Annius de Viterbo (1432-1502)

views updated

Annius de Viterbo (1432-1502)

Preaching friar born at Viterbo who published a collection of manuscripts known as The Antiquities of Annius, full of fables and absurdities, and falsely attributed to Berosus, Fabius Victor, Cato, Manettio, and others. He was also responsible for the treatise The Empire of the Turks and the book Future Triumphs of the Christians over the Turks and the Saracens. These two works are explanations of the Apocalypse. The author claimed that Mahomet was the antichrist, and that the end of the world would take place when the Christians overcome the Jews and the Muslims.