Nostradamus in popular culture
Encyclopedia
The prophecies of the 16th century author Nostradamus
have become a ubiquitous part of the popular culture
of the 20th and 21st centuries. As well as being the subject of hundreds of books (both fiction and non-fiction), Nostradamus' life has been depicted in several films (to date, inaccurately), and his life and prophecies continue to be a subject of media interest. In the internet age, there have also been several well-known hoax
es, where quatrain
s in the style of Nostradamus have been circulated by e-mail
. The most well-known example concerns the attack on New York City
's World Trade Center
on September 11, 2001.
, the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, the atomic bomb, the rise of Adolf Hitler
and the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center
. Indeed, they regularly make similar claims regarding each new world crisis as it comes along as there is a tendency to claim that "Nostradamus predicted whatever has just happened." These claims rely heavily on the role of interpretation.
One well-known supposed prophecy is that "a great and terrifying leader would come out of the sky" in 1999 and 7 months "to resuscitate the great King from Angoumois
." But the phrase d'effraieur (of terror) in fact occurs nowhere in the original printing, which merely uses the word deffraieur (defraying, hosting), and Nostradamus sometimes uses the word ciel simply to mean 'region', rather than 'sky'. On the basis of Nostradamus's by-now well known technique of projecting past events into the future, Lemesurier suggests that X.72 therefore refers back to the restoration to health of the captive Francis I of France
(who was Duke of Angoulême
) following a surprise visit to his cell by his host, the then Holy Roman Emperor Charles V
in 1525. No fewer than five of the planets were in the same signs on both occasions.
's World Trade Center led to immediate speculation as to whether Nostradamus had predicted the event. Almost as soon as the event had happened, the relevant Internet sites were deluged with inquiries. In response, Nostradamus enthusiasts started searching for a Nostradamus quatrain that could be said to have done so, coming up with interpretations of Quatrains I.87, VI.97 and X.72. However, the various ways in which the enthusiasts chose to interpret the text were not supported by experts on the subject.
The nearest that the former could come up with was quatrain VI.97, which in the original 1557 edition ran:
With instant evidently a version of the Latin instanter ('violently, vehemently'), a reasonable English translation (after Lemesurier) would thus appear to be:
'Five and forty degrees' was said to be the latitude of New York City (which is incorrect; New York's latitude is 40°47'), or was interpreted as '40.5 degrees' (even though the decimal point had not yet come into use in the Europe of Nostradamus' day). 'New City', similarly, was claimed to be New York (even though Nostradamus refers in this way to various 'New Cities' whose names, unlike 'New York', literally mean 'New City', and especially Naples
– from Greek Neapolis, 'new city'); and most of the attempts to fit in the 'Normans' of line 4 seemed contrived at best. While it is true that New York State, which has the same name as New York City, crosses 45° latitude, it cannot, of course, be described as a 'new city', and so doesn't fit line 2 of the verse.
Lemesurier suggests that the verse is merely an undated projection into the future of the capture of Naples by the Normans in 1139 during a year marked by a notably violent eruption of nearby Mount Vesuvius that is recorded in the contemporary Annales Cassini. In this case, the first expression may simply be a version of
– which is indeed the latitude of Naples.
Another quatrain which came under the scrutiny of enthusiasts was quatrain I.87, which in the original 1555 edition (Albi copy) ran:
or, in a possible English translation:
Here, once again, the cité neufve was claimed to be New York; au tour de had to refer to the Twin Towers (even though, in French, the word tour in the masculine – as it is here – has absolutely nothing to do with towers, but is part of a phrase meaning "around"); the Deux grands rochiers had to be the Twin Towers themselves; and Arethusa was said to be an anagram of 'the USA'. Once again, however, rather more sober investigation by Brind'Amour had already revealed (bearing in mind that, in French, faire la guerre aux rochers, or 'to make war on the rocks', simply means 'to struggle fruitlessly') that the reference was probably to Naples and its nearby volcano. Subsequent investigation by Lemesurier and his colleague Gary Somai suggested that it applied particularly to the Annales Cassinis report of its lava
eruption of 1036, at a time when the Lombards
of Capua
and the Byzantine
dukes of Naples were constantly at war over the city prior to the decisive intervention of the Normans. For 968, similarly, Leo Marsicanus had reported in the same annals that ‘Mount Vesuvius exploded into flames and sent out huge quantities of sticky, sulfurous matter that formed a river rushing down to the sea’. Thus, given that Arethusa was the classical nymph of springs and rivers, with a well-known 'spring of Arethusa' still visible today in the Sicilian port of Syracuse
, the case for a '9/11' interpretation was evidently unfounded.
The Julian Calendar was indeed the calendar system used during Nostradamus' lifetime. In his Almanachs, Nostradamus published at least eleven Julian calendars of his own – but all of them in fact started on January 1, and in all of them the seventh month was consequently July. Lemesurier consequently suggests that X.72 does not predict the 9/11 attacks at all, but refers back to the allegedly 'miraculous' restoration to health of the captive Francis I of France in August 1525 by his then Roy deffraieur ('host-king') Charles V, and then projects it forwards into the future as a prophecy.
As for the various interpretations of the line usually rendered as "To resuscitate the great king of the Mongols", the verse in fact contains no such line (the word mongolois which, since Leoni [1961] has often been proposed as an anagram for Angolmois, didn't and doesn't exist in French), but merely refers to the well-known French region of Angoumois, of whose capital (Angoulême) Francis I was duke: he was thus, as the verse states, Le grand Roy d'Angolmois ('the great King from Angoumois') of Nostradamus's own day.
In these and other ways, Nostradamus's statement in his open letter to his son Cesar that his quatrains were "written in a nebulous rather than plainly prophetic form" is widely taken by enthusiasts as carte blanche for suggesting that they can mean almost anything that they want them to say.
is not suggested by any of the Prophecies. In fact the verse in question (II.62) merely states that a character of a similar-sounding name (according to Lemesurier [op. cit.], a reference to the Flemish painter Jan Mabuse
, contemporary with Nostradamus) will die. Otherwise, the reference says nothing about what "Mabus" will do or what he will be like.
More recently attempts have been made to link the name "Mabus" anagrammatically with "Obama
", as previously with "Saddam
", "Osama
" and "Bush
" This tendency to attempt to adapt quatrains to fit current events can be traced all the way back to Nostradamus' own time.
The surname 'Mabus' is not unknown in the United States. The current United States Secretary of the Navy
is Ray Mabus
.
was elected President, this text was widely circulated:
As with other hoaxes, only the purported English translation was given. It is likely that this verse was written as a joke.
's World Trade Center
, the following spoof text was circulated on the Internet, along with many more elaborate variants (one of them signed 'Nostradamus 1654' – when he would have been 150 years old):
As it turns out, the first four lines were indeed written before the attacks, but by a Canadian
graduate student named Neil Marshall as part of a research paper in 1997. The research paper included this poem as an illustrative example of how the validity of prophecies is often exaggerated. For example, the phrases "City of God" (New York has never held the title of "City of Angels"), "great thunder" (this could apply to many disasters), "Two brothers" (many things come in pairs), and "the great leader will succumb" are so ambiguous as to be meaningless. The fifth line was added by an anonymous Internet user, completely ignoring the fact that Nostradamus wrote his Propheties in rhymed four-line decasyllables called quatrains. Nostradamus also never referred to a "third big war".
