A Prophecy of Empire: The Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius from Late Antique Mesopotamia to the Global Medieval Imagination

The Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius emerged in seventh-century Mesopotamia amid the upheavals of early Islamic expansion and became one of the most widely translated apocalyptic texts of the medieval world. Christopher J. Bonura follows the work from its late antique setting through Greek, Latin and other translation traditions, showing how successive communities adapted its prophecy of empire to new political circumstances.

At the centre of the prophecy is a final Roman emperor whose actions would help usher in the end times. Bonura shows how this image changed as the work passed into Greek and Latin traditions and later entered the world of print, while keeping sight of the political anxieties that gave the story its first audience. He also provides a new, complete annotated English translation of the Syriac text, so the prophecy can be read alongside the history of its remarkable journey.