belonged to an era fifty years in the future; 3) numbers in Mongol histories have a mystical or symbolic significance and therefore cannot be taken seriously for historical research. See Larry Moses, ‘Legends by Numbers: the symbolism of numbers in the Secret History of the Mongols,’ Asian Folklore Studies 55 (1996) pp. 73–97 and Moses, ‘Triplicated Triplets: the Number Nine in the Secret History of the Mongols,’ Asian Folklore Studies 45 (1986) pp. 287–294.

      235

      For exhaustive detail on the Thirteen see Pelliot & Hambis, Campagnes pp. 35–37, 53–135. See also Louis Ligeti, ‘Une ancienne interpolation dans I’Altan Tobci,’ Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 26 (1972) pp. 1–10.

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