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Man's fascination with the concept of longevity beyond the 70 or 80 years of the typical human lifespan is documented in a variety of writings, myths and legends stretching back thousands of years. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus, for example, wrote of a magical fountain in modern day Ethiopia that restored the youth of those who bathed in its waters, and Old Testament reckonings of the biblical patriarch Methuselah (grandfather of Noah) put his age at the time of his death at between 720 and 969 years. Nonetheless, modern reality pales in comparison to such accounts, as the longest verified human lifespan in recorded history is that of Jeanne Louise Calment, who passed away in her native France in 1997 at the age of 122. One of the more unusual cases of asserted human longevity in modern times involved Chinese resident Li Ching-Yuen (also rendered as Li Ching-Yun), mention of whom started appearing in U.S. newspaper accounts in the 1920s accompanied by claims that he had been born in either 1677 or 1736. When Li Ching-Yuen finally died in 1933, at a reputed age of either 197 or 256, the New York Times noted of his passing that : At this remove it's unlikely anyone will ever know exactly old Li Ching-Yuen was at the time of his death — he may have been remarkably old, possibly even older than the longest confirmed human lifespan of 122 years. However, it's highly improbable that he managed to exceed that milestone by as much as 61% to 110%, as claimed in 20th century accounts of his passing. Skeptics believe that any documentation or personal reminiscences supporting Li Ching-Yuen's claims to extraordinary longevity, even if they were genuine, were most likely attributable to his having assumed the identity of a much older ancestor or someone else of similar name.
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