, leaflets with false Nostradamus quatrains predicting the defeat of France
were launched by German planes over European skies. It seems that this operation was mastered by Nazi
political secretary Rudolf Hess
and that even Adolf Hitler
believed in Nostradamus' quatrains. Certainly his propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels
did, under the influence of his wife Magda
. Subsequently the Allies responded in kind, both with air-dropped leaflets and via the American film Nostradamus Says So.
After Rudolf Hess left Nazi Germany
in a mysterious solitary flight to Scotland
, probably seeking a peace agreement with the United Kingdom
, Hitler issued the Aktion Hess, a mandatory prosecution of any divinator or future-teller in all Nazi-occupied countries.
is the subject of many films and videos, including: (Catastrophe 1999: Prophecies of Nostradamus
); (1974 film by Toshio Masuda
) Nostradamus: The Man Who Saw Tomorrow
(1981) (1994) depicts Nostradamus's rise in influence, because of success in treating plague and his predictions, culminating in his appointment as court physician to Charles IX of France. (2000) Japanese film
depicting angels fighting against disgraceful events and evildoers in the prophecies.
prominently features the character Milo Rambaldi
, a fictional prophet who seems to be an amalgam
of Nostradamus and the non-prophetic but visionary
inventor, artist
, and genius
Leonardo Da Vinci
. In the science fiction
series First Wave, the protagonists use a previously unknown book of quatrains of Nostradamus to fight back against an alien invasion. Nostradamus was also a regular character on This Morning With Richard Not Judy
, played by Emma Kennedy
. Nostradamus appeared semi-regularly on the Warner Bros.
animated series Histeria!
as an eccentric red
-beard
ed man in stereotypical
wizard garb.
On Mr. Show with Bob and David, an episode contains a sketch Nostradamus (played by Bob Odenkirk
) called "Nostradamus and his companion." In it, Nostradamus is a gay
man who falls in love with a fashion designer, played by David Cross
. Nostradamus is left behind by his constant chum, who goes on to achieve fame and fortune in the fashion industry. The sketch ends with a school being named after them: "Nostradamus and His Constant Chum Elementary School." 9
On Chappelle's Show
, the sketch comedy show hosted by Dave Chappelle
, there is a character called Negrodamus (played by comedian Paul Mooney), an African-American version of Nostradamus who makes various predictions in response to questions.
In the Nickelodeon cartoon CatDog
, the title character(s) find a prediction in a book by the fictitious prophet "Nostradummy" (a reference) that appears to predict that the end of the world would be the next day. In The Simpsons
episode Thank God It's Doomsday
, Homer is sarcastically called "Nostradumbass' by Comic Book Guy
after his initial prophecy of the end of the world is incorrect.
In the Hong Kong
ATV series My Date with a Vampire
(series 1), Nostradamus (also referred to as the "French Guy") was held to have made the prophecy of the end of world in 1999, with a third of the world's population turned into monsters, while the rest perish. The antagonist, vampire Yamamoto, sought to make this come true and rule the world, but the protagonists were able to stop this from occurring. The anime Occult Academy
revolves around find an artifact called the Nostradamus Key, an object that will open a dimensional rift on July 21, 1999 that would trigger an alien invasion in the year 2012. In fact, it seems that the survivors of the 2012 invasion used alien technology to send someone to tell Nostradamus as part of a plan to prevent the invasion.
Bob Bainborough
portrayed Nostradamus in an episode of History Bites
, appearing in an infomercial
to sell his books, referencing C1Q35, among others, as an example of his prophecy. A two-hour documentary on Nostradamus first aired by the History Channel on 28 October 2007 suggests that a book of paintings in the National Library at Rome is The Lost Book of Nostradamus.
In an episode of The Sopranos
, Bobby Baccalieri
gets Nostradamus mixed up with Quasimodo
, saying that Quasimodo predicted 9/11 and the end of the world.
He also appears in various episodes of the MTV
animated show Clone High
as a teenaged clone of the original Nostradamus.
's album Past, Present and Future
was a concept album including a song about every decade of the 20th century. As Al wrote the album in 1973, events from the latter years of the century were covered by the song "Nostradamus", in which some of the prophecies are quoted. One of the prophecies appears to refer to the future fall of the Berlin Wall
; an event which might have been considered predictable, even if the date was not.
1977 Moody Blues member Justin Hayward
wrote a song on his album Songwriter (Justin Hayward album) called Nostrodamus
In 1984, Manfred Mann's Earth Band
released the album Somewhere in Afrika, which contains a cover of the Al Stewart
song, mistitled as "Eyes of Nostradamus".
Composer
Robert Steadman
has twice used Nostradamus' prophecies
in pieces of music: in 1987, quatrains by Nostradamus were juxtaposed with the Latin
Requiem
Mass text and poems on environmental
issues. And in 1999, he set what was thought by some to be Nostradamus's prediction of the end of the world for soprano
and chamber ensemble in The Final Prophecy
.
The 1993 album The Window of Life by Pendragon
includes a song entitled "Nostradamus (Stargazing)".
Marilyn Manson
said that his Antichrist Superstar
cd, which came out in 1996, was an answer to the Nostrandamus prophecy in which he said that "The 3rd. Antichrist was going to come to the earth in the year 1996".
Haggard
produced two albums dealing with the seer Michel de Notredame in the dark days of The Black Plague in Europe
: And Thou Shalt Trust... the Seer
in 1997 and Awaking the Centuries
in 1998.
Darkane
's Song "July 1999" from Rusted Angel
, is all about the Nostradamus dated prophecy.
Rapper Nas
refers to himself as Nastradamus and released an album titled Nastradamus
along with its first single
titled the same name in 1999.
Bulgarian guitarist Nikolo Kotzev
released a rock opera called Nikolo Kotzev's Nostradamus
in 2001, based on the life and times of Nostradamus. In 2005, Dutch band Kayak
released a rock opera
called Nostradamus - Fate of Man.
German
power metal
band Helloween
's 1996 album The Time of the Oath
is based on Nostradamus' supposed prophecy of a world war between 1994 and 2000.
In 1997, Finnish metal band Stratovarius
recorded a concept album loosely based on the life and prophecies of Nostradamus. The album was called Visions
.
On June 17, 2008, the popular British heavy metal
band Judas Priest
released a concept album based on the life of Nostradamus. Simply named Nostradamus
, the album itself focuses on Nostradamus' actual life and his prophecies.
"Nostradamus said 'I predict that the world will end at half past six' / What he didn't say was exactly when," are the opening lyrics of "Tinderbox", penned by Bernie Taupin
and sung by Elton John
.
Modest Mouse
vocalist Isaac Brock
seems to take a stab at Nostradamus in a song called "Education" from the band's fifth studio album, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
. The verse is as follows: "Good old Nostradamas / he knew the whole damn time / there would always be an east from west / and someone in there fighting".
In the bonus track of Dane Cook
's "Harmful if Swallowed" he speaks of how a person would wake up and think he is late, then look at his clock to find out that he is in fact late. He would yell "I HATE it when I'm like Nostradamus
and I predict that I'm late!"
story (Topolino E La Piramide Impossible), Mickey and Goofy
travel back in time and by accident a young boy followed them back to the present. The boy had to go back to his own time and his memory of the future was erased, but before that he grabbed pieces of books. The boy of course became Nostradamus and the ripped pages from books explained his visions of the future. The story was made by Massimo Marconi and Massimo De Vita.
