1. Biography ~

Michel de Notredame, or Nostradamus, was the greatest prophet of all time. He was born to Renee and Jacques de Notredame in 1503 at St. Remy in Provence, France. They were Jewish, but converted to Christianity under the compulsory edict of Louis XII.

In 1522, his parents sent Michel to study medicine at Montpelier, where he obtained a baccalaureate in 1525. Armed with his license, prescriptions and zeal, Nostradamus set out through southern France to battle the Black Plague. In 1529 he returned to Montpellier to obtain his doctorate. Afterwards he went traveling again, but eventually accepted an invitation to stay at Agen, near Bordeaux, at the house of the eminent poet-philosopher and literary critic Julius-Cesar Scaliger. Nostradamus called Scaliger "a Virgil in poetry, a Cicero in eloquence, a Galen in medicine."

At Agen, Nostradamus met and married Adriete de Loubeja. They began to raise a family, but another outbreak of plague took the lives of his wife and two children. Despite his skills, Nostradamus could not save them; his medical practice suffered for that. Then, his friendship with Scaliger deteriorated into argument, as was the critic’s wont, and the Inquisitors summoned Nostradamus for questioning. He decided to travel again, and did so for several years.

While in Provence from 1544-1545, Nostradamus fought the plague again, especially at Aix where it was at its worst. He settled nearby at Salon and married Anna Gemella in November 1547. He devoted himself to the practice of medicine and private studies.

Nostradamus began to discover his prophetic abilities in 1547. He began publishing predictive annual Almanacs in 1550, followed by Prognostications in 1554. At that time, the lawyer, scholar and theologian Jean-Ayme de Chavigny resigned from his position as mayor of Bearne to study under Nostradamus. Chavigny was the prophet’s friend, only student, and wrote Nostradamus’ biography. At the urging of Chavigny, Nostradamus had the first edition of The True Centuries published in March 1555. The book contained 353 quatrains; more were added in subsequent editions. In the preface, Nostradamus wrote:

"In 1554, I decided to give way and, by dark and cryptic sentences, tell of the causes of the future mutation of mankind, especially the most urgent ones... in a manner that would not upset fragile sentiments. All had to be written under a cloudy form, above all things prophetic...

"Many times in the week, I am overtaken by an ecstasy; having rendered my nocturnal studies agreeable through long calculations, I have composed books of prophecies, of which each contains one hundred astronomical quatrains of prophecies. I have sought to polish them a bit obscurely. They are perpetual prophecies, for they extend from now to the year 3797."

In the "Epistle to Henry II" included in the expanded 1557 edition of The True Centuries, Nostradamus wrote:

"Although my calculations may not hold good for all nations, they have, however, been determined with the emotion, handed down to me by my forebears, which comes over me at certain hours. But the danger of the times, O most serene King, requires that such secrets should not be bared except in enigmatic sentences having, however, only one sense and meaning, and nothing ambiguous or amphibological inserted. Rather, they are under a cloud of obscurity."

Nostradamus first wrote his quatrains in plain Old French, and he included names and dates. Then he rewrote them in a complex code of acronyms, anagrams, apocope, synechdoches, ellipses, hyperbations and metatheses, syncopes, aphereses, epentheses, metonyms, and other exotic grammars and syntaxes. Nostradamus burned (or possibly buried) the original, explicit prose prophecies, because he did not want to complicate unduly humanity’s problem of free choice, or to encourage a fatalism that might deter us from making our best efforts to correct ourselves. Nor did he wish to interfere with the fulfillment of his prophecies by stating them too clearly in advance. And, he had no desire to incur the wrath of the Holy Inquisition. Nostradamus qualified his divinations in a warning in the preface:

"I warn you especially against the vanity of the more execrable magic, condemned of yore by the Holy Scriptures and by the Canons of the Church.

