Nostradamus: The Prophecy Machine Rebuilt After Every Crisis

In July 1999, television programmes counted down to the end of the world. They read a line from Nostradamus: “In the year 1999, seven months, from the sky will come a great King of Terror.” Viewers were told to expect an asteroid, a nuclear war, or a destroyer from above. July passed and the world did not end. The prophecy did not disappear. Its meaning was moved to another crisis and the story continued.

Nostradamus was Michel de Nostredame, a French physician and astrologer who lived from 1503 to 1566. His book Les Prophéties was first printed in Lyon in 1555. That first edition contained 353 four-line poems. Later editions added more material; the large posthumous edition of 1568 contained about 942 poems arranged in “Centuries.” The history of the number of poems alone shows that modern readers are not holding one fixed document.