Re: Creation

--- In cybalist@..., cas111jd@... wrote:

> The identities of the seven might fluctuate from culture to culture
> and from period to period. They are common in the Near East, from
> where the early Neolithic peoples brought them into Europe where

the

> incoming Greeks adopted them (IMO). Seven is rarely found in

northern

> mythologies (unlike three and nine). Seven is usually identified by
> mytholgraphers with Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury, Sun, and
> moon.

I think it is reflected in the seven day week

Sunday Sun Day
Monday Moon day
Tuesday-or in Italian, Martedi Mars Day
Wednesday-Italian, Mercoledi Mercury day
Thursday-Italian Giovedi Jove/Jupiter day
Friday-Italian Venerdi Venus day
Saturday Saturn day

> However, in IE mythology the rising and setting Venus are about
> always identified with two goddesses (sisters). Only in classical
> Greece did they start to recognize that they are the same. I think
> that if we recognize that the same was probably true of Mercury,

then

> these two planets can be seen as four of the seven, with Mars,
> Jupiter, and Saturn completing the seven.

I agree that seven doesn't mesh well with the number scheme of the
north, but the seven heavenly bodies thing was big in the near east
long before classical times, and that knowledge/mythology was likely
distributed through at least some of the Mediterranean prior to
classical times, whatever its origin.

Cort Williams