11

I was reading Why 7? on SFF, and it got me thinking. I know that there are plenty of occurrences of the number 7 (see for example Wikipedia), some for quite a long time, for example the seven deadly sins of Christianity.

In popular (western) culture, it is the number the most often associated to some supernatural power. There is a question here on the importance attached to 7 in mythology and religion.

What I'm interested in, is why is the number seven so common in mythology? Is there a reason why many different cultures, religions, and folklore put a high importance in the number seven?

Though related, the other question Why is 7 important in mythology and religion? focuses on the meaning of the 7, whereas I am more interested in the origin of its importance and occurrence.

Community
  • 1
clem steredenn
  • 219
  • 1
  • 5

2 Answers2

8

I'd say the likeliest early source for the significance of the number 7 is the seven visible "planets" (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn).

There's textual evidence of systematic observation of these going back at least as far as the Babylonians (ca. 2000 BCE).

Even before that, it seems likely that the ancients were aware of these "wandering stars".

Stefanya42
  • 134
  • 2
4

I've wondered about this very thing myself. I like the 'planetary' answer, but perhaps the answer is simpler. Primitives knew to break up the 28 days of a lunar month into quarters -- cf. early English sennight and fortnight. A regular cycle of time-keeping based on the 'magic' number seven is remarkably convenient -- more so than one based on the numbers two, four, or fourteen. Perhaps the natural, cyclic use of a magic number is what eventually turned it into a sacred number -- cf. creation in Genesis.

Peter
  • 517
  • 2
  • 3