Era

The Pax Romana

pahks roh-MAH-nah (Latin: peaceful Rome)

Also Known As Roman Peace

The Classical World

The Pax Romana, Latin for Roman Peace, is a roughly two hundred year period of the Roman Empire traditionally dated from Augustus's rise to sole power in 27 BCE to the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 CE, identified as a golden age of sustained imperial stability, regional expansion and relative internal peace across Roman territory. It sits within the wider span of Classical Antiquity and covers the height of Roman territorial control around the Mediterranean basin.

Facts

Start Year

27 BCE 1

End Year

180 1

Geographic Scope

The Roman Empire at its height, encompassing the Mediterranean basin, western Europe and parts of the Near East and North Africa. 1

FAQs

Was the Pax Romana really a time of peace?

The peace was relative: order inside the empire was kept by defending and expanding its borders through force.

Only relatively. The Roman Peace was a period of relative peace and stability across the Roman Empire that lasted for over 200 years, beginning with the reign of Augustus. Its aim was law, order and security inside the empire, and Augustus and his successors pursued it even when that meant defending or expanding the borders through military intervention and conquest. So the peace was an imposed internal order, not an absence of war.

Connections

Associated With

Julius Caesar

Caesar's assassination in 44 BCE and the civil wars that followed directly preceded Augustus's rise to sole power in 27 BCE, the Pax Romana's conventional opening.

Source Wikipedia

In Era

Classical Antiquity

Source Wikipedia

Includes

Boudican Revolt

Source Wikipedia: Boudican Revolt

Res Gestae Divi Augusti

Preceded By

The Roman Republic Period

In the Other Atlases