Pax

War and Peace in Rome's Golden Age - THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

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Pax

By: Tom Holland

Narrated by: Tom Holland

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£5.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends on 5 July 2026 at 11:59 BST. Cancel monthly.

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THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

'Holland, who co-hosts the podcast The Rest Is History, is at his best when having fun with Rome's bloody history' The Times

'A book for lovers of traditional, grand sweep narrative history' Sunday Times

The definitive history of Rome's golden age - antiquity's ultimate superpower at the pinnacle of its greatness

The Pax Romana has long been revered as a golden age. At its peak, the Roman Empire stretched from Scotland to Arabia, and contained perhaps a quarter of humanity. It was the wealthiest and most formidable state the world had yet seen.

Beginning in 69AD, a year that saw four Caesars in succession rule the empire, and ending some seven decades later with the death of Hadrian, Pax presents a dazzling history of Rome at the height of its power. From the gilded capital to realms beyond the frontier, historian Tom Holland portrays the Roman Empire in all its predatory glory. Vivid scene follows vivid scene: the destruction of Jerusalem and Pompeii, the building of the Colosseum and Hadrian's Wall, the conquests of Trajan. Vividly sketching the lives of Romans both ordinary and spectacular, from slaves to emperors, Holland demonstrates how Roman peace was the fruit of unprecedented military violence.

A stunning portrait of Rome's glory days, this is the epic history of the pax Romana.©2023 Tom Holland

Tom HollandTom HollandLittle, Brown Book Group

Ancient

Rome

Ancient History

Thought-Provoking

Italy

Mythology

Ancient Greece

Ancient Rome Ancient History Thought-Provoking Italy Mythology Ancient Greece

Critic reviews

Holland, who co-hosts the podcast The Rest Is History, is at his best when having fun with Rome's bloody history. He has a novelist's vibrant writing style and turns a good phrase. Familiar elements of this period, such as the destruction of Pompeii, still feel fresh in his retelling and he avoids the temptation of so many joyless modern classicists to moralise about what rotters these Romans were with their slavery and their bloodshed and their lack of a proper safeguarding mission statement. He judges them purely by their own values (Patrick Kidd)

This is not an underexamined period of history, but Holland handles his material (his sources are primarily Roman: Pliny, Tacitus, Suetonius, Cassius Dio) with rigour and elan. He has a compelling narrative style and an eye for diverting detail. This is a book for lovers of traditional, grand sweep narrative history (Gavanndra Hodge)

For all the years that have separated the publication of each book in his trilogy, Holland is a surprisingly consistent writer, one whose style you could recognise at a glance. There may be less back-stabbing and court intrigue in this book than in Rubicon and Dynasty; but in allowing us to tread the further reaches of empire through the eyes of the men holding the reins, Pax provides a deeper and more complex vista on Rome... a masterful blend of subtle politics and carnal colour (Daisy Dunn)

A sweeping, colourful history of Rome at its swaggering, superpower zenith by The Rest is History podcaster and bestselling author. Hail Caesar! Hail Tom Holland! (Robbie Millen)

A triumph... Holland has a talent for drawing out the character and concerns of the age, whilst neither omitting nor being overwhelmed by the facts and dates. His account of the eruption of Vesuvius is dramatic, moving and rivals the set-pieces of the classical historians

Holland is a master of immediacy... [a] fascinating time, skilfully sparked into life

Holland's superb storytelling takes us right into this era as viewed from every standpoint, offering fresh insights into well-worn history

Masterful and engaging... The idea of death as the foundation of life, chaos as the foundation of order, war as the foundation of peace, is central to this outstanding book

Pax is a superb conclusion to Holland's trilogy. There's no other historian who can bring the ancient world before the reader in all its sights, sounds and smells, its pomp, magnificence and martial glory, its strivings and sufferings and horror. Riveting from first page to last (Christopher Hart)

A rich and fascinating period of history requires a companionable guide. Holland's erudite and irresistibly readable account amounts to a marvellous vademecum (Llewelyn Morgan)

Most relevant

This book is a useful antidote to some of the recent tendentious and gushing TV documentaries about the Roman world. There is a tendency now to rather overplay the multicultural and civilising aspects of ancient Rome and to rather ignore the fact it was largely achieved by the ruthless deployment of military force. Tom Holland points out the dichotomy that the Pax Romana of the Mediterranean world was largely achieved by the use of organised violence in the frontier provinces and against rebels. These methods extended up to and included the use of genocidal tactics against recalcitrant tribes. Unlike other historians he also avoid the trap of imagining that post conquest subject peoples all quickly succumbed to Roman rule and cultural assimilation. The fact Rome probably had about 1 soldier stationed in Britain for about every 100 of the native population shows how closely such provinces were policed (the ratio in British India by contrast including locally raised units was nearer 1 per 1000). He also notes that peoples like the Jews, Dacians, Germans etc revolted multiple times including the often overlooked major rebellion in Britain at the time of Hadrian. Most importantly he recognises that while the Roman Empire was a remarkably successful and resilient the people who inhabited it both as rulers and subjects were not like us and that they deserve at least the historical decency of being judged by their own criteria of achievement as well as our contemporary ones. Most of all he emphasises the remarkable abilities of the individuals such as Vespasian and Trajan who often worked tirelessly to hold the whole structure together.