What phrase appears on the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States?

The phrase Novus ordo seclorum appears on the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States.

The Latin phrase is commonly translated as “a new order of the ages.” On the seal’s reverse, it appears beneath an unfinished pyramid and above the Roman numerals MDCCLXXVI, which represent 1776. The design was approved in 1782 and later appeared on the one-dollar bill.

Novus ordo seclorum is often mistranslated as “new world order.” The wording comes from the Roman poet Virgil and, in the American seal’s context, refers to a new era beginning with American independence rather than to a secret organization or conspiracy.

The seal’s obverse carries the bald eagle, a shield, thirteen arrows, an olive branch, and the motto E pluribus unum, meaning “out of many, one.” That motto is therefore not the answer to this question: it belongs to the other side of the seal.