Prophets and Seers gathers the historical and legendary figures to whom different cultures attributed the ability to see beyond the present. It begins with Greek myth, with Cassandra condemned never to be believed, the blind Tiresias, Calchas, Melampus and Amphiaraus, and moves on to the Bible with Balaam and to the Norse tradition with the seeress of the Völuspá. The Middle Ages offer the Merlin of Geoffrey of Monmouth, the visions of Hildegard of Bingen and Bridget of Sweden, the philosophy of history of Joachim of Fiore and the Scottish poet Thomas the Rhymer. With the Renaissance come Nostradamus, Paracelsus, Savonarola and the Sibyls painted by Michelangelo. Alongside documented figures there is room for popular legends, from Mother Shipton to the Brahan Seer, and for famous forgeries such as the prophecy of the popes attributed to Malachy. Each entry carefully separates what the sources say from what tradition added over time.