Uma luz na escuridão: eclipse solar e pira funerária nas cerimônias fúnebres do imperador romano Otávio Augusto

Abstract

The funerary rites developed after the death of Emperor Octavius Augustus, in A.D. 14, mixed traditions with innovations. Just as the form of government he engendered, which amalgamated republican institutions with autocratic provisions, giving rise to the Principatus, the funeral ceremonies carried out with the passing of the Princeps allowed the development of new practices and the old cults. Through the analysis of ample textual material, we noticed the resumption of the occurrence of a solar eclipse, which launched the imperial territory in a period of darkness, as one of the main omina mortis, which preceded and indicated the death of the sovereign. Such darkness was only dissipated with the realization of imperial funerals, with the Emperor’s real or imaginary body consumed in flames on the funeral pyre, which thus guaranteed the return of light and the restoration of balance, abundance and harmony within the Empire. In this article, we propose to reflect on this recurring omen in the disastrous narratives and its connection with the need to suppress the corpse, by burning it, to provide the return of imperial peace, after the death of the main representative of Res Publica, which left the command center empty until a new Prince was chosen.