The phrase Novus Ordo Seclorum (Latin for "New Order of the Ages" or "New Order for the Ages") was originally a motto of the Renaissance, appears on the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States, first publicly revealed in 1782 and printed on the back of the American dollar bill since 1935. It is often inaccurately thought to mean "New World Order"; the correct Latin translation for that phrase is "Novus Ordo Mundi."
The allusion is to the fourth eclogue of Virgil, which contains a passage that reads:
- Ultima Cumaei venit iam carminis aetas;
- magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo.
- iam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna,
- iam nova progenies caelo demittitur alto.
- ("The last prophecy has come to the Cumaean Sibyl; a brand new great order of the ages is born; for now the Virgin and the age of Saturn have returned; now a new Child has been sent from the heavens.")
Medieval Christians read in Virgil's poem a prophecy of the coming of Christianity.
Novus Ordo Seclorum is also the name of a high quality encryption program in Cryptonomicon, a novel by Neal Stephenson.