In 1989 Scrooge McDuck
story "The Curse of Nostrildamus" by Don Rosa
(AR 143), Scrooge enters the prophet's tomb to take the amulet that was the source of his power. However, whoever wears the amulet also attracts disasters - though Donald Duck
ends up as the victim of the disasters instead of Scrooge. In author's commentary in the Finnish album release, Don Rosa says he was inspired to write the story based on the legend that whoever drank from Nostradamus's skull would be given the gift of prophecy.
A Phantom
story from 1983 by Ulf Granberg and Jaime Vallvé featured an appearance by Nostradamus.
In the DC Comics
Universe, Nostradamus was an ancestor of Zatara
and Zatanna
.
In the Marvel Comics
series S.H.E.I.L.D. Nostradamus is held prisoner of Issac Newton and kept alive for centuries using the Fountain of Youth
so he can read the future for him.
In Scott Adams
's comic strip Dilbert
, "Nostradogbert" is a pseudonym
of Dogbert
.
In Mad Magazine's section entitled the "strip club" a comic strip entitled Middle School Nostradamus appears every so often. Nostradamus is depicted as a preteen in wizard garb who makes predictions of impending despair for the people he is around at inopportune times.
Nostradamus
. Though the game itself had nothing to do with Nostradamus, the game's title screen showed a resemblance to his son's portrait of him, however he is facing the other direction and looks older.
In Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
, the prophecy of 1999 was used as the resurrection of Dracula
and added that all born of the day of Dracula's demise are "Dark Candidates" meaning that they have the potential to become the next Dark Lord. This prophecy is referenced again in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
; the Belmonts cannot wield the Vampire Killer whip until 1999, when Dracula is revived.
In the eroge
Nostradamus ni Kiite Miro♪, a girl named Stra (a shortened form of Nostradamus) claims to be the writer of Nostradamus' predictions.
The prophet Nostradamus appears in the 2003 video game Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader
.
In Nostradamus: The Last Prophecy
, Nostradamus appears as an adviser to his daughter during the game.
In Super Ninja Boy
for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System
there is a prophet named Notruedamus.
In Ninja Gaiden (arcade)
the hero is a nameless ninja on a quest to defeat an evil cult led by a fictional descendant of Nostradamus.
Nostradamus
Michel de Nostredame , usually Latinised to Nostradamus, was a French apothecary and reputed seer who published collections of prophecies that have since become famous worldwide. He is best known for his book Les Propheties , the first edition of which appeared in 1555...
have become a ubiquitous part of the popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
of the 20th and 21st centuries. As well as being the subject of hundreds of books (both fiction and non-fiction), Nostradamus' life has been depicted in several films (to date, inaccurately), and his life and prophecies continue to be a subject of media interest. In the internet age, there have also been several well-known hoax
Hoax
A hoax is a deliberately fabricated falsehood made to masquerade as truth. It is distinguishable from errors in observation or judgment, or rumors, urban legends, pseudosciences or April Fools' Day events that are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes.-Definition:The British...
es, where quatrain
Quatrain
A quatrain is a stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines of verse. Existing in various forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and China; and, continues into the 21st century, where it is...
s in the style of Nostradamus have been circulated by e-mail
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
. The most well-known example concerns the attack on New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
on September 11, 2001.
Supposed prophecies
Nostradamus enthusiasts have credited him with predicting numerous events in world history, including the French RevolutionFrench Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, the atomic bomb, the rise of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
. Indeed, they regularly make similar claims regarding each new world crisis as it comes along as there is a tendency to claim that "Nostradamus predicted whatever has just happened." These claims rely heavily on the role of interpretation.
One well-known supposed prophecy is that "a great and terrifying leader would come out of the sky" in 1999 and 7 months "to resuscitate the great King from Angoumois
Angoumois
Angoumois was a county and province of France, nearly corresponding today to the Charente département. Its capital was Angoulême....
." But the phrase d'effraieur (of terror) in fact occurs nowhere in the original printing, which merely uses the word deffraieur (defraying, hosting), and Nostradamus sometimes uses the word ciel simply to mean 'region', rather than 'sky'. On the basis of Nostradamus's by-now well known technique of projecting past events into the future, Lemesurier suggests that X.72 therefore refers back to the restoration to health of the captive Francis I of France
Francis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
(who was Duke of Angoulême
Angoulême
-Main sights:In place of its ancient fortifications, Angoulême is encircled by boulevards above the old city walls, known as the Remparts, from which fine views may be obtained in all directions. Within the town the streets are often narrow. Apart from the cathedral and the hôtel de ville, the...
) following a surprise visit to his cell by his host, the then Holy Roman Emperor Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
in 1525. No fewer than five of the planets were in the same signs on both occasions.
September 11, 2001
The September 11, 2001 attacks on New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's World Trade Center led to immediate speculation as to whether Nostradamus had predicted the event. Almost as soon as the event had happened, the relevant Internet sites were deluged with inquiries. In response, Nostradamus enthusiasts started searching for a Nostradamus quatrain that could be said to have done so, coming up with interpretations of Quatrains I.87, VI.97 and X.72. However, the various ways in which the enthusiasts chose to interpret the text were not supported by experts on the subject.
- Cinq & quarante degrés ciel bruslera,
- Feu approucher de la grand cité neufve,
- Instant grand flamme esparse saultera,
- Quant on voudra des NormansNormansThe Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
faire preuve:
With instant evidently a version of the Latin instanter ('violently, vehemently'), a reasonable English translation (after Lemesurier) would thus appear to be:
- Five and forty degrees, the sky shall burn:
- To the great new city shall the fire draw nigh.
- With vehemence the flames shall spread and churn
- When with the NormansNormansThe Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
they conclusions try.
'Five and forty degrees' was said to be the latitude of New York City (which is incorrect; New York's latitude is 40°47'), or was interpreted as '40.5 degrees' (even though the decimal point had not yet come into use in the Europe of Nostradamus' day). 'New City', similarly, was claimed to be New York (even though Nostradamus refers in this way to various 'New Cities' whose names, unlike 'New York', literally mean 'New City', and especially Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
– from Greek Neapolis, 'new city'); and most of the attempts to fit in the 'Normans' of line 4 seemed contrived at best. While it is true that New York State, which has the same name as New York City, crosses 45° latitude, it cannot, of course, be described as a 'new city', and so doesn't fit line 2 of the verse.
Lemesurier suggests that the verse is merely an undated projection into the future of the capture of Naples by the Normans in 1139 during a year marked by a notably violent eruption of nearby Mount Vesuvius that is recorded in the contemporary Annales Cassini. In this case, the first expression may simply be a version of
- Cinq[ante minutes] & quarante degrés
– which is indeed the latitude of Naples.
Another quatrain which came under the scrutiny of enthusiasts was quatrain I.87, which in the original 1555 edition (Albi copy) ran:
- Ennosigée feu du centre de terre
- Fera trembler au tour de cité neufve:
- Deux grands rochiers long temps feront la guerre
- Puis ArethusaArethusa- Mythology :* Arethusa , a nereid nymph who became a fountain* See Hesperides for Arethusa, a hesperid nymph- Places :* Arethusa , an ancient city in Mygdonia of ancient Macedonia* Arethusa , a titular see of Syria near Apameia...
rougira nouveau fleuve.
or, in a possible English translation:
- Earth-shaking fires from the world’s centre roar:
- Around ‘New City’ is the earth a-quiver.
