You will start to see a very common occurrence in my website or in any other medium about history and archaeology. There is a big love of number 7 shared by the people of the past and present. Let’s find the answer to the question of Why is number 7 important?.
Mysteries of number 7 unrevealed
Theories about the importance of number 7
The importance of the number 7 comes from the times when people gave divine features to celestial objects, especially to the planets. They were afraid of them, believed that they would punish them, and that changes in planets caused great developments on earth. In short, the importance of the number 7 is a belief from the times when people worshiped celestial bodies like planets.
People have carefully studied celestial bodies throughout thousands of years of history and found that 7 of these celestial bodies behave differently than any other. This is because these 7 celestial bodies belong to the solar system, and they are planets. Our solar system planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The most distant ones, Uranus and Neptune cannot be seen with the naked eye. Since we are above the world, we cannot see our planet too. There are five planets which can be seen with the naked eye. When we add sun and moon to these 5 planets, 7 sacred celestial bodies are completed.
Uses of number 7 in religions and cultures
Seven has been important since ancient times. It can be seen in most of the ancient cultures. The most famous of these were the seven wonders of the world, which included a bucket list for every world traveler – the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, the Statue of Zeus in Olympia, the Monument Grave Halicarnassus, the Statue of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria.
Among the main figures, none can be divided exactly into seven, the result is always decimal numbers consisting of infinite repeats. Some important coincidences such as 7 days a week, 7 planets, and 7 continents revolve around the number seven. Another mystery of Number 7 is that God created man in 6 days and had a holiday on the 7th day.
According to the Quran, Allah created the earth and the sky in 7 days and in 7 layers. The Qur’an speaks of seven heavens and Muslim pilgrims walk around the Kaaba in Mecca (the holiest place in Islam) seven times. There are seven higher worlds and seven undergrounds in Hinduism, and in Buddhism the newborn Buddha rises and takes seven steps.
Seven is the most popular number. Mathematician Alex Bellos asked 44,000 people to name their favorite numbers. Most of the people named seven as their favorite number. Indeed, most of the magicians ask people their favorite number, and they already know it is most probably seven.
Common uses number 7
- Music has 7 notes.
- There are 7 basic colors.
- There are seven churches of Revelation
- There are 7 continents in the world.
- The Rainbow is 7 colors.
- The first Surah of the Quran is Fatiha, 7 verses.
- Topkapı Palace has 7 large gates.
- There are 7 archangels.
- There are 7 main gods in mythology.
- There are 7 Buddhas in Tibet.
- There are 7 holes on the human face.
- The Eshab-ı Kehf incident is known as 7 sleepers.
- There are 7 hills in Istanbul, Rome, and Jerusalem.
- There are 7 wonders of the Ancient World.
- The number of celestial bodies visible with the naked eye is seven.
- The Masnavi of Mevlana is 7 volumes.
Learn more about number 7
You can always contact me to learn more about number seven and the mysteries it possesses. I hope one day we can unravel more during your guided Turkey tours together. Write to me to hire an English-speaking licensed Turkish tour guide in Turkey. See you soon, Hasan Gülday.
