Nostradamus, the man who predicted NOTHING!

[clairobscur]

@jayjay

Mesopotamia (or Babylon), and it would have been closer to “If the shrubbery should attack Babylon, it will bring down a great empire.”.

Predicted to Cresus, if I’m not mistaken, but was it by the oracle of Delphi?

[jayjay]

@clairobscur

Predicted to Cresus, if I’m not mistaken, but was it by the oracle of Delphi?

The legend is that the Oracles at both Delphi and Thebes returned that answer to him.

[The_Man_In_Black]

@Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor

Welcome to the SDMB, Valteron.

Good strong start, with a no-nonsense take.

Your position on Nostradamus’ “predictions” coincides with my own. Fortune-telling is rubbish.

To be fair, Nostradamus made 2 non-mystical contributions that partially redeem him in my eyes.

1. During the Black Plague, he was one of the few physicians who didn’t flee the cities. He stayed, & helped the sick. Courage counts for something. His medical advice for Plague was pointedly non-magical: good diet, bed rest, & cold compresses to reduce fever.

2)He wrote a charming book of jelly & preserves recipes.

He’d have my respect, if he hadn’t gone commercial with those silly books on “prophesy”

I remember hearing that he also recommended bathing as a way of stopping the spread of the Black Death. Doing so would help keep fleas off you.

[BMalion]

@jayjay

Mesopotamia (or Babylon), and it would have been closer to “If the shrubbery should attack Babylon, it will bring down a great empire.” The Oracle (at Delphi or elsewhere), or at least her interpreter, couched her predictions in obscure riddles.

“With a little path in the middle so we get a two-level effect.”