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Elixir of life
The elixir of life (Medieval Latin: elixir vitae), also known as elixir of immortality, is a potion that supposedly grants the drinker eternal life and/or eternal youth. This elixir was also said to cure all diseases. Alchemists in various ages and cultures sought the means of formulating the elixir.
An early mention of an elixir of life is found in the Epic of Gilgamesh (from the 2nd millennium BC) in which Gilgamesh comes to fear his own declining years following the death of his beloved companion Enkidu. He seeks out Utnapishtim, a figure in Mesopotamian mythology known for surviving a great flood sent by the gods and being granted immortality. Gilgamesh is directed by Utnapishtim to find a plant at the bottom of the sea, but he loses it to a serpent before he can use it himself. This legend is an archaic explanation for snakes shedding their skin, seen as mystical rejuvenation.
Many rulers of ancient China sought the fabled elixir to achieve eternal life. During the Qin dynasty, Qin Shi Huang sent Taoist alchemist Xu Fu to the eastern seas with 500 young men and 500 young women to find the elixir in the legendary Penglai Mountain, but returned without finding it. He embarked on a second voyage with 3000 young girls and boys, but none of them ever returned (legend has it that he found Japan instead).
The ancient Chinese believed that ingesting long-lasting mineral substances such as jade, cinnabar, or hematite would confer some of that longevity on the person who consumed them. Gold was considered particularly potent, as it was a non-tarnishing precious metal; the idea of potable or drinkable gold is found in China by the end of the third century BC. The most famous Chinese alchemical book, Danjing yaojue ("Essential Formulas of Alchemical Classics") attributed to Sun Simiao (c. 581 – c. 682 AD), a famous medical specialist respectfully called "King of Medicine" by later generations, discusses in detail the creation of elixirs for immortality (including several toxic ingredients such as mercury, sulphur, and arsenates), as well as those for curing certain diseases and the fabrication of precious stones.
Many of these substances, far from contributing to longevity, were actively toxic and resulted in Chinese alchemical elixir poisoning. The Jiajing Emperor in the Ming dynasty died from ingesting a lethal dosage of mercury in the supposed "Elixir of Life" conjured by alchemists.[citation needed]
Amrita, the elixir of life, has been described in Hindu scriptures. In the Puranas, that due to the defeat of the devas at the hands of the asuras, both power-seeking races, the preserver deity Vishnu asked the devas to churn the ocean of milk, so that they may retrieve amrita to empower themselves.
Mercury, which was so vital to alchemy everywhere, is first mentioned in the 4th- to 3rd-century BC Arthashastra, about the same time it is encountered in China and in the West. Evidence of the idea of transmuting base metals to gold appears in 2nd- to 5th-century AD Buddhist texts, about the same time as in the West.
It is also possible that the alchemy of medicine and immortality came to China from India, or vice versa; in any case, for both cultures, gold-making appears to have been a minor concern, and medicine the major concern. But the elixir of immortality was of little importance in India (which had other avenues to immortality). The Indian elixirs were mineral remedies for specific diseases or, at the most, to promote long life.
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Elixir of life AI simulator
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Elixir of life
The elixir of life (Medieval Latin: elixir vitae), also known as elixir of immortality, is a potion that supposedly grants the drinker eternal life and/or eternal youth. This elixir was also said to cure all diseases. Alchemists in various ages and cultures sought the means of formulating the elixir.
An early mention of an elixir of life is found in the Epic of Gilgamesh (from the 2nd millennium BC) in which Gilgamesh comes to fear his own declining years following the death of his beloved companion Enkidu. He seeks out Utnapishtim, a figure in Mesopotamian mythology known for surviving a great flood sent by the gods and being granted immortality. Gilgamesh is directed by Utnapishtim to find a plant at the bottom of the sea, but he loses it to a serpent before he can use it himself. This legend is an archaic explanation for snakes shedding their skin, seen as mystical rejuvenation.
Many rulers of ancient China sought the fabled elixir to achieve eternal life. During the Qin dynasty, Qin Shi Huang sent Taoist alchemist Xu Fu to the eastern seas with 500 young men and 500 young women to find the elixir in the legendary Penglai Mountain, but returned without finding it. He embarked on a second voyage with 3000 young girls and boys, but none of them ever returned (legend has it that he found Japan instead).
The ancient Chinese believed that ingesting long-lasting mineral substances such as jade, cinnabar, or hematite would confer some of that longevity on the person who consumed them. Gold was considered particularly potent, as it was a non-tarnishing precious metal; the idea of potable or drinkable gold is found in China by the end of the third century BC. The most famous Chinese alchemical book, Danjing yaojue ("Essential Formulas of Alchemical Classics") attributed to Sun Simiao (c. 581 – c. 682 AD), a famous medical specialist respectfully called "King of Medicine" by later generations, discusses in detail the creation of elixirs for immortality (including several toxic ingredients such as mercury, sulphur, and arsenates), as well as those for curing certain diseases and the fabrication of precious stones.
Many of these substances, far from contributing to longevity, were actively toxic and resulted in Chinese alchemical elixir poisoning. The Jiajing Emperor in the Ming dynasty died from ingesting a lethal dosage of mercury in the supposed "Elixir of Life" conjured by alchemists.[citation needed]
Amrita, the elixir of life, has been described in Hindu scriptures. In the Puranas, that due to the defeat of the devas at the hands of the asuras, both power-seeking races, the preserver deity Vishnu asked the devas to churn the ocean of milk, so that they may retrieve amrita to empower themselves.
Mercury, which was so vital to alchemy everywhere, is first mentioned in the 4th- to 3rd-century BC Arthashastra, about the same time it is encountered in China and in the West. Evidence of the idea of transmuting base metals to gold appears in 2nd- to 5th-century AD Buddhist texts, about the same time as in the West.
It is also possible that the alchemy of medicine and immortality came to China from India, or vice versa; in any case, for both cultures, gold-making appears to have been a minor concern, and medicine the major concern. But the elixir of immortality was of little importance in India (which had other avenues to immortality). The Indian elixirs were mineral remedies for specific diseases or, at the most, to promote long life.