[ExI] Anti-Aging: Belonging to Literature or Science

[Russell Wallace]

I don't think an idea can "belong", but if the question is one of
first discovery... the earliest reference I know of off the top of my
head is in the story of Gilgamesh (which is one of the earliest
stories of any kind that's been preserved to this day). However, I'm
pretty sure it predates writing by a long way. I wouldn't be surprised
if it predates Homo sapiens; IIRC, there's evidence the Neanderthals
buried their dead with some form of ceremony, which suggests they were
able to hold some form of religious belief, and it wouldn't surprise
me if that included belief in immortal gods, an afterlife or somesuch.

So the answer is that the idea was discovered by neither literature
nor science, but predates both.