Fifth Empire
The Fifth Empire (Portuguese: Quinto Império) is a concept of a global Portuguese empire with spiritual and temporal power, set to take its place in a new era and based in the prophecy of the second chapter of the Book of Daniel and on the Book of Revelation, whose origins lay with Antonio Vieira. However, the concept became widespread after the publication of the poem A Mensagem, by Fernando Pessoa.
[edit] The Concept
The Fifth Empire is not a mere territorial empire. It is a spiritual and linguistic body which spreads throughout the entire world. It represents the ultimate form of fusion between material ( science, reason, intellectual speculation ) and spiritual knowledge (the occult, mystical speculation, cabalism). It is the pinnacle of all the work undertaken by the previous empires ( according to old principle of the translatio imperii ), which are the following under Pessoa's point of view:
- First Empire - Ancient Greece, all knowledge and experience extracted from the ancient empires;
- Second Empire - Roman Empire, expansion of the First Empire's culture and knowledge;
- Third Empire - Christianity, fusion between the First and the Second Empires, with the absorption of several eastern elements (such as Judaism);
- Fourth Empire - Europe, spreading throughout the entire world the outcome of the previous empires.
The Fifth Empire, led by "the hidden one" (O Encoberto in the poem, an allusion to Sebastianism), will unite the entire world spiritually and culturally, led by the Portuguese Nation.
[edit] Origins
The Fifth Empire is a belief messianic, millenarian (quiliástica), designed by Father Antonio Vieira in the seventeenth century.
The first four empires were, according to Vieira, in order: the Assyro-Caldeans, the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans. The fifth was the Portuguese Empire.
As we saw when viewing the book of Daniel 2, in the Hebrew scriptures (Old Testament), in Bible, Father Antonio Vieira came to this myth based on a biblical passage that tells the story of King Nebuchadnezzar and his dream, with a statue that featured five kinds of materials.
The origins of the myth of the Fifth Empire are intimately connected with the History of Portugal. The death of King Sebastian and subsequent loss of independence were disastrous for the country and its colonial ambitions. The restoration of independence in 1640 did, however, give a new hope for the entire nation. Father António Vieira, in many of his works and sermons, would present John IV as the saviour, who would restore the grandiosity of the Portuguese Empire, leader of the Age of Discovery, and succeed to the four empires of ancient History (Vieira's past empires did not coincide with those advocated by Pessoa and mentioned above).
From the 17th century on, and as the Portuguese Empire slowly crumbled, the dream became increasingly more mystical. Greater importance was given to Luís de Camões and his masterpiece, Os Lusíadas, which exalted Portugal as a nation of heroes aided by the classical gods.