- Two nobles long shall wage a fruitless war,
- The nymph of springs pour forth a new, red river.
Here, once again, the cité neufve was claimed to be New York; au tour de had to refer to the Twin Towers (even though, in French, the word tour in the masculine – as it is here – has absolutely nothing to do with towers, but is part of a phrase meaning "around"); the Deux grands rochiers had to be the Twin Towers themselves; and Arethusa was said to be an anagram of 'the USA'. Once again, however, rather more sober investigation by Brind'Amour had already revealed (bearing in mind that, in French, faire la guerre aux rochers, or 'to make war on the rocks', simply means 'to struggle fruitlessly') that the reference was probably to Naples and its nearby volcano. Subsequent investigation by Lemesurier and his colleague Gary Somai suggested that it applied particularly to the Annales Cassinis report of its lava
Lava
Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...
eruption of 1036, at a time when the Lombards
Lombards
The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...
of Capua
Capua
Capua is a city and comune in the province of Caserta, Campania, southern Italy, situated 25 km north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. Ancient Capua was situated where Santa Maria Capua Vetere is now...
and the Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
dukes of Naples were constantly at war over the city prior to the decisive intervention of the Normans. For 968, similarly, Leo Marsicanus had reported in the same annals that ‘Mount Vesuvius exploded into flames and sent out huge quantities of sticky, sulfurous matter that formed a river rushing down to the sea’. Thus, given that Arethusa was the classical nymph of springs and rivers, with a well-known 'spring of Arethusa' still visible today in the Sicilian port of Syracuse
Syracuse, Italy
Syracuse is a historic city in Sicily, the capital of the province of Syracuse. The city is notable for its rich Greek history, culture, amphitheatres, architecture, and as the birthplace of the preeminent mathematician and engineer Archimedes. This 2,700-year-old city played a key role in...
, the case for a '9/11' interpretation was evidently unfounded.
The Julian Calendar was indeed the calendar system used during Nostradamus' lifetime. In his Almanachs, Nostradamus published at least eleven Julian calendars of his own – but all of them in fact started on January 1, and in all of them the seventh month was consequently July. Lemesurier consequently suggests that X.72 does not predict the 9/11 attacks at all, but refers back to the allegedly 'miraculous' restoration to health of the captive Francis I of France in August 1525 by his then Roy deffraieur ('host-king') Charles V, and then projects it forwards into the future as a prophecy.
As for the various interpretations of the line usually rendered as "To resuscitate the great king of the Mongols", the verse in fact contains no such line (the word mongolois which, since Leoni [1961] has often been proposed as an anagram for Angolmois, didn't and doesn't exist in French), but merely refers to the well-known French region of Angoumois, of whose capital (Angoulême) Francis I was duke: he was thus, as the verse states, Le grand Roy d'Angolmois ('the great King from Angoumois') of Nostradamus's own day.
In these and other ways, Nostradamus's statement in his open letter to his son Cesar that his quatrains were "written in a nebulous rather than plainly prophetic form" is widely taken by enthusiasts as carte blanche for suggesting that they can mean almost anything that they want them to say.
Hoaxes
'Mabus' as Antichrist
Some have interpreted the writings as predicting a series of three antichrists. However, the name "Mabus" as a synonym for or embodiment of the third antichristAntichrist
The term or title antichrist, in Christian theology, refers to a leader who fulfills Biblical prophecies concerning an adversary of Christ, while resembling him in a deceptive manner...
is not suggested by any of the Prophecies. In fact the verse in question (II.62) merely states that a character of a similar-sounding name (according to Lemesurier [op. cit.], a reference to the Flemish painter Jan Mabuse
Jan Mabuse
Jan Mabuse was the name adopted by the Flemish painter Jan Gossaert; or Jennyn van Hennegouwe , as he called himself when he matriculated in the guild of St Luke, at Antwerp, in 1503.-Biography:Little is known of his early life...
, contemporary with Nostradamus) will die. Otherwise, the reference says nothing about what "Mabus" will do or what he will be like.
More recently attempts have been made to link the name "Mabus" anagrammatically with "Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
", as previously with "Saddam
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
", "Osama
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
" and "Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
" This tendency to attempt to adapt quatrains to fit current events can be traced all the way back to Nostradamus' own time.
The surname 'Mabus' is not unknown in the United States. The current United States Secretary of the Navy
United States Secretary of the Navy
The Secretary of the Navy of the United States of America is the head of the Department of the Navy, a component organization of the Department of Defense...
is Ray Mabus
Ray Mabus
Raymond Edwin "Ray" Mabus, Jr. is the 75th United States Secretary of the Navy. Mabus served as the 60th Governor of the U.S...
.
Village idiot hoax
Following the contentious 2000 U.S. presidential election wherein George W. BushGeorge W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
was elected President, this text was widely circulated:
- Come the millennium, month 12
- In the home of greatest power
- The village idiotVillage idiotThe village idiot in strict terms is a person locally known for ignorance or stupidity, but is also a common term for a stereotypically silly or nonsensical person. The term is also used as a stereotype of the mentally disabled...
will come forth - To be acclaimed the leader.
As with other hoaxes, only the purported English translation was given. It is likely that this verse was written as a joke.
World Trade Center prophecy hoax
Shortly after the September 11 attacks on New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
's World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
, the following spoof text was circulated on the Internet, along with many more elaborate variants (one of them signed 'Nostradamus 1654' – when he would have been 150 years old):
- In the City of God there will be a great thunder,
- Two brothers torn apart by Chaos,
- while the fortress endures,
- the great leader will succumb,
- The third big war will begin when the big city is burning
As it turns out, the first four lines were indeed written before the attacks, but by a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
graduate student named Neil Marshall as part of a research paper in 1997. The research paper included this poem as an illustrative example of how the validity of prophecies is often exaggerated. For example, the phrases "City of God" (New York has never held the title of "City of Angels"), "great thunder" (this could apply to many disasters), "Two brothers" (many things come in pairs), and "the great leader will succumb" are so ambiguous as to be meaningless. The fifth line was added by an anonymous Internet user, completely ignoring the fact that Nostradamus wrote his Propheties in rhymed four-line decasyllables called quatrains. Nostradamus also never referred to a "third big war".
Political and military manipulation
During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, leaflets with false Nostradamus quatrains predicting the defeat of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
were launched by German planes over European skies. It seems that this operation was mastered by Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
political secretary Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was a prominent Nazi politician who was Adolf Hitler's deputy in the Nazi Party during the 1930s and early 1940s...
and that even Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
believed in Nostradamus' quatrains. Certainly his propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
did, under the influence of his wife Magda
Magda Goebbels
Johanna Maria Magdalena "Magda" Goebbels was the wife of Nazi Germany's Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels...
. Subsequently the Allies responded in kind, both with air-dropped leaflets and via the American film Nostradamus Says So.
After Rudolf Hess left Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in a mysterious solitary flight to Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, probably seeking a peace agreement with the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Hitler issued the Aktion Hess, a mandatory prosecution of any divinator or future-teller in all Nazi-occupied countries.