"However, judicial astrology is excepted from this judgment. For it is by this, together with divine inspiration and revelation, and continual nightly watches and calculations, that we have reduced our prophecies to writing. Although this occult philosophy was not condemned, I did not desire that you should ever be tempted with their unbridled promptings. I had at my disposal many volumes which had been hidden a great many centuries. But dreading what use might be made of them, after reading them I consigned them to the flames. As the fire came to devour them, the flame licking the air shot forth an unusual brightness, clearer than natural fire. It was like the light of lightning thunder, suddenly illuminating the house, as if in sudden conflagration..."

According to some opinions, those books were some of the sacred manuscripts rescued from the Holy of Holies in the Temple of Jerusalem when it was destroyed by Titus in 70 AD. The occult keys were transmitted by the fathers of the tribe of Issachar, who were closely linked to the Temple and the Kings of Jerusalem. The builders of the Temple are thought to have removed themselves to the area of Provence, France, and Nostradamus may have inherited some of their books. Nostradamus explained himself further in his "Epistle to Henry II":

"It is quite true, Sire, that my natural instinct has been inherited from my forebears... and that this natural instinct has been adjusted and integrated with long calculations. At the same time, I freed my soul, mind, and heart of all care, solicitude, and vexation. All of these prerequisites for presaging I achieved in part by means of the brazen tripod...

Nostradamus described his mantic ritual in the first two quatrains of The True Centuries:

"Being seated by night in secret study
Alone resting on the brass stool
A slight flame coming forth from the solitude
That which is not believed in vain is uttered." (C.1:1)

"With rod in hand set in the midst of Branchus
With the water he wets both limb and foot
Fearful, voice trembling through his sleeves:
Divine splendor. The divine seats himself nearby." (C.1:2)

Branchus was a Greek youth to whom Apollo gave the gift of prophecy. The Oracle of Branchus had its own temple and cult. Apparently, Nostradamus invoked that spirit, or Apollo. The prophet also gave notice of his "Incantation of the Law against inept Critics":

"Let those who read this verse consider it profoundly
Let the profane and ignorant herd keep away
And far away all Astrologers, Idiots, and Barbarians
May he who does otherwise be subject to the ancient rite." (C.6:100)

Shortly after the publication of The True Centuries, Nostradamus became famous as some of his prophecies found fulfillment in the death of King Henry II in a joust with the Count of Montgomery (C.1:35, C.3:30, and C.3:35). In the ensuing centuries, many more of his predictions have been fulfilled with acceptable (and sometimes startling) accuracy. Following is a partial list of historical events foreseen by the prophet according to a consensus of some of his commentators’ interpretations:

16th century:

Catherine Medici and the fate of her sons (C.6:29, C.2:63, and C.7:32); Queen Mary and the Casket Letters, 1567 (C.10:39, C.10:55, and C.8:23); the capture of Calais, 1558 (C.7:16); the Battle of Lepanto, October 1571 (C.9:42); the capture of Tunis, 1573 (C.8:50); and the Edict of Poitier, 1577 (C.5:72).

17th century:

The death of Elizabeth I, 1603 (C.6:74); the death of Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIII, 1642 (C.9:18 and C.8:68); the defeat, captivity and execution of Charles I, 1649 (C.3:80, C.8:37, and C.9:49); Charles II and the battle of Worcester, 1651 (C.10:4 and C.8:56); the Plague of London, 1665 (C.2:53); the Great Fire of London, 1666 (C.2:51); the sinking of the French fleet in the Gulf of Lyon, 1655 (C.3:87); the 30 Years War (C.5:12 and C.5:13); and William III of England and the Glorious Revolution of 1688-1689 (C.4:89).

18th century:

The War of Spanish Succession, 1701-1713 (C.4:2 and C.2:5); the death of Pope Pius VI at Valence, 1799 (C.2:97); the French Revolution and the death of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette (C.1:3, C.1:14, C.1:58, C.5:5, C.6:92, C.9:20, C.9:34, and C.9:77); and Napolean and the Battle of Lodi, May 10, 1796 (C.6:79).

