Arve, and welcome to Empress of Rome, a podcast series looking at the rulers of the ancient

Roman Empire.

I'm your host Matt Smith and with me as always is Dr.

Rianen Evans lecturer in ancient Mediterranean studies at Latrobe University.

We thought we'd take a few minutes now to explain the concept of Pax Romana.

It's not a term used during Augustus' reign, but it refers to the period of his rule

because that was a time of relative peace throughout the Roman Empire.

He's Rianna Nevins. I'm not a huge fan of Augustus. I basically think he is a tyrant.

But it is true that life under Augustus, if you were in Italy, was probably a lot more pleasant than it had been for the previous 100 years, really.

There'd been a lot of upheaval, there had been constant civil war, there'd been times when there were just gangs running around the city of Rome beating people

up and mugging them and murdering them and he brings this period of stability.

So it is a much easier time to be alive. But the Pax Romana itself often

refers to a kind of contract. We think of Pax as meaning peace, but really it means a deal that you make at the end of war. So it's a

contract between the victors, the Romans, the people at the top, Augustus really, and everybody else that they will play their part.

So it's also a contract with the empire, that they will contribute tax or tribute, that they will contribute

will comply with Roman law and if they do that they will be protected by Rome.

So there's a kind of double contract going on I suppose between Augustus and the people and between Rome and the empire and

it's enormously successful as long as you're compliant then yes you can probably can have a peaceful life.

So Augustus reigned for 41 years and during that time there's going to be periods of relative

peace as well as unrest and war.

So how did he make the most of the times of peace?

Is it something that he used to his advantage?

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