Prophecy

Prophecy

See also Omen.

Prosperity (See SUCCESS.)

Ancaeus

prophecy that he would not live to taste the wine from his vineyards is fulfilled. [Gk. Myth.: Brewer Dictionary, 32]

augurs

Roman officials who interpreted omens. [Rom. Hist.: Parrinder, 34]

Balaam

vaticinally speaks with Jehovah’s voice. [O.T.: Numbers 23:8–10; 24:18–24]

banshee

Irish spirit who foretells death. [Irish Folklore: Briggs, 14–16]

Belshazzar’s Feast

disembodied hand foretells Belshazzar’s death. [O.T.: Daniel 5]

Brave New World

picture of world’s condition 600 years from now. [Br. Lit.: Brave New World]

Calamity Jane

(Martha Jane Canary or Martha Burke, 1852–1903) mannish prophetess of doom. [Am. Hist.: Flexner, 71]

Calchas

declares that Iphigenia must be sacrificed to appease Artemis and ensure the Greeks’ safe passage to Troy. [Gk. Myth.: Hamilton, 261]

Calpurnia

sees bloody statue of Julius in dream. [Br. Lit.: Julius Caesar]

Carmen

the cards repeatedly spell her death. [Fr. Opera: Bizet, Carmen, Westerman, 189–190]

Cassandra

always accurate but fated to be disbelieved, predicts doom of Troy to brother, Hector. [Br. Lit.: Troilus and Cressida; Gk. Myth.: Parrinder, 57]

Cumaean

sibyl to discover future, leads Aeneas to Hades. [Gk. Lit.: Aeneid]

Delphi

ancient oracular center near Mt. Parnassus. [Gk. Myth.: Parrinder, 74; Jobes, 428]

Dodona

oldest oracle of Zeus in Greece. [Gk. Myth.: Kravitz, 83]

Ezekiel

priest and prophet to the Jews during Babylonian captivity. [O.T.: Ezekiel]

Golden Cockerel

its crowing predicts either peace or disaster. [Russ. Opera: Rimsky-Korsakov, Coq d’Or, Westerman, 392]

Guardian Black Dog

sinister omen of death. [Br. Folklore: Briggs, 207–208]

haruspices

ancient Etruscan seers who divined the future from the entrails of animals. [Rom. Hist.: EB, IV: 933]

Huldah

tells of impending disaster for the idolatrous. [O.T.: II Kings 22:14–19]

I Ching

a book of divination and speculations. [Chinese Lit.: I Ching]

Isaiah

foretells fall of Jerusalem; prophet of doom. [O.T.: Isaiah]

Jeremiah

the Lord’s herald. [O.T.: Jeremiah]

John

the Baptist foretells the coming of Jesus. [N.T.: Luke 3:16]

Joseph

predicted famine from Pharaoh’s dreams. [O.T.: Genesis 41:25–36]

Mopsus

seer who interpreted the words of the Argo’s talking prow. [Gk. Myth.: Benét, 684]

Muhammad

(570–632) the prophet of Islam. [Islam. Hist.: NCE, 1854]

Nostradamus

(1503–1566) startlingly accurate French astrologer and physician. [Fr. Hist.: NCE, 1969]

pythoness

priestess of Apollo, the Delphic Oracle, endowed with prophetic powers. [Gk. Hist.: Collier’s, VII, 682]

Rocking-Horse Winner, The

a small boy predicts winners in horse races through the medium of a demonic rocking horse. [Br. Lit.: D. H. Lawrence The Rocking-Horse Winner in Benét, 866]

Sibyllae

women endowed with prophetic powers who interceded with gods for men. [Gk. Myth.: Zimmerman, 239]

Sibylline Books

nine tomes foretelling Rome’s future. [Rom. Leg.: Brewer Dictionary]

Smith, Joseph Mormon

prophet; professed visions of new faith. [Am. Hist.: Jameson, 467]

Smith, Valentine Michael

messianic Martian shows earthlings the way. [Am. Lit.: Stranger in a Strange Land]

sortes

(Homericae, Virgilianae, Biblicae) fortune-telling by taking random passages from a book (as Iliad, Aeneid, or the Bible). [Eur. Culture: Collier’s, VII, 683]

Sosostris, Madame

“the wisest woman in Europe,” cleverly interprets the Tarot cards. [Br. Poetry: T. S. Eliot “The Waste Land”]

Tarot

cards used to tell fortunes. [Magic: Brewer Dictionary, 1063]

Tiresias

blind and greatest of all mythological prophets. [Gk. Myth.: Zimmerman, 255; Gk. Lit.: Antigone; Odyssey; Oedipus Tyrannus]

Ulrica

foretells Gustavus’ murder by his friend Anckarstrom. [Ital. Opera: Verdi, Masked Ball, Westerman, 313–315]

voice … crying in the wilderness

John the Baptist, in reference to his prophecy of the coming of Christ. [N.T.: Matthew 3:3]

Weird Sisters

three witches who set Macbeth agog with prophecies of kingship. [Br. Lit.: Macbeth]