The Fountain of Youth, 1546 painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder.

The Fountain of Youth is a spring that supposedly restores the youth of anyone who drinks or bathes in its waters. Tales of such a fountain have been recounted across the world for thousands of years, appearing in writings by Herodotus (5th century BCE), the Alexander romance (3rd century CE), and the stories of Prester John (early Crusades, 11th/12th centuries CE). Stories of similar waters were also evidently prominent among the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean during the Age of Exploration (early 16th century), who spoke of the restorative powers of the water in the mythical land ofBimini.

The legend became particularly prominent in the 16th century, when it became attached to the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León, first Governor of Puerto Rico. According to an apocryphal combination of New World and Eurasian elements, Ponce de León was searching for the Fountain of Youth when he traveled to what is now Florida in 1513.

Contents

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• 1 Early accounts
• 2 Bimini
• 3 Ponce De Leon
• 4 Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park
• 5 Literature and popular culture
• 6 References
• 7 External links

Early accounts[edit]

Herodotus mentions a fountain containing a special kind of water in the land of the Macrobians, which gives the Macrobians their exceptional longevity.

The Ichthyophagi then in their turn questioned the king concerning the term of life, and diet of his people, and were told that most of them lived to be a hundred and twenty years old, while some even went beyond that age- they ate boiled flesh, and had for their drink nothing but milk. When the Ichthyophagi showed wonder at the number of the years, he led them to a fountain, wherein when they had washed, they found their flesh all glossy and sleek, as if they had bathed in oil- and a scent came from the spring like that of violets. The water was so weak, they said, that nothing would float in it, neither wood, nor any lighter substance, but all went to the bottom. If the account of this fountain be true, it would be their constant use of the water from it which makes them so long-lived.^[1]

Ichthyophagi (Gr. Ἰχθυοφάγοι and Latin Ichthyophagi, for "Fish-Eaters"), the name given by ancient geographers to several coast-dwelling peoples in different parts of the world and ethnically unrelated.

• Herodotus (book i. c. 200) mentions three tribes of the Babylonians who were solely fish-eaters, and in book iii. c. 19 refers to Ichthyophagi in Aethiopia. Diodorus Siculus and Strabo also referred to them all along the African coast of the Red Sea in their descriptions of Aethiopia.
• Ptolemy speaks of fish-eaters in the Persian Gulf coasts, coast of the Red Sea, on the west coast of Africa and on the coast of the Far East near the harbour of Cattigara
• Pliny relates the existence of such people on the islands in the Persian Gulf
• Nearchus mentions such a race as inhabiting the barren shores of the Gwadar and Pasni districts in Makrān, Balochistan, Pakistan. During the homeward march of Alexander the Great, his admiral, Nearchus led a fleet inArabian Sea along the Makrān coast and recorded that the area was dry and mountainous, inhabited by the Ichthyophagoi or Fish-Eaters ^[1].
• Pausanias locates them on the western (African) coast of the Red Sea

The existence of such tribes was confirmed by Sir Richard F Burton (El-Medinah, p. 144)

Persian miniature depicting Khidrand Alexander watching the Water of Life revive a salted fish

A story of the "Water of Life" appears in the Eastern versions of the Alexander romance, which describes Alexander the Great and his servant crossing the Land of Darkness to find the restorative spring. The servant in that story is in turn derived from Middle Eastern legends of Al-Khidr, a sage who appears also in the Qur'an. Arabic and Aljamiado versions of theAlexander Romance were very popular in Spain during and after the period of Moorish rule, and would have been known to the explorers who journeyed to America. These earlier accounts inspired the popular medieval fantasy The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, which also mentions the Fountain of Youth as located at the foot of a mountain outside Polombe (modernKollam^[2]) in India.^[3] Due to the influence of these tales, the Fountain of Youth legend was popular in courtly Gothic art, appearing for example on the ivory Casket with Scenes of Romances (Walters 71264) and several ivory mirror-cases, and remained popular through the European Age of Exploration.^[4]

French 14th-century ivory mirror case with a Fountain of Youth

European iconography is fairly consistent, as the Cranach painting and mirror-case from 200 years earlier demonstrate: old people, often carried, enter at left, strip, and enter a pool that is as large as space allows. The people in the pool are youthful and naked, and after a while they leave it, and are shown fashionably dressed enjoying a courtly party, sometimes including a meal.

There are countless indirect sources for the tale as well. Eternal youth is a gift frequently sought in myth and legend, and stories of things such as the philosopher's stone, universal panaceas, and the elixir of life are common throughout Eurasia and elsewhere. An additional hint may have been taken from the account of the Pool of Bethesda in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus heals a man at the pool in Jerusalem.

Bimini[edit]

Main article: Bimini § The Fountain of Youth

Two celebrations common in American Freemasonry are the Feast of St. John the Baptist and the Festival of St. John the Evangelist.  The Feast of St. John the Baptist is celebrated on June 24th – Midsummer’s Day – which happens just after the Summer Solstice, while the Festival of St. John the Evangelist occurs on December 27th – a few days after the Winter Solstice.

