Ogmios is the name of a Celtic hero-figure roughly equivalent to Hercules in Rome (Greek - 'Heracles'). But, whereas Hercules was a  mortal with supernatural powers, Ogmios  seems more of a god to the Celts.

One Nostradamian commentator, Charles Ward, has made an interesting analysis of the name Ognion as it appears in quatrain IX-89:

The persuasiveness of this argument is so overwhelming that it seems pointless to dispute it. Yet all commentators have overlooked a few clues concerning this figure that are critical to understanding his character. The first, and most important, comes not from Nostradamus, but from a Celtic idol of Ogmios. A Greek writer of the second century AD, Lucian, describes this figure with a chain fastening his tongue to the ears of those listening to him. That is to say, unlike the Greek hero Hercules, he was so eloquent that his audience was enthralled - mesmerised.

One overwhelmingly important aspect of Ogmios' character is evident in this first quatrain.

 VI-42       A lomygon sera laissé le regne,
                Du grand Selin qui plus fera de faict:
                Par les Italies estendra son enseigne,
                Regi sera par prudent contrefaict.

                To l'ogmion will be left the realm,
                Of the great Selin, who will make even more
                      accomplishments;
                Through the Italies he will extend^£ his banner,
                He will be ruled by a discreet counterfeit (forgery).


At no place in THE CENTURIES is Ogmios spelled with an 's', but always with an 'n'. In every instance, the word clearly implies the figure of the Celtic Hercules, but never names him directly. In each mention, the name is a word-play pointing to other clues about his identity.

The clue here is derived anagrammatically from l'ogmion, which rearranges into mongoli, a French word that in Nostradamus' time included an admixture of barbarian races including Mongols, Tartars, Turks and Persians. The term should probably be applied here as easterner. [Ogmios  contains the name Og, historically known to be from N. Persia/E. Turkey, possibly connected with Gog and Magog.]

In Chapter Three it was mentioned that perhaps all those verses referring to an 'easterner' might not apply to Elijah. They could also apply to Ogmios. Moreover, the name Elias [Greek spelling of Elijah] occurs twice in this verse, in laissé (line one), and Italies (line three.)

When the name Selin was appended to Chyren [Chapter Seven of this author's book], the possibility of a middle-eastern influence was hinted at. With Ogmios, the influence could extend even farther eastward.

The last line is a bit confusing also. It is doubtful that the eastern blood of Ogmios would be a secret, so the counterfeit must be looked for elsewhere.

 VIII-44    Le procreé naturel dogmion,
                De sept à neuf du Chemin destorner
                À roi de longue et ami au mi-hom,
                Doit à Navarre fort de PAU prosterner.

                The natural offspring of Ogmios,
                From seven to nine to turn aside from the path,
                To the king of Long and friend to the half-man,
                Navarre is obliged to demolish the fort of Pau.

In this verse the form of the word Ogmios changes, and cannot be an anagram of Mongoli; it is an anagram of gnomoid^‡, or one of small stature. This explains the term half-man that has caused so much consternation among commentators, wondering what the other half of this being might be; it might be non-existent.

Chemin is capitalised, and thus could refer to the Hebrew word chamman - sun-pilllar, in other words, idol or image [it also contains the name HAM (Cham).] It is possible that this word refers to Amman, Jordan, just forty miles from Jerusalem. This name may be connected with 'Hamon Gog' (although this word is spelled Hamon, both are pronounced essentially the same; Hebrew hamon means 'multitude'.)

To turn aside in Hebrew can be sur, which could be pointing to Sur, another name for Tyre.

This author's book manuscript identifies two possibilities with long, either Alba Longa in Italy, or a Hebrew word [ârak]  that points to Iraq.

Why Navarre should want to destroy its capital's fortress remains to be seen.

The half-man is mentioned in I-64.

 I-64         By night they will think to have seen the sun,
                When they will see the pig half-man;
                Noise, song, battle, in the sky fighting seen,
                And the brute beasts Lon will hear speaking.

The Epistle To Henry II - in the later edition - mentions Ogmios (picking it up in the midst of a running narrative.)
{Nostradamus' prophetic 'spirit' was certainly no grammarian!}

[‡ The text has Plancus: Lucius Plancus founded Lyon;  † par (a sun god);  þ sera (anagram
for Aries {?}, another name for Mars, the Roman god of war); § loin (long?); ¶ passera.]
[¥ ogmium? In the context, one possibility is a hint of some sort at the Fr. word moignon:
stump, i.e.: 'half-man'. Perhaps a form of the ancient French verb momer - to be disguised -
is implied. We have already encountered the word forgery or counterfeit in connection
with Ogmios.]