19th century:

Napolean I (C.8:1, C.1:57, and C.4:53) and his Italian campaign (C.4:37, C.3:37, C.2:94, and C.1:93); Wellington’s campaign against Napolean in the Spanish peninsula (C.4:70) and at Waterloo, 1815 (C.4:75); Napolean’s Russian Campaign (C.3:37) and his retreat from Moscow, 1812-1813 (C.4:82); Napolean’s exile at Elba and St. Helena (C.1:32 and C.1:60); the assassination of Duke de Berry, 1820 (C.4:73); Napolean III (C.8:41 and C.5:20) and the Franco-Prussian War, 1870-1871 (C.4:100); the coronation of Napolean III (C.5:6); and the defeat of Louis Napolean, 1870 (C.8:43).

20th century:

The abdication of Edward VIII, 1936 (C.10:40), World Wars I and II (dozens of quatrains); Hitler (C.2:24 and several others); Marshal Petain of France, 1940-1944 (C.4:61 and C.8:68); the capture of Tobruk (C.1:28); and Mussolini and Victor Emmanuel V (C.8:31).

The literature about Nostradamus is inextricably connected with his fame, which increases or suffers according to his accuracy and that of his translators, interpreters, and other propagandists. Nostradamus prophecies have gone through many editions, some of which are counterfeit. Most are riddled with typographic and other editorial errors. In 1912, the German researcher Graf Karl von Klinckow published the first decisive bibliographic study of the old editions, but it contained many errors of transmissions. The definitive study to date is Edgar Leoni’s Nostradamus and His Prophecies, which represents the authentic spelling and style of the first edition.

The quatrains have become more understandable since many were fulfilled by World War I and II. Perhaps as many as half of Nostradamus’ prophecies have been fulfilled with acceptable accuracy. Nostradamus also foresaw his historical influence:

"For five hundred years more one will keep count of him
Who was the ornament of his time:
Then suddenly great light will give,
Who for this century will render them very satisfied." (C.3:94)

By 2055 AD (500 years after the publication of The True Centuries in 1555), Nostradamus will be vindicated. Most of his prophecies will have been fulfilled and will have served well in guiding us through these perilous times. For that, we can be thankful and "very satisfied".

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2. The United States ~

Nostradamus included notice of several inventions in his quatrains, such as the first hot-air balloon; he named the Montgolfier brothers (C.5:57). Nostradamus foresaw submarines ("the fleet swims underwater"), the periscope ("the eye of the sea"), rockets ("the device of flying fire"), the atomic bomb, and other machines as yet unknown.

Nostradamus also foretold the birth and growth of the United States of America:

"Of the aquatic triplicity will be born
One who will make Thursday for its holiday
Its fame, praise, rule its power to grow
By land and sea tempest to the Orientals." (C.1:50)

The USA is surrounded by the "aquatic triplicity" of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the Gulf of Mexico, and celebrates the unique Thanksgiving holiday on a Thursday in November since its institution by a joint act of Congress in 1941. At that time (World War II), the USA became a "tempest to the Orientals", culminating in the hell storms of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

"The earth and air will freeze such great water
When they come to venerate Thursday:
That which will be never was it so beautiful,
From the four parts they will come to honor it." (C.10:71)

The Great Blizzard of 1888 (March 12) might have been the event mentioned in line 1, but it may just as well remain to be fulfilled sometime in the future. Meanwhile, "to venerate Thursday" is to celebrate Thanksgiving in America the Beautiful (line 3). Line 4 suggests the immigration of so many people to America "from the four parts" (north, south, east and west) to honor America’s development with their lives and works.

"The great city by the maritime Ocean,
Surrounded by a crystalline swamp:
In the winter solstice and the spring,
It will be tried by a frightful wind." (C.10:71)

This quatrain reiterates the message of C.10:71. "The great city by the maritime Ocean" probably is New York, or perhaps London. The Hudson River will freeze over during an extremely cold winter marked by a terrible storm ("a frightful wind"). The city’s water supply will be terribly polluted:

"Garden of the world near the new city
In the path of the hollow mountains:
It will be seized and plunged into the Tub
Forced to drink water poisoned by sulfur." (C.10:59)

New Jersey is the "Garden State" near New York City ("the new city"), whose skyscrapers are "hollow mountains". Line 3 is mysterious, but acid rain can be inferred from line 4.

