The Significance of the Number ‘Nine’ for the States and Societies in the Early Modern Turkic Empires

Turkic peoples have considered the number nine as bearing a special mystic significance. In accordance with the ancient Turkic customary practice, the gifts were presented in nines. One of the leading tribes of the Turks was known as the ‘Tokuz Oguz’, the ‘Nine Oghuz’. The mysticism of the number ‘nine’ is used in The Book of Dedem Korkut. The eleventh-century Turkish poet from Central Asia, Yusuf Balasagunlu, a writer of the epic Kutadgu bilig (The Knowledge of How to Become Happy) compared the sunrise to the appearance of the ruler before whom nine gold-colored banners were carried1. Abu’l Ghazi, an author of Shajarah-iturk divided his work into nine chapters because ‘wise men have said: “nothing must exceed the number nine”. Ottoman, Mughal and Safavid chroniclers often mention of “nine skies”, “nine vaults of heaven”. The number ‘nine’ also played an important role in gift exchanges: it was customary to give presents in groups of nine. Gift-giving and tribute payment in denominations of nine were also recorded by both local and European authors of the late medieval and early modern periods.