To the author's knowledge Modone Fulci has remained undeciphered. One obvious  possibility is Modena, Italy, once a duchy. With Ferrara, Liguria and Sicily this may be what was intended, but doesn't explain the altered spelling, nor Fulci. As an anagram, demono can be derived from Modone, but means little in the context.

 In Latin there are two verb forms spelled fulsi, one from fulgere - to flash, and one from fulcire - to support or prop up. Perhaps the letter 'c' is intended to indicate the latter verb, meaning that Modena is a satrapy.

 What the Adriatic Ligurians are is anyone's guess. Venice has been suggested as being similarly placed in the east on the Adriatic as Genoa is in the west; Genoa was the chief port of Liguria.

Trianicria means triangular in Latin, and was used poetically for Sicily, a triangular-shaped island.

The adjective Gallic is a bit misleading, also, since we presume he will come from the east to see Gaul, and here he is apparently crossing into Switzerland from Italy, through the Great St. Bernard Pass.

IX-89        Sept ans sera Philip fortune prospere,
                Rabaissera des Arabes l'effaict,
                Puis son midi perplex rebours affaire
                Jeune ognion abismera son fort.

                Seven years it will be Philip, fortune to prosper,
                The influence of the Arabs will diminish,
                Then [at] his zenith perplexed contrary affair,
                Young Ogmios will overrun his fortress.

 Some variations occur between editions. In line one we find Philipp., with the period denoting an abbreviation. In line two Barbares [Barbarians] replaces Arabes in one variation; other editions have l'effort instead of l'effaict, which perfects the rhyme. The 'e' is common at the end of perplex;  and ognion becomes ogmion.

Commentators generally attribute this verse to Louis Philippe of France, who followed the Imperial Napoleon and the restoration of the monarchy in France at a time of industrialisation and the rise of the bourgeois class. During the first part of his seventeen year reign (1830-1848) France prospered, but electoral reform was slow in coming and excluded the non-propertied. Mounting social pressures caused him to abdicate in February of 1848.

By this analysis ognion becomes oignon - onion - the bulb of the lily [fleur-de-lys], the Republic, the common people that overwhelmed the monarchy.

The variant spelling Philipp. lends credence to this interpretation. The 'Arab' question apparently would apply to the colonisation of Algeria. The figure of Ogmios reportedly appeared on the coins of the Second Republic following the February Revolution and the abdication.

It is characteristic of prophecy that at times it may seem to be fulfilled, yet there are unsatisfying elements that leave doubts that the terms of the presage have been completely answered. This verse  could  apply  equally well to the Ogmios saga outlined in the author's book.

Fortune could be Mammon, the demon prince of riches and material gain.

In Hebrew ma'adanah (or m'odena) means influence (line two) (ma'dannâh: a bond, influence; from ânad: bind); this word is very close to the enigmatic word Modone of Modone Fulci;  it also means delicacy or dainty.

Son midi - his south - could well be San'a, the capital of Yemen, (the Hebrew word for 'south' is yamin.) Yemen lies farther south than Palestine, but separated a few hundred miles by Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Some scholars believe it is the mysterious 'Sheba' of Solomon's time.

It may be notable that one word for fort in Hebrew - matsur- also denotes Egypt, though the author is inclined to accept son fort as 'the fortress of San'a, Yemen'.

Since Ogmios has been identified as the 'Gallic Hercules', there are quatrains in The Centuries about Hercules that are attributed to Ogmios.

 IX-93      Les ennemis du fort bien eslongnez,                            note long
                Par chariots conduict le bastion,                                 note Par
                Par sur les murs de Bourges esgrongnez,
                Quand Hercules battra l'Haemathion.

                The enemies very far from the fort,
                The fortress guided by chariots,
                The walls of Bourges crumbled 'for sure',
                When Hercules will strike the Hamathian.

The only unclear element in this verse is Hercules. Does it refer to Ogmios? If that were clear, undoubtedly it would then be clear if the scene of this action is in Palestine (Valley of Megiddo), or in France at Bourges. Previous quatrains in the book manuscript place the Aemathien's war in France. It has already been suggested that the war with antichrist need not necessarily take place in Palestine; but scholars agree that the battle of Armageddon does. The valley of Megiddo is close to Israel's modern border with its northern neighbor, Lebanon, and not many miles from Sur (Tyre) (par sur - line three.)