"One day the two great masters will be friends
Their great power will be seen increased:
The new land will be at its height
To the bloody one the number recounted." (C.2:89)

"The two great masters" probably are the United States and the USSR or China, whose already great power is continuing to increase as mentioned in line 2. "The new land" is the USA. "The bloody one" is Al Gore (gore menaing blood and guts), and "the number recounted" is the Florida electoral vote of November 2000.

"Libra will see the Hesperias govern
Holding the monarchy of heaven and earth:
No one will see the forces of Asia perish,
Only seven hold the hierarchy in order." (C.4:50)

Libra (the scales of justice) will be exalted in the USA (Hesperias, the Lands of the West), which has pioneered and dominated both on earth and in space ("Holding the monarchy of heaven and earth"). Line 3 suggests that the Chinese army will be destroyed at a long distance ("No one will see..."), presumably by nuclear or biochemical weapons. Line 4 is unclear, but a cabal is indicated.

Nostradamus may well have foretold the Nixon-Watergate scandal:

"The false message about the rigged election
Runs through the city stopping the broken pact.
Voices bought, the chapel stained with blood,
And to another the empire contracted." (C.8:20)

The false message, rigged election, broken pact, and voices bought were aspects of President Nixon’s Watergate crisis of 1974. "The empire contracted to another" refers to Nixon’s replacement by President Gerald Ford. In line 3, "the chapel stained with blood" notes the murder of a young woman in San Jose, California in December 1974. Her body was found in a church. This line helps place the prophecy concurrently with the Watergate conspiracy. It also makes one wonder if Nostradamus was reading modern newspaper across time, since the murder in question was minor news, mentioned only in local newspapers. Of course, the prophet may well have had another meaning in mind.

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3. Recently Fulfilled Quatrains ~

The following was fulfilled in every detail in December 1974. Its accuracy exemplifies the great adeptness of Nostradamus:

"Mars and Mercury and the silver joined together
To the south extreme dryness
The heart of Asia will say the earth trembles
Corinth, Ephesus then in perplexity." (C.3:3)

Silver symbolizes the moon. Conjunctions of Mars, Mercury and the Moon occur every few years --- in this case, December 1974. At that time, there was a drought ("extreme dryness") in Biafra, Africa, "to the south" of France. The third line was fulfilled by a major earthquake that struck Pakistan on December 31, 1974. The fourth line refers to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in December 1974. Ephesus is in Turkey, and Corinth is in Greece, which of course is not Cyprus, but is closely associated with the island.

Nostradamus also predicted the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the siege of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in Beirut in 1982:

"The device of flying fire
Will come to trouble the great besieged Chief
Within there will be such sedition
That the profligate ones will be in despair." (C.6:34)

This quatrain can apply to the Israeli siege of the PLO in Beirut. "The device of flying fire" is Nostradamus’ term for jets or missiles, phosphorus bombs and artillery which were used "to trouble the great besieged Chief", Yasser Arafat. The Israeli invasion of Lebanon was triggered by the attempted assassination of Shlomo Argov, the Israeli ambassador in London, by a PLO splinter group ("sedition within"). Line 4 is confusing until "profligate" is understood in its obsolete meaning: beaten and dispersed. Thus, "profligate" certainly applies to the PLO besieged in Beirut. Their circumstance and its resolution (the UN-supervised evacuation of the PLO army) are unique in history, and Nostradamus can be credited with having predicted it accurately.

