Pax Romana #1: Real or Not?

Pax Romana. Literally, it means “Roman peace”, a period of around 200 years from 27 BC to 180 AD with relative peace and order. In the modern day, when empires are “not fashionable”, it is easy for many to be dismissive of such a thing, writes Adrian Goldsworthy in Pax Romana:

“For many, anything associated with empires and imperialism must be a bad thing.”

To know if, and to what extent, Pax Romana worked, one needs to set aside one’s ideology on the matter.

“Dislike of empire leads to encourage scepticism over its achievements.”

 

Others point out that the Roman empire was created via violence and war. Savagery was needed to then maintain Rome’s dominance. In the midst of all this, could Pax Romana even have existed?

 

Yet more point out that rebellions persisted, in some areas for long periods, in others it erupted multiple times. Banditry and piracy existed for long periods in various parts of the empire. Where’s the Pax Romana?

 

Peace, Goldsworthy reminds us, is a relative term. Most of us believe that the world has been largely peaceful after World War II. Yet, during that period, we’ve had plenty of long wars – Vietnam, Afghanistan (first USSR, then the US), Iran-Iraq, Iraq again, Syria, Ukraine… to name just a few. And yes, in many countries even today gang violence is a daily phenomenon.

“What matters is understanding its (fighting and warfare’s) scale and frequency, and understanding how far it impinged on the lives of the wider population.”

It is in that sense that Pax Romana was real, says Goldsworthy.

 

Besides, the purpose of the Roman empire was to make (and keep) Rome rich.

“Peace promoted prosperity, which meant the yield of tax and other revenue could be higher.”

Peace then was in Rome’s selfish self-interest.

 

And lastly, just look at what followed Rome:

“When Rome collapsed, Europe sank into the Dark Ages… there was warfare and violence of every sort where once there had been peace.”

 

For all these reasons, argues Goldsworthy, Pax Romana was very real.

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