Pax

In Pax: War and Peace in Rome’s Golden Age, published in 2023, Tom Holland turns to the Roman Empire at the height of its power, tracing the turbulent decades from the death of Nero and the civil wars of AD 69 to the reign of Hadrian in the second century. Across an empire stretching from Britain to Judaea and from the Mediterranean to the eastern frontiers, emperors rise and fall, armies march, cities flourish, and ordinary lives unfold beneath the shadow of imperial ambition. Holland brings figures including Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, Trajan and Hadrian into vivid focus, revealing a world of political calculation, military conquest, religious upheaval and extraordinary cultural achievement.

The title captures the book’s central paradox: Rome’s celebrated peace was sustained not by the absence of violence, but by the constant threat and frequent exercise of force. With his characteristic narrative verve and eye for revealing detail, Holland explores the human costs of empire alongside its remarkable prosperity, questioning what stability meant for those who ruled, those who served, and those who were conquered. The third volume in his sweeping account of the Roman world, following Rubicon and Dynasty, Pax combines the breadth of grand historical narrative with an acute sense of the contradictions that shaped Roman civilisation. Its ancient world feels unexpectedly close to our own, inviting reflection on power, order and the uneasy price of peace.

From the book

“The Romans always win.”

— Tom Holland, Pax

On Pax

“A lucid account of the challenges inherent to managing this complex imperial enterprise.”

— David Potter, The New York Times Book Review