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| 3rd century denarius depicting Pax (moneymuseum.com) |
The worship of the Goddess Pax (Peace) in ancient Rome first comes to prominence during the reign of Augustus, when in 13 BCE the Senate commissioned the Ara Pacis Augustae (Altar of the Augustan Peace) to mark the safe return of Augustus from Gaul and Spain. Significantly, it was dedicated on the Campus Martius (field of Mars), which until the 1st century BCE had been used primarily as a military exercise ground. This is a powerful hint as to how ancient Romans understood Pax, ie, that Pax and Mars have a relationship with each other. In the Roman mind, Mars (war) establishes the necessary conditions for Pax (peace) to flourish.
“One of the legacies of the classical world is the belief that a secure peace can be obtained only through war … Cicero … said: ‘If we wish to enjoy peace, we must wage war. If we fail to wage war, peace we shall never enjoy.’ … The Romans believed that war and peace alternated as cause and effect. The civil wars broke out because of the extravagance that followed the wake of earlier wars. The luxury and prosperity of the late Roman Republic and Empire, and the enervating effects of peace effeminated its citizens and made them the prey of barbarian invaders …
The Roman concept of peace was fragmented. One way of looking at this is to remember that during the regal and republican periods of history there was no God or Goddess who personified peace. While it is true that Saturn was said to have established the Golden Age, a time of peace and harmony, and that no war could be declared during the festival of Saturnalia, the Golden Age was no more. Peace was an abstract … concept that was imported into Rome and personified as a Goddess. At the same time, there were several [long established] deities who personified war, such as Mars and Minerva …
Another way of looking at the slow development of the Roman concept of peace is to examine the changing meanings of the word pax. According to the Oxford Latin Dictionary, pax originally meant a pact between individuals, or a blessing conferring freedom from divine anger … Pax took on the meaning of a broad concept or policy only in the time of Augustus with the Pax Romana, a state of tranquility within those parts of the empire that had been pacified … the classical Roman concept of peace assumed that peace must be preceded by a total victory imposed by the victors, which assumes the existence of war … Augustus had derived the concept of peace from the Greek Goddess Eirene, who had been known to the Greeks since the time of Hesiod [8th-7th century BCE]. Although the Greeks had fought their wars ferociously, they, and the other city-states of the ancient Greek world, had generally restored peace through negotiated peace treaties rather than demanding total victory … [By contrast, a] Roman peace treaty was imposed on enemies after a crushing victory … Roman coins often depict Pax linked to the Goddess Victoria, with the latter wielding a sword and shield and displaying war trophies. This reinforced the idea that peace was something to be imposed, hence the motto Mars pacifier [Manning at 31-32]”.