The present and future situation in Iran did not escape Nostradamus’ attention:

"Rain, famine, war in Persia not ceased,
The faith too great will betray the monarch,
For the end began in Gaul:
Secret augury for one to be sparing." (C.1:70)

This quatrain foretells famine in Iran (Persia). "The faith too great" is the Islamic religion; the betrayed monarch was the deposed Shah Pahlavi. "The end began in Gaul" (France), where Ayatollah Rubollah Khomeini was exiled until he returned to Iran after the revolution there. The last line is more difficult to interpret. It can also be translated as "Secret augury for one to be fate", which may be private advice to some fated person whom Nostradamus expected to read his prophecies some day.

"New law to occupy the new land
Toward Syria, Judea and Palestine:
The great barbarian empire to decay,
Before the Moon completes its cycle." (C.3:7)

Lines 1 and 2 predict the return of the Jews to establish Israel. Lines 3 and 4 foretell the decline of Moslem power; the crescent moon is a Moslem symbol. A lunar cycle is about 28 days, but a larger-scale cycle of 28 years may be meant here.

"Newcomers, place built without defense,
To occupy place then uninhabitable
Meadows, houses, towns to take at pleasure,
Hunger, pestilence, war, extensive acreage arable." (C.2:19)

This is Nostradamus’ prediction of the Israeli kibbutz program, which has taken "at pleasure" and occupied the desert, a "place then uninhabitable", turned it into meadows, and rendered "extensive acreage arable". The following are predictions of World War II:

"The scourge passed the whole world shrinks
For a long time peace and populated lands
On will travel safely by air, land, sea and wave
Then the wars started up anew." (C.1:63)

"At night they will think they have seen the sun
When pig half-man is seen:
Noise, shouts, battle, in heaven fighting is seen:
And brute beasts will be heard to speak." (C.1.:64)

These are predictions of the airplane (line 3 in each quatrain). The peaceful travel enjoyed between the World Wars will end with the advent of more wars. The first line of suggests the explosion of an atomic bomb. "Pig half-man" is an apt description of a pilot wearing an oxygen mask, which somewhat resembles a pig’s snout. The "brute beasts" heard speaking probably refers to the pilots’ radio communication, or perhaps the success of modern experiments to teach animals to speak (i.e., Viki the chimpanzee).

"The Gods will make it appear to men
That they are the authors of a great conflict:
Before heaven seen serene sword and lance,
So that the left hand will be a greater affliction." (C.1:19)

This quatrain has several possible translations and interpretations. The first line also can be translated as "The Gods will make an appearance to men." This suggests that demi-gods --- or mere extraterrestrial aliens --- will put on a display of their power for our edification. However, as Samuel Browning put it, "The Gods are those who either have money or don’t need it"; this definition qualifies Mammon, the Illuminati, the Bilderbergers, etc., to join the club. Or, Nostradamus could be telling us that the next great war will be "religious", such as a Moslem Jihad versus Christianity. Line 4 can be interpreted politically or geographically as leftist governments or western countries.

"Many people will want to come to terms
With the great lords who will want to bring war upon them:
They will not want to hear anything of it from them,
Alas! if God does not send peace to the earth." (C.8:4)

Here, Nostradamus seems to be telling us that the international peace movement will not deter the superpower warlords from having their way.

"Before long all will be arranged
We will expect a very sinister century,
The state of the masked and solitary ones much changed,
Few will be found who want to be in their place." (C.2:10)

The international bankers who run this planet will consummate their plans to control everything, but their plans will fail despite temporary success. Then they will be hunted down and executed.

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4. The Moslem Invasion of Europe ~

According to the most obvious interpretations that can be made of Nostradamus’ cryptic verses, Europe will suffer an invasion by Moslems. The situation will be complicated by Russian and Chinese aggressions. Almost 15% of Nostradamus’ quatrains concern the Moslems. Some of his predictions came true within 20 years after the publication of The True Centuries, but most of them definitely indicate a future war between Christians and Moslems. About a dozen quatrains concerning this tribulation are dated by astronomical configurations beginning in the 1980s and continuing into the 21st century. This war did not begin on schedule, but the prophet was perfectly accurate in his timing the Balkan war between Christians and Moslems in the 1990s.