The Patron Saints of Freemasonry

Every Freemason is knows that immortal phrase: “Erected to God, and dedicated to the Holy Saints John.” Every American Blue Lodge is thus dedicated.

Masonic history – from before the creation and dedication of the Grand Lodge of England in 1717 – makes frequent reference to the “Lodge of the Saints John at Jerusalem.”  Operative Masons are referred to both in Masonic documents and elsewhere as “St. John’s Masons” or “St. John’s men,” and Lodges of St. Johns Masonry existed in Italy, France, and Spain during the Middle Ages and Renaissance.  Stonemason Lodges in England and Scotland from the time of the Crusades had one or Both Saints John as their Patron Saints.

In Duncan’s Masonic Ritual and Monitor of Freemasonry (by Malcolm C. Duncan, 1886) the two Saints John are referenced as being “two perpendicular parallel lines” and elsewhere in Masonic texts as “perfect parallels in Masonry as well as in Christianity.”

While it would seem to make more sense that St. Thomas – the patron saint of architects and builders – would be a ‘better fit’ and a simpler choice to be the sole Patron Saint of Freemasonry, the fraternity, lodges and guilds chose both Saints John instead.  And for and extraordinary reasons, rather than a simple, pedestrian and uninspiring one;  Christianity has long held that John the Baptist was a zealous man, while John the Evangelist was an intellectual.  By linking these two men symbolically as parallels, Freemasonry positions each Mason as being balanced between the fervency of passion and the tranquility of intellect.  It being necessary to have both passion and logic to accomplish great and inspired works.

Saint John the Baptist

John the Baptist
St. John the Baptist Preaching by Anton Raphael Mengs
Saint John the Baptist is described in all four Gospels, and in virtually the same way in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  He was a humble man who lived a simple life.  A cousin of Jesus Christ, he spent most of his life baptizing believers in the River Jordan.  He was a devout man who held fast to his obligations to God with an immovable and incontrovertible faith.  Jesus Christ, in Matthew and Luke, says of John the Baptist “Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist…”

Zealous in his faith and rigid in his beliefs, John the Baptist condemned King Herod for marrying Herodias in violation of Old Testament Law.  At this time John the Baptist had many followers and – fearing a rebellion, King Herod had John arrested and imprisoned.  King Herod said that if John would change his tune, he would be released.  John continued with his message – that one must live a holy life and not deviate from it – and continued in his devotion to Jesus Christ.  The daughter of Herodias danced before King Herod, and King Herod granted her favor.  That favor was the head of John the Baptist.

What does John the Baptist teach us about the meaning of Advent?

Jesus said that John the Baptist is the greatest of all prophets:  “there is none greater than John” (Mt 11:11a). Why?  Because the other prophets prepared the people for a Messiah who would come in the long-distant future, but John the Baptist prepared the people for the Messiah who was about to arrive, and when Jesus finally did appear, he was given the exclusive privilege of being the only prophet to announce that the Messiah had, in fact, come. As Jesus approached John pointed to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” (Jn 1:29,36). 

The Baptist had a miraculous birth, and in Scripture when a person is the product of a miracle birth, the person always has an extra-special vocation. John’s mother Elizabeth was elderly, had no children, and was beyond her child-bearing years, yet the archangel Gabriel appeared to her husband Zechariah, a priest in the Temple in Jerusalem, and announced that she would conceive, and so she did. John was filled with the Holy Spirit even while he was in his mother’s womb (Lk 1:15), and he was chosen by God to be “the forerunner,” to continue the ministry of Elijah, the Old Testament prophet who was to reappear to announce the Messiah (Mal 3:23). 

It is no surprise, then, that John appeared wearing a coat of camel’s hair. Elijah is the only Old Testament prophet to dress in this way (2 Kgs 1:8). Jesus would later explain how Elijah had come before him in the person of John the Baptist (Mt 17:10-13; Mk 9:11-13). 

There had been no prophet in Israel for hundreds of years, so people were thrilled at the prospect that a prophet had appeared during their lifetimes. If the Baptist truly was what was claimed, a prophet and the return of Elijah, the people could hardly let the opportunity pass. Crowds went in great numbers out into the desert, a traditional place of encounter with God, to hear what this exceptional man of God had to say. 

John cried out, “Prepare the way of the Lord” (Mk 1:3). This message, ever-old, initially for the crowds two thousand years ago, is ever-new for us today. During this Advent season we should prepare the way of the Lord, clear away any obstacle that would prevent Jesus from coming to us, so that when he does appear on Christmas, he will have unimpeded access to our hearts. 

John also preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Mk 1:4). John wanted his listeners to renounce sin, be washed of their past impurities, and be in the state of grace when Jesus appeared. Likewise, as we anticipate the memorial of the coming of Christ, if we wish to be well prepared for the solemn feast of Christmas, we would be wise to renounce our own sin, be washed of our past impurities, and be in the state of grace on Christmas when Jesus comes to us once again. The Baptist kept Jesus first above all things (Jn 3:30), and so should we!