Nostradamus

Nostradamus, born Michel de Nostredame in 1503 in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, was a French physician, apothecary, and amateur astrologer. He gained renown for his medical work during plague outbreaks and for writings on cosmetics and remedies, including a famous treatise on cosmetic preparations.

He is best known for Les Prophéties, a collection of many four-line verses written in rhymed French and published in 1555. The prophecies are organized into centuries, with hundreds of quatrains that employ symbolic and cryptic imagery. Nostradamus’s verses are deliberately ambiguous, drawing on historical, biblical, and astrological motifs, which has facilitated a wide range of interpretations over the centuries.

Method and content: Nostradamus is said to have used a combination of medical knowledge, astrology, and numerology to construct his prophecies. The quatrains touch on topics such as wars, famines, natural disasters, plagues, and political change, often linking events to celestial or planetary symbolism. The language is metaphorical and contested in meaning, leading to post hoc readings that connect the verses to later events.

Reception and legacy: Since their appearance, Nostradamus’s prophecies have inspired enduring interest and popular culture, including biographies, films, and various theories about forecasting world events. Scholars view many purported predictions as vague or retrofitted to events after they occur, and emphasize the interpretive nature of the text rather than a reliable predictive system. Nostradamus remains a prominent figure in discussions of prophecy and the cultural preoccupation with forecasting the future.