"When those of the arctic pole are united together,
Great terror and fear in the East:
Newly elected, sustaining great trembling,
Rhodes and Byzantium stained with Barbarian blood." (C.6:21)

"Those of the arctic pole" are the Soviet republics, the USSR. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979, or the Vietnam War, or the Cambodian Pol Pot regime can be inferred from line 2. Line 3 may mean that a newly elected government or leader will remain in power despite a revolution or devastating earthquake. There will be fighting at Rhodes and Eski Eregli (Byzantium). The "Barbarian blood" is that of the Moslems.

"From the Pont Euxine and great Tartary
A king will be who will come to see Gaul
To transpierce Alane and Armenia
And within Bysantium he will leave his rod." (C.5:54)

The Pont Euxine is the Black Sea, and Tartary is in Central Asia, whence came Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, and Tamerlane. Alane is the area between the Don, the Volga, and the Caucasus, occupied by the Alans. The king will be distinguished by "his rod" (a scepter or weapon), with which he will whack about:

"The Easterner will leave his seat,
To pass the Apennine mountains to see Gaul:
He will transpierce the sky, the waters, and the snow,
And everyone will be struck by his rod." (C.2:39)

"He will enter ugly, wicked, infamous,
Tyrannizing over Mesopotamia:
All made friends by the adulterine lady,
Land horrible black of physiognomy." (C.8:70)

The leader of the Moslems will attack Iraq (Mesopotamia) or will come from there (Saddam Hussein?). "The adulterine lady" may be the harlot of "Mystery Babylon" in the biblical Revelation of St. John, or it may symbolize American diplomacy. The land will be razed. Moslems throughout the Middle East, Asia and Africa will be drafted into the jihad, which will be led by a murderous young man:

"Throughout all Asia great proscription,
Even in Mysia, Lysia, and Pamphilia.
Blood will be shed because of the absolution
Of a young black one filled with felony." (C.3:60)

"The synagogue sterile without any fruit
Will be received by the infidels:
The daughter of the persecuted of Babylon
Misery and sadness will clip her wings." (C.8:96)

Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982 injured its national and religious spirit, rendering it "sterile" in the sense of line 1. This sentiment was expressed in June 1983, when Shlomo Argov (the Israeli ambassador whose attempted assassination triggered the war) made his first public statement about war. Argov denounced the politicians and especially the,

"generals who wanted to try their hands at running a war and were incapable of doing so. The Lebanese war is an unsuccessful war, and the people of Israel came out weakened by it. Worthwhile wars are the business of charlatans. Those who spoke about the war and brought it upon us should have thought more than twice of the price, especially in human life. We are a nation short in human resources, and have needlessly sacrificed the lives of hundreds of our best boys. It is the eternal right of our soldiers never to go to war unless it is necessary."

Lines 1 and 2 also can be understood to prophecy the return of the Jews to Israel in 1948. Line 4 suggests that Israel ("The synagogue" and "The daughter of the persecuted of Babylon" --- a reference to the Jewish captivity) will be conquered.

"The great Arab will march far forward
He will be betrayed by the Byzantians:
Ancient Rhodes will come to meet him
And greater harm through the Austrian Panonnois." (C.5:47)

Turkey and Rhodes will resist the Iranian-Arab invasion, and Austria-Hungary (Pannonois) will be attacked by way of Trieste.

"The Blue Turban King entered into Foix
And he will reign less than the evolution of Saturn:
The White Turban King Byzantium heart banished
Sun, Mars, and Mercury near Aquarius." (C.9:73)

"The Blue Turban" Moslem militants (or, the United Nations army) will overthrow the "White Turban" Turkish ruler of C.5:47. Foix is in southwest France, which will be invaded. The new Moslem empire will last less than 30 years, the period of an orbit of Saturn around the sun. The conjunction of Mars, Mercury, and the Sun in Aquarius last occurred in January 1994.

