Read more
Perhaps in defiance of expectations, Roman peace (pax) was a difficult concept that resisted any straightforward definition: not merely denoting the absence or aftermath of war, it consisted of many layers and associations and formed part of a much greater discourse on the nature of power and how Rome saw her place in the world. During the period from 50 BC to AD 75 - covering the collapse of the Republic, the subsequent civil wars, and the dawn of the Principate-the traditional meaning and language of peace came under extreme pressure as pax was co-opted to serve different strands of political discourse. This volume argues for its fundamental centrality in understanding the changing dynamics of the state and the creation of a new political system in the Roman Empire, moving from the debates over the content of the concept in the dying Republic to discussion of its deployment in the legitimization of the Augustan regime, first through the creation of an authorized version controlled by the princeps and then the ultimate crystallization of the pax augusta as the first wholly imperial concept of peace. Examining the nuances in the various meanings, applications, and contexts of Roman discourse on peace allows us valuable insight into the ways in which the dynamics of power were understood and how these were contingent on the political structures of the day. However it also demonstrates that although the idea of peace came to dominate imperial Rome's self-representation, such discourse was nevertheless only part of a wider discussion on the way in which the Empire conceptualized itself.
List of contents
- Frontmatter
- List of Illustrations
- List of Tables
- List of Abbreviations
- 0: Introduction: Roman Imperialism and the Meaning of Peace
- 1: The Meaning of pax
- Perceptions of Peace
- pax in the Landscape of the Republic
- The Visual Language of pax
- The Development of pax
- 2: Peace in Civil War
- Shifts in Political Language
- Visions and Versions of pax
- Possibilities of negotiating peace
- Debates on the meaning of pax
- The Victory of Peace
- 3: Peace over Land and Sea
- The Rhetoric of terra marique and orbis terrarum
- The Sicilian prelude
- The commemorations of 29 BC
- A City of Victory and Peace over Land and Sea
- 4: Peace in the New Age of Augustus
- The Year of 'Returns'
- Mars Ultor
- The Parthian arch
- The arch and the aedes Vestae
- The Perpetuation of Peace
- 5: The pax augusta
- The Altar of Augustan Peace
- Archaeological remains and location
- The Meaning(s) of the ara Pacis Augustae
- Pax Augusta and Roma Victrix
- Rome s past and the pax deorum
- Religion, statecraft, and the Pax Augusta
- Dedications to Augustan Peace outside Rome
- 6: Conclusion: From pax augusta to pax Romana
- Endmatter
- Bibliography
- Index
About the author
Hannah Cornwell received her doctorate in Ancient History from Brasenose College, University of Oxford. She is currently a Lecturer in Ancient History and Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of Birmingham, as well as a non-stipendiary Fellow at the Institute of Classical Studies in London. She has previously worked as a researcher for the AHRC-funded Ashmolean Latin Inscriptions Project, and held a Mougins Museum Rome Award at the British School at Rome in 2014. Her research focuses on examining the production of space as a means to understanding diplomacy as a social practice in the Roman world.
Summary
The concept of Roman peace (pax) did not just denote the absence of war but formed part of a much greater discourse on how Rome conceptualized herself. This volume explores its changing meaning from Republic to Principate, arguing that it is fundamental to understanding the shifting balance of power and the creation of the Roman Empire.
Additional text
Besides its detailed study of pax and related concepts in texts and iconography, the volume contains helpful discussion of a number of key monuments (Nicopolis, the Parthian Arch, the Ara Pacis). ... Cornwell is to be commended for an important addition in a long line of scholarly endeavours on the transition from Republic to principate
Report
Much of the text will be interesting primarily to period specialists ... this is an important and needed overview of an understudied term. ... Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students through faculty. J.L. Miller, CHOICE
