3-057-445 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The predicted floods of 1524, (1523). In the sky is a great fish representing Pisces. A flood pours from it sweeping away a small group of houses and people directly below it. A pope, members of the clergy and a king gather on the right, and on the left are a crowd of men carrying tools and spears. In 1517 astrologers began to concern themselves with the Great Conjunction of all the planets in the constellation Pisces which would occur in February 1524. It was believed that the world had begun when all the planets were in conjunction with Aries, the starting point of the zodiac. Therefore it seemed possible to them that the world could end when a conjunction took place in Pisces, the end of the zodiac. It was the subject of intense interest, and various disasters were anticipated, especially a universal flood. From Practica vber die grossen vnd manigfeltigen Coniunction der Planeten (on the great and manifold conjunctions of the planets).