasty, and came out of the second intermediate period in control of Avaris and the Delta. By the fifteenth dynasty, they ruled Lower Egypt, and at the end of the seventeenth dynasty, they were expelled (c.1560 BC). The Hyksos may have introduced the horse-drawn chariot into Egypt. Moses came along some 400 years later after the death of Abraham (1580 - 400 = 1180 BC) Ramesses III was in power from about 1180 BC and died about 1155 BC, Moses would have been about 20 years old, however Remesse II and III had so many wives and concubines another child such as Moses would not have been noticed. ----------------------- 31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; 32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. 33 They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man (THE JEWS WERE NEVER SLAVES) how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? 34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. John 8:31-34 (KJV)
How can 70 Israelites (in egypt with Jacob) become 600,000 in only 4 generations?
Jacob and his sons are forced by famine to go down into Egypt. When they arrive they and their families are 70 in number, but within four generations they have increased to 600,000 men. This is what the Israelites wikipedia page says: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israelites What was the average number of kids each women conceived in these four generations to turn a population of 70 into 600,000 men in only 4 generations? Also, its worth noting... they say there numbers were 600,000 MEN of fighting age so this should mean there was actually far far more than 600,000 people when you count all the women and children and old age people. I'd appreciate it if someone could do the math to work out what the average rate of births per person this would mean. As far as I can work out, and I'm not too great at math, it would probably mean in excess of 10 children per women at the very least. Is that correct and is that even possible?