Film
NostradamusNostradamus
Michel de Nostredame , usually Latinised to Nostradamus, was a French apothecary and reputed seer who published collections of prophecies that have since become famous worldwide. He is best known for his book Les Propheties , the first edition of which appeared in 1555...
is the subject of many films and videos, including: (Catastrophe 1999: Prophecies of Nostradamus
Prophecies of Nostradamus
also known as The Last Days of Planet Earth or Catastrophe: 1999 is an experimental 1974 feature film by Toshio Masuda, inspired by the prophecies of Nostradamus. The film credits Toshio Yasumi as principal screenwriter, though Yasumi did not actually work on the film...
); (1974 film by Toshio Masuda
Toshio Masuda
is a Japanese film director. He developed a reputation as a consistent box office hit-maker. Over the course of five decades, 16 of his films made the yearly top ten lists at the Japanese box office—a second place record in the industry. Between 1958 and 1968 he directed 52 films for the Nikkatsu...
) Nostradamus: The Man Who Saw Tomorrow
The Man Who Saw Tomorrow
The Man Who Saw Tomorrow is a 1981 documentary-style movie about the predictions of French astrologer and physician Michel de Notredame .The Man Who Saw Tomorrow is narrated by Orson Welles....
(1981) (1994) depicts Nostradamus's rise in influence, because of success in treating plague and his predictions, culminating in his appointment as court physician to Charles IX of France. (2000) Japanese film
Nostradamus: The Prophecy
Nostradamus: The Prophecy, known in Japan as , is a 1994 science fiction film directed by Yumiko Awaya, in which angels led by Gabriel fight to save earth from the predictions of Nostradamus.-Cast:*Yoshimi Ashikawa...
depicting angels fighting against disgraceful events and evildoers in the prophecies.
- Appears in the 2008 Polish film Before TwilightBefore TwilightBefore Twilight is a 2009 Polish comedy film drama directed by Jacek Blawut.The film is about a group of old retired theatre actors in a retirement home for actors who aim to regroup and stage Goethe's Faust...
- Farewell to NostradamusFarewell to Nostradamus, sometimes also referred to as To Hell With Nostradamus, was a 1995 movie. It is the fourth feature film in the Lupin III franchise. The North American release was done by FUNimation; it was released individually and later made a part of the "Final Haul" box set.-Plot:A simple diamond heist leads...
is an anime film based around the prophecies of Nostradamus. - Mention is made of Nostradamus in the 1985 Italian horror film DemoniDemoniDèmoni is a 1985 Italian horror film directed by Lamberto Bava and produced by Dario Argento. The screenplay was written by Bava, Argento, Franco Ferrini, and Dardano Sacchetti, from a story by Sacchetti...
, directed by Lamberto BavaLamberto BavaLamberto Bava is an Italian film director, specializing in horror and fantasy films.Bava was born in Rome, Italy, the son of cinematographer/director Mario Bava, and grandson of cameraman Eugenio Bava...
and produced by Dario ArgentoDario ArgentoDario Argento is an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his work in the horror film genre, particularly in the subgenre known as giallo, and for his influence on modern horror and slasher movies....
. According to the characters of the film shown at the fictional Metropol movie theater, Nostradmaus predicted the spawning of demons that will "spread pestilence" and be "instruments of evil".
Television
The television series AliasAlias (TV series)
Alias is an American action television series created by J. J. Abrams which was broadcast on ABC for five seasons, from September 30, 2001 to May 22, 2006...
prominently features the character Milo Rambaldi
Milo Rambaldi
Milo Giacomo Rambaldi is a fictional person from the American television series Alias. The work of Rambaldi, often centuries ahead of its time and tied to prophecy, plays a central role in the show.According to Alias creator J.J...
, a fictional prophet who seems to be an amalgam
Amalgam
Amalgam may refer to:* Amalgam , mercury alloy* Amalgam , material of "silver" tooth fillings* Amalgam Comics, publisher* Amalgam, Gauteng, South Africa* Amalgam , fictional character in the Marvel Universe...
of Nostradamus and the non-prophetic but visionary
Visionary
Defined broadly, a visionary, is one who can envision the future. For some groups this can involve the supernatural or drugs.The visionary state is achieved via meditation, drugs, lucid dreams, daydreams, or art. One example is Hildegard of Bingen, a 12th century artist/visionary and Catholic saint...
inventor, artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, and genius
Genius
Genius is something or someone embodying exceptional intellectual ability, creativity, or originality, typically to a degree that is associated with the achievement of unprecedented insight....
Leonardo Da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
. In the science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
series First Wave, the protagonists use a previously unknown book of quatrains of Nostradamus to fight back against an alien invasion. Nostradamus was also a regular character on This Morning With Richard Not Judy
This Morning With Richard Not Judy
This Morning With Richard Not Judy or TMWRNJ was a BBC comedy television programme, written by and starring Lee and Herring. Two series were broadcast in 1998 and 1999 on BBC2...
, played by Emma Kennedy
Emma Kennedy
Emma Kennedy is an English actress, writer and television presenter....
. Nostradamus appeared semi-regularly on the Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
animated series Histeria!
Histeria!
Histeria! is a 1998 American animated series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. Unlike other animated series produced by Warner Bros. in the 1990s, Histeria! stood out as the most explicit edutainment program in order to meet FCC requirements for...
as an eccentric red
Red
Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths than this are called infrared , and cannot be seen by the naked eye...
-beard
Beard
A beard is the collection of hair that grows on the chin, cheeks and neck of human beings. Usually, only pubescent or adult males are able to grow beards. However, women with hirsutism may develop a beard...
ed man in stereotypical
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
wizard garb.
On Mr. Show with Bob and David, an episode contains a sketch Nostradamus (played by Bob Odenkirk
Bob Odenkirk
Robert "Bob" Odenkirk is an American actor, comedian, writer, director and producer. He is best known as the co-creator and co-star of the HBO sketch comedy series Mr...
) called "Nostradamus and his companion." In it, Nostradamus is a gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
man who falls in love with a fashion designer, played by David Cross
David Cross
David Cross is an American actor, writer and stand-up comedian perhaps best known for his work on HBO's sketch comedy series Mr...
. Nostradamus is left behind by his constant chum, who goes on to achieve fame and fortune in the fashion industry. The sketch ends with a school being named after them: "Nostradamus and His Constant Chum Elementary School." 9
On Chappelle's Show
Chappelle's Show
Chappelle's Show is an American sketch comedy television series created by comedian Dave Chappelle and Neal Brennan, with Chappelle hosting the show as well as starring in various skits. Chappelle, Brennan and Michele Armour were the show's executive producers. The series premiered on January 22,...
, the sketch comedy show hosted by Dave Chappelle
Dave Chappelle
David Khari Webber "Dave" Chappelle is an American comedian, screenwriter, television/film producer, actor, and artist. Chappelle began his film career in the film Robin Hood: Men in Tights in 1993 and continued to star in minor roles in the films The Nutty Professor, Con Air, and Blue Streak. His...
, there is a character called Negrodamus (played by comedian Paul Mooney), an African-American version of Nostradamus who makes various predictions in response to questions.
In the Nickelodeon cartoon CatDog
CatDog
CatDog is an American animated television series which premiered on April 4, 1998, and ended with an unaired episode on September 22, 2004. The series was created for Nickelodeon by Peter Hannan. It was also shown as a sneak peek in theaters with The Rugrats Movie...
