Editing Pax Romana (section)

==Overview==
[[File:Impero romano sotto Ottaviano Augusto 30aC - 6dC.jpg|thumb|400px|Extent of the Roman Empire under Augustus. Yellow represents the extent of the Republic in 31&nbsp;BCE, while green represents gradually conquered territories under the reign of Augustus, and pink areas represent [[client state]]s.]]

The Pax Romana, spanning from 27 BCE to 180 CE, stands as one of the longest enduring periods of peace in history. However, [[Walter Goffart]] wrote: "The volume of the [[The Cambridge Ancient History|''Cambridge Ancient History'']] for the years CE 70–192 is called 'The Imperial Peace', but peace is not what one finds in its pages".<ref name="Goffart1989">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=55pDIwvWnpoC&pg=PA111|title=Rome's Fall and After|publisher=Hambledon Press|year=1989|isbn=978-1-85285-001-2|page=111|author=Walter Goffart}}</ref> Though, [[Arthur Eckstein|Arthur M. Eckstein]] writes that the period must be viewed in contrast to the much more frequent warfare in the 3rd and 4th centuries BCE under the [[Roman Republic]]. 

Eckstein also notes that the initial Pax Romana appeared during the [[Roman Republic|Republic]], and that its temporal span varied upon geographical region as well: "Although the standard textbook dates for the Pax Romana, the famous 'Roman Peace' in the [[Mediterranean Basin|Mediterranean]], are 31 BCE to CE 250, the fact is that the Roman Peace was emerging in large regions of the Mediterranean at a much earlier date: [[Sicily]] after 210 [BCE], the [[Italian Peninsula]] after 200 [BCE]; the [[Po Valley]] after 190 [BCE]; most of the [[Iberian Peninsula]] after 133 [BCE]; [[North Africa]] after 100 [BCE]; and for ever longer stretches of time in the [[Greek East and Latin West|Greek East]]."<ref name="RosensteinMorstein-Marx2011">{{cite book|editor1=Nathan Rosenstein |editor2=Robert Morstein-Marx|title=A Companion to the Roman Republic|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C4rmmvFAKjoC&pg=PA574|orig-year=2006|year=2011|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-4443-5720-2|page=574|chapter=Conceptualizing Roman Imperial Expansion under the Republic: An Introduction|author= Arthur M. Eckstein}}</ref> Similarly, [[Thomas F. Madden]] explained the dating of 27 BCE as avoiding the civil wars of the 1st century BCE. The real origins of Pax Romana for him are in the 2nd century BCE, after Rome had eliminated all of its serious military rivals and brought an unprecedented peace and prosperity to the lands of their empire.<ref>Madden, Thomas F. (2008). ''Empires of Trust: How Rome Built—and America Is Building—a New World''. (Dutton Adult), p 197.</ref> 

The first known record of the term ''Pax Romana'' appears in a writing by [[Seneca the Younger]] in CE 55.<ref>{{cite book|author=Ali Parchami|title=Hegemonic Peace and Empire: The Pax Romana, Britannica and Americana|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pwt6AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA25|year=2009|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-00704-2|page=25}}</ref> 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."<ref name="Momi"/>

For most historians, the Pax Romana began when Octavian ([[Augustus]]) defeated [[Mark Antony]] and [[Cleopatra]] in the [[Battle of Actium]] on 2 September 31 BCE and became Roman emperor.<ref name=EncBrit/><ref name=Battles>{{cite book |first=Paul K. |last=Davis |author-link=Paul K. Davis (historian) |title=100 Decisive Battles from Ancient Times to the Present: The World's Major Battles and How They Shaped History |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1999 |page=63 |isbn=978-1-5760-7075-8}}</ref><ref name=ushistory>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ushistory.org/civ/6c.asp |title=The Pax Romana |website=www.ushistory.org |access-date=2017-02-10}}</ref> He became [[princeps]], or ''first citizen''. Lacking a good precedent of successful one-man rule, Augustus created a [[Military junta|junta]] of the greatest military magnates and stood as the front man. By binding together these leading magnates in a coalition, he eliminated the prospect of [[civil war]]. The Pax Romana was not immediate, despite the end of the civil wars, because fighting continued in [[Hispania]] and in the [[Alps]]. Nevertheless, Augustus closed the [[Gates of Janus]] (a ceremony indicating that Rome was at peace) three times,<ref>Augustus states in ''Res Gestae'' 13 that he closed the Gates three times, a fact documented by many other historians (See [[Gates of Janus]]).</ref> first in 29 BCE and again in 25 BCE. The third closure is undocumented, but [[Inez Scott Ryberg]] (1949) and Gaius Stern (2006) have persuasively dated the third closure to 13 BCE with the commissioning of the [[Ara Pacis]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Procession of the Ara Pacis |first=Inez |last=Scott Ryberg |author-link=Inez Scott Ryberg |journal=Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome |volume=19 |year=1949 |pages=77, 79–101 |doi=10.2307/4238621|jstor=4238621 }}</ref><ref name=Stern>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=agPYfLmueWEC |title=Women, children, and senators on the Ara Pacis Augustae: A study of Augustus' vision of a new world order in 13 BCE. |first=Gaius |last=Stern |year=2010 |orig-year=2006 |isbn=978-0-549-83411-3 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>Sir [[Ronald Syme]] had suggested a later date (but Rome was then at war).</ref>  At the time of the [[Ludi Saeculares]] in 17 BCE the Concept of Peace was publicized, and in 13 BCE was proclaimed when Augustus and [[Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa|Agrippa]] jointly returned from pacifying [[Hispania]] and the [[Alps]]. The order to construct the Ara Pacis was probably part of this announcement.<ref>"What was the Pax Romana?" ''World Atlas'', https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-was-the-pax-romana.html</ref>

[[File:Romeinse keizers Gordianus III antoninianus Antiochie 243-244.jpg|thumb|300px|AR [[Antoninianus]] of [[Gordian III]], struck at [[Antioch]] 243–244 CE with Pax Augusta on the reverse]]

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.<ref name="Momi">{{cite journal |jstor=750454 |title=The Peace of the Ara Pacis |first=Arnaldo |last=Momigliano | journal=Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes |volume=5 |year=1942 |pages=228–231 |doi=10.2307/750454 |s2cid=195009430 |url=https://people.exeter.ac.uk/jda208/The%20Peace%20of%20the%20Ara%20Pacis.pdf}}</ref> Augustus' challenge was to persuade Romans that the prosperity they could achieve in the absence of warfare was better for the Empire than the potential wealth and honor acquired when fighting a risky war. Augustus succeeded by means of skillful propaganda. [[List of Roman emperors|Subsequent emperors]] followed his lead, sometimes producing lavish ceremonies to close the [[Temple of Janus (Roman Forum)|Gates of Janus]], issuing coins with Pax on the reverse, and patronizing literature extolling the benefits of the Pax Romana.<ref name=Stern/>

After Augustus' death in CE 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]]".<ref name=ushistory/>