Immortality is the beloved dream and fairy tale of mankind, the desire to live forever is almost universal and has been characteristic of very many cultures and at all times. And it doesn't matter what motivated those who wanted to cheat death - fear, thirst for knowledge or just love of life, the main thing is that many were going to live forever. Usually for 30-60 years (on average) they succeeded, and then …
Well, let's not talk about sad things. The main thing we wanted to emphasize is that no one was alien to the topic of immortality (well, almost). True, different religions and beliefs offered to gain immortality in different ways. Here's what to do:
1. Eat a mermaid (Japan)
In Japanese folklore, there are creatures named ningyo, which in other cultures are ordinary mermaids. Their capture promised failure and storms, and the ningyo thrown ashore was a harbinger of war, so fishermen, even if they accidentally caught mermaids, always threw them out of harm's way.
However, according to the legend of Yao-hime, once, due to the ignorance and sluggishness of several people, a little girl ate ningyo meat. Nothing bad happened to her, but she stopped growing old at the age of 15 and, having survived many husbands and children, finally lost her spirit and went on a journey. She returned only many centuries later, became a nun and, allegedly because of her piety, she was granted death (as the highest good!) At the age of 800.
2. Anger the gods (Greece)
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In ancient Greece, as you know, the gods were very cruel, and people were very impudent. And therefore, when people especially annoyed the gods, they punished them in different ways. Many punishments included the concept of “doing something forever” (do you think that eternal burning in hell is an invention of Christians?).
For example, Sisyphus took and imprisoned the god of death Thanatos, which, in theory, could lead to a situation where everyone in the world lives forever. The gods did not like this (people would have completely unbelted), so Sisyphus was roughly punished for the trick - he was obliged to roll a large stone up the mountain every day. The stone rolled down every night, so the poor fellow had to drag it again … Sisyphean labor!
3. Take a bite of mercury ore (China)
Mercury ore or cinnabar is the central element of the elixir of immortality of the Taoist religion. Many people tried to brew a real elixir using other ingredients of varying degrees of toxicity. It is known that these experiments were not disdained by the royalty, especially the experiments of members of the Tang dynasty are well documented.
The result of these experiments was at best zero, and at worst ended in death, sometimes very painful. All this led to the fact that gradually the search for an “external” source of immortality (elixir) was replaced by an “internal” one (yoga and other spiritual practices of the East).
4. Taste unknown berries (Mesopotamia)
The Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest written literary work in the history of mankind (XVIII-XVII centuries BC), tells the story of the misadventures of Gilgamesh, who, saddened by the death of his friend Enkidu, went to seek immortality. He saw death and did not want to die - it was very scary.
In the process of his searches, he made his way to the end of the world, where he found Utnapishti - a scorpion man, who was granted immortality by the gods for building a huge boat that people and animals could climb on in case of a flood.
He told him either about a flower at the bottom of the sea, or about mysterious berries that must be found and eaten. Gilgamesh eventually gets what he is looking for, but the cherished fruit / flower is stolen from him by a snake, so it is not entirely clear whether this method works 100% (no one has accidentally seen a snake about 4 thousand years old?).
5. Taste the peaches of immortality (China)
The peaches of immortality in the Jade Emperor's garden are an important symbol of Chinese mythology. Only one mortal managed to taste them - Sun Wukong, whose adventures are described in the most significant ancient literary source, the novel "Journey to the West" by Wu Cheng'en.
Even in a brief retelling, this enchanting book, as today's youth says, “delivers” - Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, managed to learn to fly on a cloud, turn into 72 different creatures, begged the dragons for a giant staff (and then, threatening them, took it away from poor clothes), after his death made a scandal in hell, was taken as a stable boy to the Heavenly Emperor, but was indignant at such a "shameful position" and fled.
Then he brazenly ate the peaches of immortality, because of this he escaped execution and defeated an entire army. He walked for a long time to success, rose to the title of "Great Sage Equal to Heaven", but then he did not "succeed" and Buddha imprisoned him under one mountain.
6. Drink Amrita (India)
Amrita is translated from Sanskrit "immortality" - it is a drink that gives immortality. Suras - either the former gods who have lost immortality, or simply very nimble mortals who craved eternal life, created it in an effort to gain immortality. For this purpose, they persuaded their ideological opponents, the asuras ("anti-gods"), to work with them in churning the Ocean of Milk.
The idea was successful, but the insidious suras, by cunning and deceit, convinced the asuras not to drink the resulting substance, thus gaining a significant advantage in their eternal opposition. From those who want to repeat their path, not much is required - to find the Milk Ocean.
7. Crunch with golden rejuvenating apples (Scandinavia)
Golden rejuvenating apples were extremely important for the gods of German-Scandinavian mythology - they needed apples to maintain eternal youth, and therefore the goddess Idun, the keeper of apples, was a very important character in the pantheon.
8. Drink Ambrosia (Greece)
The ancient Greeks were nevertheless great entertainers, and even ambrosia - the drink of the gods, which gave them immortality, was turned into an instrument of endless "trolling" of mortals and demigods, who, of course, also wanted their piece of immortality.
Hercules, for example, was awarded it, but Tantalus stole a little, for which he was severely punished - he was placed in a pond with water and food around, but food is out of reach. And, let's say, Thideus almost managed to taste it, but ambrosia was taken from under his nose at the very last moment - and rightly so, there was nothing to eat human brains.
9. Drink from the Holy Grail (Christianity)
The pursuit of immortality has not been spared by honest Christian souls - its main symbol is, of course, the Holy Grail. It is believed that this is exactly the cup from which Jesus drank during the Last Supper, and into which Joseph of Arimathea then collected the blood of Christ while he suffered on the cross.
King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table seem to be the only ones who managed to find the Grail, and Sir Gilead is the only one to whom she granted immortality. To receive this honor, it is not enough to find the Grail, you must have an exceptionally pure soul. Well, that's what they say.