, the title character(s) find a prediction in a book by the fictitious prophet "Nostradummy" (a reference) that appears to predict that the end of the world would be the next day. In The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
episode Thank God It's Doomsday
Thank God It's Doomsday
"Thank God, It's Doomsday" is the nineteenth episode of The Simpsons sixteenth season. The episode aired for the first time on May 8, 2005, in the US.-Plot:After Homer sees the film Left Below, he fears that the Rapture will soon be coming...
, Homer is sarcastically called "Nostradumbass' by Comic Book Guy
Comic Book Guy
Comic Book Guy is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Hank Azaria, and first appeared in the second-season episode "Three Men and a Comic Book", which originally aired on May 9, 1991. He is the proprietor of a comic book store, The...
after his initial prophecy of the end of the world is incorrect.
In the Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
ATV series My Date with a Vampire
My Date with a Vampire
My Date with a Vampire is a 1998 Hong Kong television series produced by ATV. It was followed by My Date with a Vampire II and My Date with a Vampire III . The drama starred Eric Wan and Joey Meng in the leading roles. The plot is based on future events of the story in Vampire Expert, a similar...
(series 1), Nostradamus (also referred to as the "French Guy") was held to have made the prophecy of the end of world in 1999, with a third of the world's population turned into monsters, while the rest perish. The antagonist, vampire Yamamoto, sought to make this come true and rule the world, but the protagonists were able to stop this from occurring. The anime Occult Academy
Occult Academy
is a Japanese anime television series produced by A-1 Pictures and Aniplex and directed by Tomohiko Itō. The 13-episode anime premiered in Japan on the TV Tokyo television network on July 6, 2010. Occult Academy is the third project of Anime no Chikara. It was shown by Crunchyroll an hour after the...
revolves around find an artifact called the Nostradamus Key, an object that will open a dimensional rift on July 21, 1999 that would trigger an alien invasion in the year 2012. In fact, it seems that the survivors of the 2012 invasion used alien technology to send someone to tell Nostradamus as part of a plan to prevent the invasion.
Bob Bainborough
Bob Bainborough
Bob Bainborough is a Canadian actor. He is known for playing the role of Dalton Humphrey in the Canadian comedy series The Red Green Show, and appearances on History Bites...
portrayed Nostradamus in an episode of History Bites
History Bites
History Bites was a television series on the History Television network that ran from 1998-2003. Created by Rick Green, History Bites explored what would be on television if the medium had been around for the last 5,000 years of human history. Typically, a significant historical event was chosen...
, appearing in an infomercial
Infomercial
Infomercials are direct response television commercials which generally include a phone number or website. There are long-form infomercials, which are typically between 15 and 30 minutes in length, and short-form infomercials, which are typically 30 seconds to 120 seconds in length. Infomercials...
to sell his books, referencing C1Q35, among others, as an example of his prophecy. A two-hour documentary on Nostradamus first aired by the History Channel on 28 October 2007 suggests that a book of paintings in the National Library at Rome is The Lost Book of Nostradamus.
In an episode of The Sopranos
The Sopranos
The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
, Bobby Baccalieri
Bobby Baccalieri
Robert "Bobby Bacala" Baccalieri, Jr., played by Steve R. Schirripa, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. He was a Capo and later the acting underboss of the DiMeo Crime Family, as well as Tony Soprano's brother-in-law...
gets Nostradamus mixed up with Quasimodo
Quasimodo
Quasimodo is a fictional character in the novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo. Quasimodo was born with a hunchback and feared by the townspeople as a sort of monster but he finds sanctuary in an unlikely love that is fulfilled only in death. The role of Quasimodo has been played by...
, saying that Quasimodo predicted 9/11 and the end of the world.
He also appears in various episodes of the MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
animated show Clone High
Clone High
Clone High is a Canadian-American animated television series that aired for one season on MTV and Teletoon....
as a teenaged clone of the original Nostradamus.
Music
British singer/songwriter Al StewartAl Stewart
Al Stewart is a Scottish singer-songwriter and folk-rock musician.Stewart came to stardom as part of the British folk revival in the 1960s and 1970s, and developed his own unique style of combining folk-rock songs with delicately woven tales of the great characters and events from history.He is...
's album Past, Present and Future
Past, Present and Future
Past, Present and Future is Al Stewart's fifth studio album, released in October 1973 in the UK and in May 1974 in the US. This album is considered Stewart's first "major album" and it reached #133 on the Billboard Rock Album chart in 1974. He had taken on a different approach from his previous,...
was a concept album including a song about every decade of the 20th century. As Al wrote the album in 1973, events from the latter years of the century were covered by the song "Nostradamus", in which some of the prophecies are quoted. One of the prophecies appears to refer to the future fall of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
; an event which might have been considered predictable, even if the date was not.
1977 Moody Blues member Justin Hayward
Justin Hayward
Justin Hayward is an English musician, best known as singer, songwriter and guitarist in the rock band The Moody Blues.Hayward was born in Dean Street, Swindon, Wiltshire, England...
wrote a song on his album Songwriter (Justin Hayward album) called Nostrodamus
In 1984, Manfred Mann's Earth Band
Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann was a British beat, rhythm and blues and pop band of the 1960s, named after their South African keyboardist, Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band...
released the album Somewhere in Afrika, which contains a cover of the Al Stewart
Al Stewart
Al Stewart is a Scottish singer-songwriter and folk-rock musician.Stewart came to stardom as part of the British folk revival in the 1960s and 1970s, and developed his own unique style of combining folk-rock songs with delicately woven tales of the great characters and events from history.He is...
song, mistitled as "Eyes of Nostradamus".
Composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
Robert Steadman
Robert Steadman
Robert Steadman is a British composerof classical music who mostly works in a post-minimalist style but also writes lighter music, including musicals, and compositions for educational purposes...
has twice used Nostradamus' prophecies
Prophecy
Prophecy is a process in which one or more messages that have been communicated to a prophet are then communicated to others. Such messages typically involve divine inspiration, interpretation, or revelation of conditioned events to come as well as testimonies or repeated revelations that the...
in pieces of music: in 1987, quatrains by Nostradamus were juxtaposed with the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
Requiem
Requiem
A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead or Mass of the dead , is a Mass celebrated for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, using a particular form of the Roman Missal...
Mass text and poems on environmental
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
issues. And in 1999, he set what was thought by some to be Nostradamus's prediction of the end of the world for soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
and chamber ensemble in The Final Prophecy
The Final Prophecy
The Final Prophecy is a novel in the New Jedi Order series, written by Greg Keyes. Published and released in 2003, it is the twentieth installment of the series, which is set in the Star Wars universe.-Summary:...
.
The 1993 album The Window of Life by Pendragon
Pendragon (band)
Pendragon are an English neo-progressive rock band established in 1978 in Stroud, Gloucestershire as Zeus Pendragon by guitarist and vocalist Nick Barrett. The Zeus was dropped before the band started recording as the members decided it was too long to look good on a t-shirt...
includes a song entitled "Nostradamus (Stargazing)".
Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...
said that his Antichrist Superstar
Antichrist Superstar
Antichrist Superstar is the second full-length studio album by American rock band Marilyn Manson. It was released on October 8, 1996 in the US through Nothing and Interscope Records. The record's success in mainstream charts propelled the band into a household name and turned its frontman overnight...
cd, which came out in 1996, was an answer to the Nostrandamus prophecy in which he said that "The 3rd. Antichrist was going to come to the earth in the year 1996".
Haggard
Haggard (band)
Haggard is a German symphonic metal musical group founded in 1991. The group combines classical music and early music with doom metal.-Background:...
produced two albums dealing with the seer Michel de Notredame in the dark days of The Black Plague in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
: And Thou Shalt Trust... the Seer
And Thou Shalt Trust... the Seer
And Thou Shalt Trust... the Seer is the first full-length album by the German symphonic metal band Haggard. It was released on October 15, 1997 by Last Episode. The painting of the cover is Melencolia I by Albrecht Dürer...
in 1997 and Awaking the Centuries
Awaking the Centuries
Awaking the Centuries is the second full-length album by the German symphonic metal band Haggard. It was released on February 7, 2000 by Drakkar Entertainment. The album is based on Michel De Nostredame and his experience during The Black Plague in the Medieval Europe...
in 1998.
Darkane
Darkane
Darkane is a melodic death / progressive thrash metal band that originated in Helsingborg, Sweden in 1998. Their music contains ample thrash elements interspersed with acoustic interludes and symphonic features, such as the in studio use of synthesizers and occasionally full orchestras and choir...
's Song "July 1999" from Rusted Angel
Rusted Angel
-Darkane:*Christofer Malmström – lead guitar*Peter Wildoer – drum kit*Jörgen Löfberg – bass guitar*Klas Ideberg – rhythm guitar*Lawrence Mackrory – vocals-Production:*Wez Wenedikter – executive producer*Daniel Bergstrand – production, engineering, mixing...
, is all about the Nostradamus dated prophecy.
Rapper Nas
Nas
Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, who performs under the name Nas , formerly Nasty Nas, is an American rapper and actor. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in hip hop and one of the most skilled and influential rappers of all-time...
refers to himself as Nastradamus and released an album titled Nastradamus
Nastradamus
Nastradamus is the fourth studio album by American rapper Nas, released November 23, 1999 on Columbia Records in the United States. It was originally scheduled to be released as a follow-up album composed of material from recording sessions for his third album, I Am… on October 26, 1999...
along with its first single
Nastradamus (song)
"Nastradamus" is the first single from Nas' fourth album Nastradamus. It was produced by L.E.S.. The song contains the lyrics "You wanna ball 'til you fall, I can help you with that" which were viewed as a jab at Rocafella artist Memphis Bleek, sparking the beef which would eventually involve Jay-Z...
titled the same name in 1999.
Bulgarian guitarist Nikolo Kotzev
Nikolo Kotzev
Nikolo Kotzev is a Bulgarian guitarist, violinist, song writer and producer, perhaps most famous for his 2001 rock opera Nostradamus and his band Brazen Abbot.- Biography :...
released a rock opera called Nikolo Kotzev's Nostradamus
Nikolo Kotzev's Nostradamus
Nikolo Kotzev's Nostradamus is a rock opera in three acts written by Nikolo Kotzev about the life and times of Nostradamus. It was released in a 2-CD set in 2001; it has not been performed live, although it remains an ambition of Kotzev's to have the rock opera performed on stage...
in 2001, based on the life and times of Nostradamus. In 2005, Dutch band Kayak
Kayak (band)
Kayak are a Dutch progressive rock band formed in 1972 in the city Hilversum by Ton Scherpenzeel and Pim Koopman. In 1973, their debut album "See See The Sun" was released, including 3 hit singles. Their main popularity was in the Netherlands, with their top hit reaching #6 on the Dutch charts in...
released a rock opera
Rock opera
A rock opera is a work of rock music that presents a storyline told over multiple parts, songs or sections in the manner of opera. A rock opera differs from a conventional rock album, which usually includes songs that are not unified by a common theme or narrative. More recent developments include...
called Nostradamus - Fate of Man.
German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
power metal
Power metal
Power metal is a style of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. The term refers to two different but related styles: the first pioneered and largely practiced in North America with a harder sound similar to speed metal, and a...
band Helloween
Helloween
Helloween is a German power metal band founded in the mid 1980s by members of Iron Fist and Powerfool. The band was a pioneering force in the European Power Metal movement and their second and third studio albums, Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt...
's 1996 album The Time of the Oath
The Time of the Oath
*M - 3,4 also appears on The Time of the Oath single.*M - 5,6 also appears on the Power single.*M - 7,8 also appears on the Forever And One single.- Personnel :* Andi Deris - vocals* Michael Weikath - guitar* Roland Grapow - guitar* Markus Grosskopf - bass...
is based on Nostradamus' supposed prophecy of a world war between 1994 and 2000.
In 1997, Finnish metal band Stratovarius
Stratovarius
Stratovarius are a Finnish power metal band that formed in 1984. Since their formation they have released 13 studio albums and one live album. Along with Helloween, Blind Guardian, Rhapsody of Fire and Gamma Ray, Stratovarius are considered one of the leading groups of the power metal and symphonic...
recorded a concept album loosely based on the life and prophecies of Nostradamus. The album was called Visions
Visions (Stratovarius album)
Visions is the sixth studio album by Finnish power metal band Stratovarius, released in 1997 through Noise Records.-Track listing:-Personnel:*Timo Kotipelto – vocals*Timo Tolkki – guitar, background vocals, mastering, production...
.
On June 17, 2008, the popular British heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
band Judas Priest
Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band from Birmingham, England, formed in 1969. The current line-up consists of lead vocalist Rob Halford, guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill, and drummer Scott Travis. The band has gone through several drummers over the years,...
released a concept album based on the life of Nostradamus. Simply named Nostradamus
Nostradamus (album)
- Personnel :* Rob Halford – vocals* K. K. Downing – guitars, synthesized guitars, producer* Glenn Tipton – guitars, synthesized guitars, producer* Ian Hill – bass* Scott Travis – drums* Don Airey – keyboards...
, the album itself focuses on Nostradamus' actual life and his prophecies.
"Nostradamus said 'I predict that the world will end at half past six' / What he didn't say was exactly when," are the opening lyrics of "Tinderbox", penned by Bernie Taupin
Bernie Taupin
Bernard John "Bernie" Taupin is an English lyricist, poet, and singer, best known for his long-term collaboration with Elton John, writing the lyrics for the majority of the star's songs, making his lyrics some of the best known in pop-rock's history.In 1967, Taupin answered an advertisement in...
and sung by Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
.
Modest Mouse
Modest Mouse
Modest Mouse is an American indie rock band formed in 1993 in Issaquah, Washington, by singer/lyricist/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green, and bassist Eric Judy. They are based in Portland, Oregon. Since their 1996 debut album, This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think...
vocalist Isaac Brock
Isaac Brock (musician)
Isaac Brock is the lead singer, guitarist, banjoist, and songwriter for the American indie rock band Modest Mouse, as well as his side project band, Ugly Casanova...
seems to take a stab at Nostradamus in a song called "Education" from the band's fifth studio album, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank is the fifth studio album by American indie rock band Modest Mouse, released in 2007. The album is the first studio album by the band since their 2004 album, Good News for People Who Love Bad News and is also the first album with former Smiths guitarist Johnny...
