The Search for The Fountain of Youth
I’ll live forever!
Ah the Fountain of Youth, the great mythical, river… or lake… or pond or… you know what, a body of water. The great mythical body of water said to grant you eternal life, heal all your ailments, and make you as strong as an ox.
It was the thing Ponce de Leon spent his entire life searching for… except he didn’t. Despite his name being associated with the search, Ponce de Leon never searched for the fountain of youth, so let’s find out who did!
Herodotus the Historian
We start our story in the 5th century BCE with an ancient historian by the name of Herodotus and when I say ancient historian, if you’re wondering, how ancient? He’s the first known historian earning himself the nickname the “Father of History”.
Being a historian, Herodotus traveled a lot and at one point during his travels came across a kingdom south of Ethiopia, the Macrobians. He described these people as some of the “tallest and most handsome among all men” along with being fierce warrior herders and wealthy seafarers.
Naturally, as a scribe for history, he asked them all sorts of questions probably to the point where they were like “dude come on, who are you? Larry King?” And he probably was. RIP.
They told him their diet was mainly boiled meat and milk and then they dropped the bomb, their people lived up to a hundred and twenty years old with some living even longer.
Greek mythology has always held myths of immortality living well past your prime so Herodotus asked them how this was possible because honestly, it would be crazy for him not to ask.
The Macrobians
He writes the Macrobians brought him to a fountain smelling of violets where the water was so weak nothing could float including wood. As a quick science reminder, density determines whether something can float on water, generally, most wood floats making the water in this fountain extra thin or light.
The Macrobians washed in this water and emerged sleek and glossy as if they had bathed in oil, this contributed to their long lifespans and so the legend of the fountain of youth was born.
The Fountain of Youth was left alone after this, while many legends and myths continued to grow especially in Greek mythology, which was an influence on our next character.
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon also known as Alexander the Great, was tutored by Aristotle and made king at the age of 20. By the age of 30 around 325 BCE, he had conquered and ruled over one of the biggest empires in the entire world.
It’s not actually known whether Alexander looked for the fountain of youth but he was into conquering and definitely wanted to keep living to do it. I know there’s that quote in the movie Die Hard, “When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer.” But that wasn’t actually historically true.
Historian Plutarch in the 1st century wrote a biography on Alexander and wrote about Alexander crying when he discovered there may be an infinite amount of worlds. When asked why he was crying Alexander responds with, “that, when the number of worlds is infinite, we have not yet become lords of a single one.” So literally the opposite of the Die Hard quote.
Alexander died at the age of 32 from illness but that’s another story for another time. Hint he might have falsely been declared dead and suffering from a rare neurological disease.
Anyway, after he died, a semi-fictional book commonly referred to as the Alexander Romance was written and later translated into several languages. Some versions have him looking for the fountain of youth described as the water of life.
These versions also have him crossing a land of darkness which is a fictional land and in the story, Alexander can’t find his way through but his servant does and drinks from the fountain becoming immortal. I’m pretty sure that doesn’t check out with reality since we haven’t heard of an immortal… except Keanu Reeves.
So even in legend, Alexander the Great couldn’t find the fountain of youth. It’s fitting for a King who wept at the inability to conquer all worlds, that in the end, he would also not be able to conquer immortality.
Don Rodrigo da Lima
Our next contender for finding the fountain of youth was Portuguese explorer Don Rodrigo da Lima and his crew including the priest Francisco Alvares.
See, since the 12th century, Europe became fascinated with an Etophian King named Prester John who was said to have drunk from the fountain of youth and was over five hundred years old.
In one of the letters, Prester John describes the fountain working as water that has to be drunk three times and after doing so that person will have no illness for 30 years. If you bathe in it, no matter your age you’ll be returned to the age of 32. I guess you have to make sure you were also at your peak at 32, looks like I have to get to work- just in case.
Since this Prester John was immortal there was no immediate rush to find him but some did try. It wasn’t until Don Rodrigo and Francisco in 1520 that someone from Europe actually reached him and reported back. And by reaching him we mean finding out he doesn’t exist. According to Francisco Alvarez’s published account in 1540. For about 400 years those who believed Prester John was real were fooled.
Juan Ponce De Leon
Now with all these fictionalized accounts of the fountain of youth how could the legend live on for so long? Well, that’s where our friend Ponce De Leon comes in. Now I mentioned before that Ponce de Leon never actually looked for the fountain of youth since no records of King Ferdinand of Spain regarding de Leon’s expeditions state or even refer to a fountain of youth.
Turns out the reason Ponce de Leon is attributed to the fountain is because someone basically gave him the “Mean Girls” treatment and wrote a burn book about him.
In 1509 during the age of exploration in the Americas, Juan Ponce de Leon was made governor of Puerto Rico. After some political squabbling and since nepotism was a big thing, King Ferdinand gave the position to Diego Columbus, son of Christopher Columbus, thereby keeping the family legacy of taking what’s not theirs, alive.
King Ferdinand instead gave Juan Ponce de Leon the islands of Bimini if he could find it, some legends say natives of the Caribbean islands believed the fountain to be there but again no historical record during this time regarding Ponce de Leon referenced the fountain.
The Burn Book
Now it turned out Diego Columbus had a friend, his name was Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés and after possibly winning the Guinness world record for longest unnecessary name, Oviedo published a book chronicling the history of Spanish settlement in the Caribbean.
The book was published in 1526, 5 years after the death of Ponce de Leon, and being a friend to Diego Columbus, Oviedo didn’t like de Leon too much. In his book he made De Leon look like a fool, being tricked into searching for the fountain while the natives laughed behind his back.
And that interpretation of history stuck, people believed de Leon was searching for the fountain until he died. In Florida, there’s a Fountain of Youth archaeological park as a tribute where people believe De Leon landed when searching for the fountain and in the Bimini islands, there's a plaque commemorating the fountain.
In the end, the legend of the fountain of youth is a lot older than I ever thought, and with historical accounts living in writings, and now the internet, maybe the real fountain of youth is history itself.
