Zaro Agha, wearing a turban, in profile, reputedly at the age of 150 years. Photograph, ca. 1925.

  • Pacific and Atlantic Photos Ltd.
Date:
[1925?]
Reference:
36086i
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view Zaro Agha, wearing a turban, in profile, reputedly at the age of 150 years. Photograph, ca. 1925.

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Credit

Zaro Agha, wearing a turban, in profile, reputedly at the age of 150 years. Photograph, ca. 1925. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). Source: Wellcome Collection.

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Description

Zaro Agha became a celebrity in the 1920s and early 1930s for his reputed old age. According to his passport he was born in 1774. He is said to have moved to Istanbul during the last decade of the eighteenth century and to have spent over a hundred years working as a porter. He visited America in 1930 in order to get a set of false teeth: Prohibition was then in force, and its supporters touted his longevity as the result of abstinence from alcohol. His health was also attributed to his consumption of yoghurt, especially by yoghurt salesmen. On his death in 1934 Time magazine reported that "Doctors who examined Zaro Agha thought his abnormal pituitary gland responsible for his longevity, [but they] never wholly subscribed to his statement that he was born two years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence."

Publication/Creation

London (45 Fleet Street) : Pacific and Atlantic Photos, Ltd, [1925?]

Physical description

1 photograph : photoprint, silver gelatin ; image 18.7 x 14 cm

Lettering

Name and address of photographer is stamped in purple ink on verso

References note

The photograph appeared in the "Daily Express" newspaper on 15 September 1925, with the following title: "Zaro Agha, aged 150, has joined the staff of guards at one of the Imperial palaces, Constantinople. He has a son of 93"

Reference

Wellcome Collection 36086i

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