Contrary to the commonly held belief that in antiquity and as late as 1700 A.D. normal lifespan was about 35 years, there are indications that the ancient Greeks lived longer. In a study of all men of renown, living in the 5th and 4th century in Greece, we identified 83 whose date of birth and death have been recorded with certainty. Their mean +/- SD and median lengths of life were found to be 71.3+/-13.4 and 70 years, respectively.

Il est en effet aussi commun que faut de croire que la durée de vie maximum a fortement augmenté ces dernières décennies. En fait, ce qui a augmenté, c’est l’espérance moyenne de vie et, surtout, la mortalité infantile,mais, grossièrement, les gens les mieux lotis dans les époques passées vivaient à peu près aussi longtemps qu’aujourd’hui.

Although this cohort cannot be considered as representative of the general population, it is however indicative of a long length of life in classical Greece. Good living conditions and a mild climate at the time of intellectual and artistic excellence, the use of slaves for hard work, an animated social life in which the aged actively participated and, not least of all, the respect that aged people were accorded by the younger, all favored a longer length of life and eugeria (happy aging) or eulongevity in classical Greece.

Comme cette remarque l’indique, il s’agit bien des mieux lotis, qui sont, aussi, les seuls pour lesquels nous disposons de sources fiables. Il reste néanmoins intéressant de voir que les problèmes liés à une population très âgée ne sont pas radicalement nouveaux.

Source : PubMed.