Revived Mediaeval prophesies supposedly predicting the fall of the Ottoman Empire 1596

Various artists

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• About the artwork
  LEO VI (the Wise) of Byzantium and Antonius SEVERUS of Rome (attributed).
  
  Vaticinium Severi, et Leonis Imperatorum, in quo videtur finis Turcarum in praesenti eorum imperatore, una cum aliis nonnullis in hac re Vaticiniis. | Profetia di Severo, et Leone Imperatori, nella quale si vede il fine de Turchi nel presente loro Imperatore, con alcune altre profetie in questo proposito.
  Brescia, Pietro Maria Marchetti, 1596. Small 8vo (15 x 10 cm).
  With Marchetti's woodcut anchor and dolphin device (imitating Aldus's) on the title-page and 16 numbered engraved emblematic illustrations (plate size 8.5 x 6.5 cm).
  Early 18th-century gold-tooled calf.
  
  First edition of the so-called Oracles of Leo the Wise, with a bilingual (Latin an Italian) text and 16 lovely and rather surreal engravings: an emblematic book of prophecies traditionally attributed to Leo VI (866-911/12), Emperor of Byzantium from 866 to his death and at least here also to Antonius Severus (188-217), sole Emperor of Rome from his murder of his brother in December 211 to his death. The Latin text was circulated, already attributed to Leo the Wise, in the 12th century, but Christians revived it in the 16th century and interpreted it as a prophecy that the Ottoman Empire would fall in 1622. These oracles remained popular in the 17th century, when they were presented as having predicted the setbacks that the Ottomans suffered in Europe in that period.
  With bookplate. With the title-page somewhat dirty and with a water stain in many leaves, and with traces of an old horizontal fold across each leaf, but still in good condition. With the front hinge cracked, the head of the spine chipped and the mottling of the leather flaking, but the binding remains structurally sound.
  Caillet 11042; Edit16/ICCU, CNCE 28586; Mortimer (Italian) 254.
• About the artist
  More than one artist has worked on this object.