The Little Book of the End of the World (14 page)

  The Garden of Eden would be re-discovered.

  A final Crusade would win back Jerusalem.

  The Last Roman Emperor would be appointed, a figure who would stand alongside the Messiah and lead his earthly armies.

THE LAST ROMAN EMPEROR

Columbus’ reference to the Last Roman Emperor suggests that he was aware of a much older prophecy: this figure is not mentioned in Revelations, but is part of other texts that supplement the Christian belief in the Endtimes.

The prophecy of the Last Roman Emperor is first mentioned in the
Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius
, written in the seventh century which, like Revelations, uses a dream about the End of the World to reveal some truths to its writer.

This may have been adapted from an older pagan prophecy, attributed to the Tiburtine Sibyl in the days of Greek and Roman mythology, which predicts a ruler who would come to unite humanity.

A sibyl was a seer and wise woman in classical Greek and Roman society, and regularly features in literature from this period; often, the sibyl would speak a seemingly innocent prophecy that would then come true in some horrific manner, despite the subject’s attempts to avoid it.

The Greeks also loved their irony, and many of the sibyls and prophets were blind, or their prophecies held some other loophole. Oedipus was prophesied to kill his own father and marry his mother. Adopted by a neighbouring family, Oedipus became aware of the prophecy and fled his adopted family – only to return to the city of his birth and there fulfil the prophecy.

Similarly, the prophetess Cassandra warned about the events of the Trojan War, but her predictions fell on deaf ears after she was cursed for spurning the advances of Apollo.

The global decline of empires and monarchy means that the prophecy of the Last Roman Emperor has become rather outdated and fallen out of fashion. But it is nonetheless combined with the Prophecy of the Popes – with the Pope also known as Emperor of Rome – and indicates that the final pope may indeed be considered as the Last Roman Emperor.

12

BRITAIN AND THE APOCALYPSE

Britain was in a unique position during the Age of Enlightenment: the British Empire was active in the world, with access to scholars and centres of learning across the globe. However, the heart of the empire was still removed from mainland Europe, unaffected by some of the political and cultural changes that swept across the continent.

Britain instead faced its own challenges, with the End of the World being viewed through the lens of the nation’s artistic, political and military exploits – in most cases, the British Empire was the victor and aggressor, the holder of power in most dealings. This vision persisted as the empire continued to grow, incorporating influences from within and further afield.

PRE-1600

Beowulf

While the stories of classical Greece and Rome were embraced by British Romantic poets for their chivalry and heroism,
Beowulf
is part of the same tradition – just coming from a little further north. One of the defining works of Norse mythology, the story of Beowulf came to our shores across the North Sea, bringing with it tales of savage Vikings and victory over monsters.

The epic poem details Beowulf’s struggle against the monsters threatening his village, first the monstrous Grendel and then Grendel’s mother. After Beowulf defeats them both, he returns home to rule his village for fifty successful years – until his village is threatened by a dragon. Beowulf slays this beast after a glorious battle, but the struggle leads to his own injury and death.

The presence of the dragon draws comparison with Revelations, with Beowulf appearing as a Messianic figure that ensures the safety of his people – in this case, his villagers. His fifty-year reign is even comparable to the rule of Jesus: both occur between two separate battles, and both signal a time of peace and prosperity.

There is no definite source or date for the poem, so it can only be guessed whether
Beowulf
was inspired by Christianity or developed separately. However, some other Old English poets and writers were no stranger to Christian imagery:
The Dream of the Rood
features a dream-like vision as the writer contemplates the cross upon which Jesus was killed. Like Jesus, the cross is subsequently resurrected and proceeds to reign as the greatest of all trees.

Domesday Book

Domesday Book – or Doomsday in modern English – was the result of a large-scale survey of the British Isles carried out in the eleventh century at the the command of William the Conqueror. Having taken the English throne, William was especially interested in the exact size of his new kingdom and the income he could assure by levying taxes.

Domesday Book consists of two separate works: an in-depth survey of Norfolk, Essex and Sussex; and a less-extensive survey of Durham, Westmoreland, Cumberland and Northumberland. The book drew up the borders of land and property, a one-stop solution to all land disputes and arguments over taxation. In all cases, Domesday Book was final and people could not appeal against its judgements.

So how did it get its name?

Domesday Book was likened to the Book of Judgement, the scroll with seven seals that features so prominently in Revelations: like Domesday Book, this scroll represented a final authority for humanity that could not be appealed.

THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

Milton
’
s Paradise Lost

First published in 1667, John Milton’s epic poem
Paradise Lost
sets out to ‘justify the ways of God to men’. The work traces the biblical story of creation, moving through the revolt and subsequent fall of Satan.

Milton’s work is a massively important piece of literature in its characterisation of Satan, applying some very human personalities onto the divine forces that could bring about the End of the World.
Paradise Lost
paints Satan as a tragic hero, a character brimming with pride and whose downfall is ultimately caused by his own actions. While Satan remains the enemy of God and the villain of the piece, his motivations and actions are human and relatable: he is shown winning many followers with his passionate – and in most cases, reasonable – arguments.

Satan’s most famous quote still lingers in popular culture: ‘Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav’n’. The quote gives us some interesting insight into how the forces of evil, whether divine or human, feel about the concept of political power, both in having it, and in being subject to it.

Shakespeare’s The Tempest

Most of Shakespeare’s plays indulge in some form of magic or magical imagery, whether it’s the witches and prophecy of
Macbeth
, the love potion of
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
or the supposed living statue of
Othello.
But in
The Tempest
Shakespeare actually takes a magician as his hero: Prospero was previously the Duke of Milan, but has been deposed, his political power stolen from him. The play concerns Prospero’s plan to destroy the men who have ruined him and restore his daughter to her rightful place in the kingdom.

The Tempest
is the final play attributed to Shakespeare, and many scholars treat it as a retrospective of his work, focusing either on Shakespeare’s biography – drawing similarities between the playwright and Prospero – or the theatricality of the play and its fantastical imagery.

With Prospero acting as a proud deposed ruler, there are many similarities between him and Milton’s Satan: both are not just deposed, but also obsessed with the notion of power, and both seek to deliver their own versions of justice. Prospero summons the tempest of the title which leads to a shipwreck; the existence of the storm proves that Prospero possesses otherworldly powers – and corrupt reasons for using them – which could ally him to characters with the forces of evil during Armageddon.

That Prospero, who brings about this destruction, is an individual not a force or a movement, gives us some insight into the representation of the Antichrist as we move towards the modern world. As the End of the World becomes significantly more political, could the Endtimes be brought about by a single man or woman who has been corrupted by political power? And just where could this individual get such power?

Hobbes’ Leviathan

Taking its name from the biblical Leviathan, a sea creature from the Old Testament, Thomas Hobbes’ 1651 book is a significant part of political and social thought.
Leviathan
reflects on government and society and how the two interact, a sort of update of Plato’s
Republic
for a more modern world.

Hobbes sees humanity as a chaotic force that will constantly work against any government or other means of control, ultimately leading to failure. In order to minimise this resistance, Hobbes believes that political control should come from a single individual source: he considers monarchy to be the best form of government, as it eliminates the ability for society to resist.

Hobbes then sees religion as a public indulgence: he suggests that the authority of the Church does not come from a divine insight, but rather an agreement amongst the people to support it. Karl Marx would later describe religion as the ‘opium of the people’, a sort of ultimate distraction from which people gather comfort and a sense of community, but nothing else.

Hobbes’ near-atheist views extended to the End of the World too, and the final section of
Leviathan
is dedicated to what he calls the ‘Kingdom of Darkness’. This is not an earthly or physical kingdom, but rather the darkness formed by human ignorance and the misinterpretation of religious texts. Hobbes creates a complicated argument that, ultimately, suggests that religion and government have no connection and should be kept distinct and separate.

Finally, Hobbes suggests that all human conflict stems from a fear of the
summum malum
, or death: as humanity seeks to avoid its own death, it causes destruction and violence that could even bring about the End of the World. But Hobbes does have one suggestion: this fear could be controlled and manipulated by rulers for their own ends.

To Hell or to Connaught

The biblical imagery of the Four Horsemen reared its head once more in the seventeenth century, when Oliver Cromwell led a Parliamentary invasion of Ireland in order to combat resistance to British rule. The Cromwellian Conquest cemented British control over the island and has had repercussions that can still be felt today.

Cromwell’s role in British history is well documented, and he is mostly respected within Britain. But the Irish invasion paints him as a wholly monstrous figure, scouring the country on horseback and driving the populace from their homes and towards the inhospitable west coast – the province of Connaught.

Although the Four Horsemen are not referenced directly, Cromwell and other conquerors of the time are depicted similarly to the first horseman of the Apocalypse, especially by the peoples that they were conquering; after conquistador activity wiped out South American natives, art and imagery shows the invading forces rearing on horseback, ready to trample on the natives.