The world is excited about the solar eclipse – but that’s not always been the case
In Ancient Greece and other historical civilisations – the celestial event was seen as a signal from the gods
Javier Andreu Pintado The Conversation
On August 12, Europe – in particular the Iberian peninsula – will look to the sky to witness a historic solar eclipse. We already know when it will begin, how long it will last, and what part of the sun will be hidden behind the moon. Apps on our phones allow us to calculate the exact moment of greatest darkness, and recommend the best places to see it.
But throughout much of human history, eclipses were far more than an astronomical curiosity. Indeed, they were thought to be powerful events, capable of reordering the world itself.
Ancient Rome was no exception to this, as the sun played a major role in its pre-Christian religion. While academics and ruling elites had inherited explanations from Greek astrology, eclipses – a word derived from the Greek meaning “disappearance of the sun” – were still interpreted as signals from the gods. In Rome’s religious society, they were closely followed.
These two worldviews – one scientific and empirical, the other superstitious – coexisted for centuries, offering a window on how the Romans understood the relationship between nature, religion and power. The synthesis of these ideas is still in use today, when we use the Latin-derived word “omen” to describe a sign that both foretells an event and tells us something about it.
It was Babylonian astronomers who discovered that eclipses were cyclical. Their methods for predicting them were inherited by the ancient Greeks, and then by the Romans. The Roman intellectuals Pliny the Elder and Seneca – in their respective works Natural History and Thyestes – theorized abut eclipses. Roman astronomy was thus anything but rudimentary – it built on a classical tradition that began in Homeric literature.
one notable example of Romans using astronomy came during the time of Emperor Claudius. The Roman historian Cassius Dio recounts that, prior to an eclipse on August 1 in the year AD45, the fourth emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty had the phenomenon publicly announced to prevent the population from succumbing to panic.
Evidently, the imperial authorities were aware that they could predict the eclipse, and of the deep fear that its ominous nature instilled in the population.
Prodigia et metum: wonder and fear
While the Romans understood the astronomy behind eclipses, this did not preclude religious interpretations of them. For a Roman, the universe was ruled by the gods. A natural phenomenon could therefore have a physical cause while also conveying a divine message.
In The Life of Romulus, the historian Plutarch recounts how, in June 708BC, the death of Rome’s first king was accompanied by day turning into night. Perhaps for this reason, eclipses were often classified as prodigia – omens signalling a disruption of the balance between gods and men, which required a response from the state religion.
The works of the historian Livy are full of further examples. In 340BC, an eclipse coincided with a hailstorm, and the Senate decreed rituals to restore peace with the gods.
On July 17 in the year 188BC, another eclipse plunged Rome into darkness for nearly two hours. According to Livy, this caused such alarm that three days of purification were decreed on the sacred Aventine Hill.
About the author
Javier Andreu Pintado Catedrático de Historia Antigua y Director del Diploma en Arqueología, Universidad de Navarra. This article was first published by The Conversation and is republished under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.
