Andrew:
> Did people see 7 stars because 7 was already sacred for another
> reason?
After looking into the Pleiades idea, I can safely say that seeing
six or seven, as opposed to any other number (including the _real_
number as astronomists now know), is completely arbitrary and must
be because these numbers were sacred beforehand. The source of the
holiness of "seven" has to be looked elsewhere and this is why I
look towards mathematics and calendars. I think this was the basis.
Early peoples had a vested interest in looking towards the stars
to know where they are, what time of year it is and when to plant
crops. They depended on the skies for their survival and as such,
what they saw in it had such importance as to become holy, including
any mathematics derived from it. That's the way I see it, at least.
= gLeN