Pax Romana: War, Peace and Conquest in the Roman World

✍ Scribed by Adrian Goldsworthy

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Year: 2016
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 542
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Best-selling author Adrian Goldsworthy turns his attention to the Pax Romana, the famous peace and prosperity brought by the Roman Empire at its height in the first and second centuries AD. Yet the Romans were conquerors, imperialists who took by force a vast empire stretching from the Euphrates to the Atlantic coast. Ruthless, Romans won peace not through coexistence but through dominance; millions died and were enslaved during the creation of their empire. Pax Romana examines how the Romans came to control so much of the world and asks whether traditionally favorable images of the Roman peace are true. Goldsworthy vividly recounts the rebellions of the conquered, examining why they broke out, why most failed, and how they became exceedingly rare. He reveals that hostility was just one reaction to the arrival of Rome and that from the outset, conquered peoples collaborated, formed alliances, and joined invaders, causing resistance movements to fade away.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents
Acknowledgements
List of Maps
Preface – Living in Peace
Introduction – A Glory Greater than War
PART ONE – REPUBLIC
I The Rise of Rome
II War
III Friends and Rivals
IV Traders and Settlers
V ‘How much did you make?’ – Government
VI Provincials and Kings
PART TWO – PRINCIPATE
VII Emperors
VIII Rebellion
IX Resistance, Rioting and Robbery
X Imperial Governors
XI Life under Roman Rule
XII The Army and the Frontiers
XIII Garrisons and Raids
XIV Beyond the Pax Romana
Conclusion – Peace and War
Chronology
Glossary
Abbreviations
Bibliography
Notes
Index