One of the many groups alleged to be the secret masters of the world, the Nine Unknown Men first surfaced in the writings of Louis Jacolliot (1837–90), a French colonial civil servant who wrote a number of wildly popular books on alternative history. According to Jacolliot, the order of Nine Unknown Men had been formed on the instructions of Ashoka, emperor of India in the third century BCE, as a secret government for the world. Jacolliot’s claims were taken up by the mystic and writer of adventure fiction Talbot Mundy (1879–1940), who based a novel entitled The Nine Unknowns (1923) on the claim that the Nine remained active and influenced global politics in modern times. From there, the Nine Unknown Men found their way into modern conspiracy theory. Never as popular as the Bavarian Illuminati or the Trilateral Commission, the Nine still have their supporters among believers in one universal conspiracy that controls the world.
The Nine Unknown Men are not Jacolliot’s only contribution to today’s alternative-realities scene; he also invented the secret city of Agharta.
SEE ALSO:
- Agharta
- Bavarian Illuminati
- New World Order
- Trilateral Commission
SOURCE:
The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Societies : the ultimate a-z of ancient mysteries, lost civilizations and forgotten wisdom written by John Michael Greer – © John Michael Greer 2006