>One item that has been bothering me lately is the great ages achieved by
>the people in the Old Testament. I haven't seen any discussion about
>this here before. Maybe you all settled it before I came along.
>
>What explanations do we have for the apparent longevity of the
>patriarchs?
Lagash (Semites probably) not only lived extraordinarily long, they also
lived extraordinarily "slowly." 1
In those days a child spent a hundred years
In diapers (lit. "in <bits> of the wash")
After he had grown up he spent a hundred years
Without being given any task (to perform)
He was small, he was dull witted
His mother watched over him.
1. Thorkild Jacobsen, "The Eridu Genesis," Journal of Biblical Literature
100/4 (1981) 520-521.
Dick Fischer
THE ORIGINS SOLUTION
http://www.orisol.com