"The two will not remain united for very long,
And in thirteen years to the Barbarian Satrap:
On both sides they will cause such loss
That one will bless the bark and its cope." (C.5:78)

The Moslem alliance will last about 13 years; it will test the Christian spirit ("The Bark and its cope" -- the Church and the Pope)

"At the great market they call that of liars
Of all Torrent and field of Athens
They will be surprised by light cavalry,
By Albanois Mars, Leo, Saturn in Urn." (C.5:91)

A battle will be fought with light cavalry near Athens or in Albania. The astrological configurations of Mars in Leo, and Saturn in Aquarius, occurred between February 1991 and January 1994. This prophecy might have been fulfilled by the Balkan War of the 1990s. Line 1 is inexplicable; it might be a reference to diplomacy.

"The horrible plague Perinthus and Nicopolis
The Peninsula and Macedonia will it fall upon:
It will devastate Thessaly and Amphibolis,
An unknown evil, and from Anthony refusal." (C.9:91)

A new disease ("an unknown evil") will ravage the Balkan Peninsula, especially in Thrace and Preveza.

"In the Cyclades, in Perinthus, and Larissa,
In Sparta all of Peloponnesus
Such great famine, plague through false dust,
Nine months it will last and throughout the entire peninsula." (C.5:90)

The Cyclades are Greek islands southeast of Athens; Perenthus was near the eastern tip of Thrace, and Larissa was the chief city of Thessaly in northern Greece. Sparta is on the Peloponnesian Peninsula. All will be ravaged with biological weapons ("plague through false dust") during nine months.

"Through fire and arms not far from the Black Sea,
Will come from Persia to occupy Trebizand
To tremble Pharos, Myteline, Sol joyful
The Adriatic Sea covered with Arab blood." (C.5:27)

Moslem forces will occupy Trabzun (formerly Trebizand) in the northeast corner of Asia Minor on the Black Sea. Pharos is an island forming part of the harbor of Alexandria, Egypt, and Myteline is the island of Lesbos off the northeast coast of Asia Minor; both will be attacked. Many men will die in the Adriatic Sea.

"Wreck for the fleet near the Adriatic Sea:
The land trembles stirred up upon the air placed on land:
Egypt trembles Mahometan augment,
The Herald surrenders himself, to cry is commissioned." (C.2:86)

As in the preceding quatrain, Nostradamus has predicted a naval battle in the Adriatic Sea. Line two indicates a geological or meteorological catastrophe. Egypt is threatened, as prophesied also in line 3 of C.5:27 ("to tremble Pharos") and in the following quatrain. Line 4 suggests that a new prophet will arise, or that a diplomat will be held hostage.

"The Arab prince Mars, Sun, Venus, Lion
The reign of the Church will succumb to the sea
Toward Persia well near a million
Byzantium, Egypt will resist the temptation." (C.5:25)

Mars, Sol and Venus conjoined in Leo in 1987 and 1989, but the Moslems resisted the opportunity to invade Europe at that time. However, it may have been rescheduled for fulfillment sometime in the first decade of the 21st century.

"One whom the gods of infernal Hannibal
Will bear to be reborn, terror of humans
Never more of horror nor worse days
In the past than will come by Babel to Romans." (C.2:30)

The ancient Carthaginian conqueror Hannibal will reincarnate and attack Rome again. Carthage in North Africa was founded by the Phoenicians. This suggests that Lebanon (Phoenicia) and Libya (Carthage), joined in a 1-million man Jihad led by Col. Moamar Khadafy, will attack Italy first. Babel (line 4) is now Iraq-Iran.

"The Church of God will be persecuted
And the holy temples ill be plundered,
The child will put his mother out in her shift,
Arabs will be allied with the Poles." (C.3:73)

The first two lines of this quatrain are self-explanatory, but cannot be dated. The alliance of line 4 may have been established on September 9, 1982, when Col. Khadafy visited Poland and signed a friendship treaty with that country’s leaders.