. The verse is as follows: "Good old Nostradamas / he knew the whole damn time / there would always be an east from west / and someone in there fighting".
In the bonus track of Dane Cook
Dane Cook
Dane Jeffrey Cook is an American stand-up comedian and film actor. He has released five comedy albums: Harmful If Swallowed; Retaliation; Vicious Circle; Rough Around The Edges: Live From Madison Square Garden; and Isolated Incident. In 2006, Retaliation became the highest charting comedy album...
's "Harmful if Swallowed" he speaks of how a person would wake up and think he is late, then look at his clock to find out that he is in fact late. He would yell "I HATE it when I'm like Nostradamus
Nostradamus
Michel de Nostredame , usually Latinised to Nostradamus, was a French apothecary and reputed seer who published collections of prophecies that have since become famous worldwide. He is best known for his book Les Propheties , the first edition of which appeared in 1555...
and I predict that I'm late!"
Comics
In an Italian Mickey MouseMickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
story (Topolino E La Piramide Impossible), Mickey and Goofy
Goofy
Goofy is a cartoon character created in 1932 at Walt Disney Productions. Goofy is a tall, anthropomorphic dog, and typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled fedora. Goofy is a close friend of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck...
travel back in time and by accident a young boy followed them back to the present. The boy had to go back to his own time and his memory of the future was erased, but before that he grabbed pieces of books. The boy of course became Nostradamus and the ripped pages from books explained his visions of the future. The story was made by Massimo Marconi and Massimo De Vita.
In 1989 Scrooge McDuck
Scrooge McDuck
Scrooge McDuck is a cartoon character created in 1947 by Carl Barks and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Scrooge is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a red or blue frock coat, top hat, pince-nez glasses, and spats...
story "The Curse of Nostrildamus" by Don Rosa
Don Rosa
Keno Don Hugo Rosa, known simply as Don Rosa, is an American comic book writer and illustrator known for his stories about Scrooge McDuck, Donald Duck and other characters created by Carl Barks for Disney comics, such as The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck.-Early life:Don Rosa's grandfather,...
(AR 143), Scrooge enters the prophet's tomb to take the amulet that was the source of his power. However, whoever wears the amulet also attracts disasters - though Donald Duck
Donald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...
ends up as the victim of the disasters instead of Scrooge. In author's commentary in the Finnish album release, Don Rosa says he was inspired to write the story based on the legend that whoever drank from Nostradamus's skull would be given the gift of prophecy.
A Phantom
The Phantom
The Phantom is an American adventure comic strip created by Lee Falk, also creator of Mandrake the Magician. A popular feature adapted into many media, including television, film and video games, it stars a costumed crimefighter operating from the fictional African country Bengalla.The Phantom is...
story from 1983 by Ulf Granberg and Jaime Vallvé featured an appearance by Nostradamus.
In the DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
Universe, Nostradamus was an ancestor of Zatara
Zatara
Giovanni "John" Zatara is a fictional character in the DC Universe. He first appeared in Action Comics #1 , and was created by writer and artist Fred Guardineer. He is a stage magician who also practices actual magic...
and Zatanna
Zatanna
Zatanna Zatara is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Murphy Anderson, Zatanna first appeared in Hawkman vol. 1 #4...
.
In the Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
series S.H.E.I.L.D. Nostradamus is held prisoner of Issac Newton and kept alive for centuries using the Fountain of Youth
Fountain of Youth
The Fountain of Youth is a legendary spring that reputedly restores the youth of anyone who drinks of its waters. Tales of such a fountain have been recounted across the world for thousands of years, appearing in writings by Herodotus, the Alexander romance, and the stories of Prester John...
so he can read the future for him.
In Scott Adams
Scott Adams
Scott Raymond Adams is the American creator of the Dilbert comic strip and the author of several nonfiction works of satire, commentary, business, and general speculation....
's comic strip Dilbert
Dilbert
Dilbert is an American comic strip written and drawn by Scott Adams. First published on April 16, 1989, Dilbert is known for its satirical office humor about a white-collar, micromanaged office featuring the engineer Dilbert as the title character...
, "Nostradogbert" is a pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
of Dogbert
Dogbert
Dogbert is Dilbert's anthropomorphic pet talking dog from the Dilbert comic strip. According to creator Scott Adams, the character is being based on, if not a member of, the beagle breed.-Characterization:...
.
In Mad Magazine's section entitled the "strip club" a comic strip entitled Middle School Nostradamus appears every so often. Nostradamus is depicted as a preteen in wizard garb who makes predictions of impending despair for the people he is around at inopportune times.
Games
Face released an arcade gameArcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
Nostradamus
Nostradamus (arcade game)
Nostradamus is a vertically scrolling arcade shoot 'em up released by Face in 1993.Players control either Dalas or Joanna to shoot down many different enemies and then defeat the level boss to advance through the game's nine stages....
. Though the game itself had nothing to do with Nostradamus, the game's title screen showed a resemblance to his son's portrait of him, however he is facing the other direction and looks older.
In Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, known in Japan as , is an action-adventure game developed and published by Konami for the Game Boy Advance. It is part of Konami's Castlevania video game series, and the third installment of the series on the Game Boy Advance. The game was released in North America on...
, the prophecy of 1999 was used as the resurrection of Dracula
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
and added that all born of the day of Dracula's demise are "Dark Candidates" meaning that they have the potential to become the next Dark Lord. This prophecy is referenced again in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, known in Japan as , is an action video game developed and published by Konami. The game was released on November 16, 2006 in Japan, and in the US on December 5, 2006 for the Nintendo DS handheld game console...
; the Belmonts cannot wield the Vampire Killer whip until 1999, when Dracula is revived.
In the eroge
Eroge
An or Ero-ga is a Japanese video or computer game that features erotic content, usually in the form of anime-style artwork. Eroge originated from galge, but unlike galge, they feature erotic/pornographic content.-History:...
Nostradamus ni Kiite Miro♪, a girl named Stra (a shortened form of Nostradamus) claims to be the writer of Nostradamus' predictions.
The prophet Nostradamus appears in the 2003 video game Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader
Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader
Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader is an action role-playing game, developed for the PC by Reflexive Entertainment, and released on August 13, 2003. The game is viewed from a 3/4 isometric camera angle...
.
In Nostradamus: The Last Prophecy
Nostradamus: The Last Prophecy
Nostradamus: The Last Prophecy is an adventure video game released in 2007 that was developed by Kheops, Mzone and Totm. It was a co-production by Elektrogames, Kheops Studio, MC2, Mzone and Totm, and is published in the US by MC2....
, Nostradamus appears as an adviser to his daughter during the game.
In Super Ninja Boy
Super Ninja Boy
Super Ninja Boy is an action role-playing game released for the Super NES. It features random encounters with side-scrolling battles, although some boss battles are fought with a traditional menu-based system. There are also a few platforming sections.In single player mode, the main character is...
for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
there is a prophet named Notruedamus.
In Ninja Gaiden (arcade)
Ninja Gaiden (arcade)
Ninja Gaiden, known in Japan as and in Europe as Shadow Warriors, is a side-scrolling beat-'em-up originally released by Tecmo as a coin-operated video game. It was first released in North America in and in Japan and Europe in...
the hero is a nameless ninja on a quest to defeat an evil cult led by a fictional descendant of Nostradamus.