It is developed earlier in the book manuscript that the Æmathion refers to the antichrist. It is an anagram of anathema, and refers to one identity of the antichrist - Hamath. In this verse Nostradamus actually names the Hamathian. Æmathian is identified by commentators as the Latin Emathia, a district of Macedonia; the Roman poet Virgil used the term generically for Macedonia (or Thessaly.) More provocative, however, is the journey eastward that Hercules is reputed to have made; on his quest for the apples of the Hesperides, he met and killed Cycnus, the son of Ares (Roman: Mars), in Macedonia [Cycnus was changed into a swan].  He seems then to have gone to Egypt, and thence to Arabia, where he killed Emathion, son of Tithonis.  He then proceeded to the Caucasus Mountains, where he freed Prometheus from eternal torture by an eagle. The irony of this scenario is that it more or less mirrors the journey outlined in this present work (i.e. in reverse.)

This irony may extend further. Hercules traveled east to reach the west (Lat. Hesperides: extreme west;)  could our Hercules travel west to reach the east (Israel)?

Lemurs is Latin for ghosts.

Bourges, a city in the virtual geographic center of France, is built upon a rise above marshy country. The medieval town was enclosed by fortifications [fort and walls.] Construction since even before the time of Nostradamus has made use of the Gallic/Roman fortifications.

X-27         Par le cinquieme et un grand Hercules
                Viendront le temple ouvrir de main bellique,
                Un Clement, Iulie et Ascans recules,
                Lespe, clef, aigle n'eurent onc si grand picque.

                Through the fifth and a great Hercules                           Heb. châmêsh: five, fifth; i.e.: Par
                They will come to open the temple with a war-like            the Hamish and a great Hercules.
                      hand;
                A Clement, Julie and Ascans withdrawn,                        withdrawn Heb. châmaq: go
                Sword, key , eagle, never once was so great a pique.

A few points need to be made in regard to this verse. Note par in line one; Ascans is taken to refer to Ascanius, a son of the Trojan warrior Aeneas, and reputed as the founder of Alba Longa, a forerunner of Rome. It could possibly refer to 'Ashkenazi', one of the two great ethnic divisions of modern Judaism, which evolved through southern Russia and Germany. The line of Nostradamus - the Sephardic - supposedly evolved through Spain. 

X-79         Les vieux chemins seront tous embelis,
                L'on passera à Memphis somentrée,
                Le grand Mercure d'Hercules fleur de lis
                Faisant trembler terre, mer et contrée.

                The old roads will all be beautified,
                Lon will pass to Memphis escaped,
                The great Mercury of Hercules fleur de lis,
                Will cause earth, sea and country to tremble.

Earlier in this page chemin was identified with a sun pillar or idol by referring to the Hebrew. In  this  context embellished (line one) would become the Hebrew word paar, which also means 'to vaunt - or glorify - the self,' and would refer to the old nemesis - Baal Peor; Hebrew peer means 'an embellishment' or 'fancy headdress'.

One word that needs elaboration is somentrée, which most likely comes from the Old French somentir - to escape suddenly, to fail or 'to miss.' It undoubtedly finds root in the Latin somnus - sleep. The idea probably had to do with sleep as an escape from reality, a flight into another world. The idea of quick escape is reminiscent of the Greek word ekpheugo - caught up, used in I Thes. 4:17, the key phrase of the Christian rapture.

The fleur de lis is a popular device in armorial bearings. Nostradamians make much of their being used by the French royal line. The bulb of the lily is similar to an onion, and the onion is in the Liliaceæ family. If fleur de lis (lily) refers to the Hebrew shushan [shûshan: a lily (from its whiteness); Shushan, a place in Persia] or Susa, then the intention is Iran in modern terms, i.e. ancient Persia. This would be reinforced by passera (line two), which yields Persa - Persia, or in the Hebrew Paras - Persia. The Hebrew for onion is betsel: onion (to peel); it should not pass notice that it contains the word tsel (shadow); tsâla means 'to limp' [i.e. deformed {stump, gnome}].

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In summary, what we know of Ogmios:

     * he is an eloquent gifted speaker - so much so that he is able to 'capture' or enthrall his listeners;

     * he is a mongoli: an easterner; many clues point to old Persia: Iran;

     * he may be connected to that Elijah spirit that must 'come before';

     * he is a deformed person, significantly short;

     * he may have been born an illegitamate child [natural];

     * possibly he has some connection with France;

     * he has a strong association with the antichrist: Ham, or Hamath;

     * he also has a possible association with Gog and Magog;

     * there is an association with an idol: a sun pillar, and the ancient god Baal Peor;

     * there is evidence of him as a counterfeit - an image.

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