"Libyan leader powerful in the West
Will come to inflame very much French with Arab.
Learned in letters he will be condescending
To translate the Arab language into French." (C.3:27)

Khadafy will interfere with French-Arabic diplomacy. Khadafy is "learned in letters" insofar as he is the author of a 3-volume "green book"; he argues for his "third universal theory" and holy war, which he insists should be Islam’s sixth basic obligation. Another quatrain also mentions his "letters":

"O vast Rome, thy ruin approaches,
Not of thy walls, of thy blood and substance
One harsh in letters will make a very horrible notch,
Pointed iron driven into all the hilt". (C.10:65)

"How many times will you be taken, Solar City.
Changing the Barbarian and vain laws,
Your end approaches: you will be more tributary,
The great Adria will recover through your veins." (C.1:8)

The "Solar City" probably is Rome, since it is mentioned in relation to "the great Adria" (Adriatic Sea). Perhaps this prophecy is related to C.1:69 and C.8:16 (above), which mention a great deluge. Otherwise, the prophet may be suggesting an invasion of Venice by Moslems.

"From the Orient will come the Punic heart
To vex Adria and the heirs of Romulus,
Accompanied by the Libyan fleet
Malta to tremble and nearby islands empty." (C.1:9)

"The Punic heart" refers to the Carthaginian Hannibal of C.2:30, attacking Italy ("the heirs of Romulus") with the Libyan fleet in the Adriatic Sea.

"Very near the Tiber presses Libitinia:
Shortly before the great inundation
The chief of the ship taken, thrown into the bilge:
Castle, palace in conflagration." (C.2:93)

Libitinia was the Roman goddess of the dead. The Tiber River will overflow, and the Pope will be captured, according to the most likely meaning of line 3. The Church often is symbolized by a ship, as Christ appointed the Apostles to be "fishers of men". The castle of line 4 is that of San Angelo, the Palace of the Vatican.

"During the appearances of the bearded star
Three great princes will be made enemies
Struck from the sky, peace earth quaking,
Po, Tiber overflowing, serpent placed on the shore." (C.2:43)

"The bearded star" is a comet. "Struck from the sky" probably means aerial bombing. The Po River (France) and the Tiber in Italy will overflow, and the Moslems will mount an amphibious assault ("serpent placed on the shore"). The islands of the Mediterranean Sea will be pillaged:

"Naples, Palermo and all Sicily
The entire coast will remain desolated:
There will remain no suburb, city or town
Not pillaged and robbed by the Barbarians." (C.7:6)

"The chief of Persia will occupy great Olchades
The trireme fleet against the Mahometan people
From Parthia, and Media: and the Cyclades pillaged:
Long rest at the Ionian port." (C.3:64)

The Iranians, et al., will invade southwest Spain (Olchades). The Cyclades are islands in the Aegean Sea. Parthia and Media were located in what is now Iran. "The Ionian port" is either Venice or Trieste.

"From Monaco to near Sicily
The entire coast will remain desolated:
There will remain no suburb, city or town
Not pillaged and robbed by the Barbarians." (C.2:4)

"The legion in the marine fleet
Will burn lime, lodestone, sulfur and pitch:
The long rest in the secure place:
Port Selyn and Monaco, fire will consume them." (C.4:23)

"Greater calamity of blood and famine,
Seven times it approaches the marine shore:
Monaco from hunger, place captured, captivity,
The great one led crunched in an iron cage." (C.3:10)

These quatrains are reasonably clear, spelling doom for the inhabitants of the Mediterranean coast of Europe. A ruler or military commander will be captured and put in a cage.

"In the country of Arabia Felix
There will be born one powerful in the law of Mahomet
To vex Spain, to conquer Granada,
And more by sea against the Ligurian people." (C.5:55)

Arabia Felix is the area between Yemen and Aden. Here Nostradamus seems to be predicting yet another Moslem leader besides the Iranian and the Libyan. Liguria is now Genoa, Italy.

 

Read too Nostradamus and The Moslem Jihad

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