Pax <br>Romana

After the victory over Anthony and the subjugation of Egypt, in -31, Gaius Octavian became the absolute ruler in Rome, where democratic institutions continued to exist, but with limited power. From that time on, Rome managed to secure its borders, and internally, its presence had ended the wars between the various nationalities before the conquest. The period until 180 is called Pax Romana (Roman Peace), as except some isolated rebellions and a civil war for the succession of the Empire, the Mediterranean experienced peace, progress and prosperity.

The provinces were ruled by governors appointed by the emperor and assisted in their work by a number of state officials. Governors were closely controlled by the Emperor or the Senate, which limited arbitrariness. Rome created harbors and built wonderful cobblestone streets that contributed to the great growth of trade. Production grew up and each province specialized in a particular intensive production, such as exploitation of mineral wealth, miniature, shipbuilding, textile, agriculture or livestock farming.


Rome allowed a relative political autonomy to the cities of the Empire, but to a different degree for each one. In the East there were "free" cities with administrative and judicial autonomy, with the power to be exercised by the local aristocracy, while the "subordinate" cities were controlled by the Roman governor. In the West, most cities were established directly from Rome as Roman colonies and were ruled exclusively by the Roman governor, based on the Roman institutions. In Athens and Sparta, as a sign of respect for their culture, the Romans had granted their right to autonomy, while the rest of the Greek cities were ruled by the Roman governor of the province of Macedonia. People were moving freely in the empire, along with ideas, religious beliefs, habits, customs. The Latin language prevailed in the western regions, while in the East remained the Greek as official language; the old language of writing and communication.


The army, which provided order and security, consisted of about 400,000 mercenary soldiers and was divided into thirty legions. Legions were remained at the border to protect the Roman world from hostile raids. At the beginning of the 2nd century AD Emperor Trajan captured Dacia, present-day Romania and some areas to the East, while Emperor Hadrian (117-138) built the Hadrian’s walls to protect the empire from enemy’s attacks, showing at the same time a tendency not to expand the empire any more. It was already huge, stretching all over the Mediterranean and from England to the north up to Upper Egypt to the South and Persia to the east.

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