What is Turkic mythology?
{{multiple issues| {{citation style|date=April 2023}} {{sections|date=April 2023}} }} '''Turkic [[mythology]]''' reflects the wide variety of different [[Religion|religions]] that the [[Turkic peoples]] practiced throughout their history. It is mainly influenced by [[Tengrism]], the old [[Turkey|Turkish]] faith. Important elements of Turkic mythology include heroic rulers; the [[sacred]] [[wolf]]; the levels of the [[underworld]] and the upper world, in which various overpowering beings exist; [[Giant|giants]]; [[Monster|monsters]]; and the [[sacred]] [[Number|numbers]] [[3 (number)|3]], [[7 (number)|7]], [[9 (number)|9]] and [[40 (number)|40]]. ==Legends== ===Asena=== The story of the she-wolf Asena is the oldest known [[legend]] of Turkish mythology. Its oldest version dates back to 330 [[BC]]. It is the tragic story of the Tue'kue people, who are all killed in an enemy attack - except for one badly injured little boy. The boy survives in a [[bog]] with severed hands and feet. The she-wolf Asena finds the boy, [[Breastfeeding|nurses]] him, and thus ensures the continued existence of the colony. ==== The wolf in Turkic mythology ==== The wolf plays a more important role in ancient Turkic mythology than any other animal. It is the Turks' holiest and highest [[Totemism|totem]] animal, one they considered an [[ancestor]]. Many [[Saga|sagas]] and [[Mythology|myths]] use the wolf as a [[symbol]]. The original legend of the ancestral wolf developed among the Hsiung-nu (or [[Huns]]) at a very early date. The first two wolf-as-ancestor stories told of a she-wolf nursing a [[wiktionary:foundling#Noun|foundling]] with a [[raven]] circling overhead. Shiratori writes that the legend already seemed well developed in pre-[[History of Christianity|Christian times]], among the Wu sun of the Išíq Qul and the Ili. These people are [[Indo-European peoples|Indo-Europeans]] or Proto-Turks. ===Formation of Land=== In another Turkik legend, the god [[Kaira]] [[Khan (title)|Khan]] creates [[land]]. He commands man to dive i