Pax Romana

I would like to start my work by explaining what was the Pax Romana or otherwise called can Pax Augustus, because it was establish by Emperor Augustus. The Pax Romana was a time of peace for a long period (first and second centuries) and minimal expansion by the Roman military forces. The idea of Pax Romana was first represented by a very famous historian called EDWARD GIBBON. Gibbon proposes a period of peace under Augustus and his successors. Those emperors expanded the Roman Empire and controlled the Roman generals, i.e. Germanicus, Agricola and Corbulo in search of conquests. Gibbons lists the Roman conquest of Britain under Claudius and the conquest of Trajan as exceptions to this time of peace and places the end of Pax Roman as an historical period with the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 AD, even though the conclusion of peace ended later with is son Commodus. The period was not without armed conflict, as the Roman Emperors had to control rebellions. There were several skirmishes and Romans wars of conquest during this period. Trajan embarked in war against the Parthians and Marcus Aurelius fought against the Germanic tribes. During the Pax Romana period the legions patrolled the borders with success, and thought there were still many foreign wars, the central empire was free from major invasions, acts of piracy or social disorder on grand scale. The Roman world was broken by the civil war during the last century of the Republic, and during the period of the Pax Romana there was peace and that period was largely free from power disputes.

But for the enemies of Rome, the Pax Romana was not a signal of either peace or tranquillity. Emperor Augustus wanted to establish border security and he wanted to amplify the army size by 150,000 legionaries to guarantee that tranquillity. Emperor Augustus reorganized the Roman legions and its distribution during the empire.

Hispania was one of the conquests that Augustus wanted to accomplish because there was a famous gold mine of Gallica. After conducting a census of Gaul, immediately after his victory in the civil war, Augustus moved on to Spain to eliminate the resistance. Thought mostly successful in his campaigns, revolts continued to break out over the next twenty years. Thought these were relatively minor efforts to get clear of the Roman rule, the final subjugation wasn’t completed until 13 BC. At this point Hispania was divided into three provinces: Baetica, Lusitania and Terraconencis; and it became a perfect example of the Romanization process.

During Emperor Tiberius rule a massive uprising happened back in Pannonia. Forced to abandon the Germanic campaign, Emperor Tiberius returned to Pannonia where the fighting would continued until 9 AD. Thought this would be the last major revolt in the Balkan province, its toll was felt all the way back in Rome. As a result of the numerous foreign wars, Augustus was finding new recruits difficult to find. In a terrible unpopular, the Emperor was forced to start drawing human resources from freedmen and even purposely freed slaves, just for maintaining the size of the Roman army. If the strain on Roman manpower was already beginning to be pushed to the extreme, events were about to happen that would force Augustus to call for a complete end to roman Imperial expansion.


The emperor Augustus did reforms to the government that the citizens of Rome liked it and follow that reforms for 200 of years. He did a form of security around Rome that prevent from frontiers attack. He increased the army to protect better Rome. He sad that the little farmers had to be helped. And the last one was that his new government had to promote confidence. These reforms were not passing from the citizens head so when they saw that they liked they follow for 200. He was so smart that he chose 900 of his bests mans to protect from charged. In general the Augustus system was really good that it provided material and political base of culture achievement.



Roman Emperors In Pax Romana


Augustus Caesar created the illusion that the republic had been restored and revealed of the future of the Principiate. When Augustus died in A.D. 14, Tiberius the stepson became the leader of the state. The reign of Tiberius became a tyranny.
The Imperial power eventually was left to the megalomaniac, Caesar, Augustus, the third child of Augustus adopted grandson, Germanicus, and Augustus granddaughter, Agrippina. Gaius accompanied his parents on military campaigns and was shown to the troops wearing a miniature soldier’s outfit, including a sandal called “caliga“, being that the reason of his nickname, Caligula. Caligula accepted the powers of the Principiate, and is popularity was great but he was assassinated by discontented members of his bodyguard.

Eventually Claudius emerged as monarch. It was the Praetorian Guard that found Claudius hiding behind a curtain after Caligula’s brutal murder; it shows how the Romans had not established a clear line of succession. Caligula had been murdered by his body guard and Claudius became emperor only through the support of the army.

The following emperor was Nero Claudius Caesar, or Nero. In 64 A.D, a great fire destroyed much of Rome – the legend is that Nero destroyed Rome in order to rebuild it.

The subsequent emperor Vespasian restored the city and tightened the government of Rome following a series of civil wars early in his reign.

Titus was a capable leader, and poured a huge amount of money into Rome to finance an extensive building program. The Flavian Amphitheatre, or Coliseum, was built during his reign.

Titus was succeeded by his younger brother Titus Flavius Domitianus, or Domitian. He led a financially sound administration. After a series of catastrophes in Rome (the great fires of 64 and 80, and the civil wars of 68-69), Domitian erected, restored or completed more than fifty public buildings. He called him self “Lord God” and spoke of himself as divine.

It was Edward Gibbon who called the period of 96 – 180, the era of the “Five Good Emperors”. It was during this time that the emperors adopted the concept of choosing someone to be the emperor instead of selecting a blood relative.

Those emperors were:

Marcus Coccenius Nerva, or Nerva.
Marcus Ulpius Traianius,or Trajan
Publius Aeliues Hadrienos
Antoninus Pious

Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius (121-180; emperor, 161-180). He was one of the noble’s figures of an antique world. He was made consul and he started to study of law and philosophy, principally Stoicism. He tried to make the peace continue in Rome.


Bibliography

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