Pax Romana

Lore & Background

The first known record of the term Pax Romana appears in a writing by Seneca the Younger in AD 55. The concept was highly influential and the subject of theories and attempts to copy it in subsequent ages. Arnaldo Momigliano noted that 'Pax Romana is a simple formula for propaganda, but a difficult subject for research.' For most historians, the Pax Romana began when Octavian (Augustus) defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra in the Battle of Actium on 2 September 31 BC and became Roman emperor. He became princeps, or first citizen, and created a junta of the greatest military magnates, eliminating the prospect of civil war. Augustus closed the Gates of Janus three times, first in 29 BC, again in 25 BC, and a third closure dated by scholars to 13 BC with the commissioning of the Ara Pacis. Romans regarded peace not as an absence of war, but as a rare situation which existed when all opponents had been beaten down and lost the ability to resist. Augustus succeeded by means of skillful propaganda, and subsequent emperors followed his lead. After Augustus' death in AD 14, most of his successors as Roman emperors continued his politics. The last five emperors of the Pax Romana are known as the 'Five Good Emperors'.

Reader's Guide

The Pax Romana is significant as one of the longest enduring periods of peace in history, though historians dispute its precise boundaries and character. Walter Goffart noted that the volume of the Cambridge Ancient History for the years AD 70–192 is called 'The Imperial Peace', but peace is not what one finds in its pages. Arthur M. Eckstein argues the period must be viewed in contrast to the much more frequent warfare in the 3rd and 4th centuries BC under the Roman Republic, and notes that the initial Pax Romana appeared during the Republic, varying by region: Sicily after 210 BC, the Italian Peninsula after 200 BC, the Po Valley after 190 BC, most of the Iberian Peninsula after 133 BC, North Africa after 100 BC, and for ever longer stretches of time in the Greek East. Thomas F. Madden explained the dating of 27 BC as avoiding the civil wars of the 1st century BC, while Tim Cornell argued that Pax Romana in the sense of the absence of major inter-state wars began in the Second century BC. The period saw the Roman Empire achieve its greatest territorial extent under Trajan in 117, and its population is estimated to have peaked at 70 million people, accounting for 33% of the world's population. Following the Pax Romana, according to Cassius Dio, the dictatorial reign of Commodus, later followed by the Year of the Five Emperors and the Crisis of the Third Century, marked Rome's descent 'from a kingdom of gold to one of iron and rust'. The concept of Pax Romana was highly influential, leading to analogous terms such as Pax Americana, Pax Britannica, and Pax Mongolica, and it morphed into the Peace and Truce of God in the Christian West.

Did You Know?

• The first known record of the term Pax Romana appears in a writing by Seneca the Younger in AD 55.
• Augustus closed the Gates of Janus three times: first in 29 BC, again in 25 BC, and a third closure dated by scholars to 13 BC with the commissioning of the Ara Pacis.
• The Roman Empire's population is estimated to have peaked at 70 million people during the Pax Romana, accounting for 33% of the world's population.
• According to Cassius Dio, the dictatorial reign of Commodus marked Rome's descent 'from a kingdom of gold to one of iron and rust'.
• The Pax Romana was largely contemporaneous to the Pax Sinica of the eastern world by Han China, significantly stimulating long-distance travel and trade in Eurasian history.