Quote:
Originally Posted by RevolutionThroughReason  Faye, in so much as western society is concerned, people didn't live that long on average. |
there are several deficiencies in that claim
1 accurate death records don't exist in western cultures prior to 1800
2 average death ages are never adjusted for war, epidemics & childbirth which were the primary killers and not reflective of overall health & longevity
3 anecdotal evidence suggests that in the classical age IF a person survived those three things they tended to live just as long as today
for example Quintus Fabius Maximus was 74 when he was elected dictator & 75 when he won back to back victories against Hannibal & Hasdrubal in Italy. in roman fashion he led his legions into battle on foot in full armor. this kind of vigor is exceptional even now but it testifies to the quality of life & potential lifespan IF you survived the big three killers.
better evidence of life expectancy lay in Roman Law which required ALL male citizens to perform a total of 20 years of military service and required it to begin between the ages of 17-19. including a year or two break here and there the plebian class could expect to complete their obligation by the age of 45. since the Patrician class took more & longer breaks to over see business interests, it was common for them to serve into their 50s to complete their obligation.
in contrast in the dark ages following the destruction of the roman empire & the germanic invasions of europe, the incessant warfare directed against the peasant farming class cuase so much malnourishment that life expectancy genuinely tumbled.
as the depopulation of europe decreased the level of violence and societies began to recover prior to the renaisance life expectancy went back up. in fact it went up to the point that in the 1200s Charles II in legally defining the Militia in England specified it to be all males between the ages of 16-60. this indicated not only the expectation of 60 year old men being in common existance but also being sufficiently vigorous to engage in battle.
if life expectancies were genuinely as short as is so often claimed, why would the laws state they are expected to serve past that age?
07-19-2012, 05:58 AM
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa!
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