The triangles in this map from a 15th-century German apocalyptic manuscript predict the rise of the Antichrist between 1570 and 1600.
The triangles in this map from a 15th-century German apocalyptic manuscript predict the rise of the Antichrist between 1570 and 1600.
The Huntington Library

These 15th-Century Maps Show How the Apocalypse Will Go Down

In 15th-century Europe, the apocalypse weighed heavily on the minds of the people. Plagues were rampant. The once-great capital of the Roman empire, Constantinople, had fallen to the Turks. Surely, the end was nigh.

Dozens of printed works described the coming reckoning in gory detail, but one long-forgotten manuscript depicts the apocalypse in a very different way—through maps. “It has this sequence of maps that illustrate each stage of what will happen,” says Chet Van Duzer, a historian of cartography who has written a book about the previously unstudied manuscript.

The geography is sketchy by modern standards, but the maps make one thing perfectly clear: If you’re a sinner, you’ve got nowhere to hide. The Antichrist is coming, and his four horns will

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