Reading Journal 2023: Pax: War and Peace in Rome’s Golden Age

Reading Journal 2023: Pax: War and Peace in Rome’s Golden Age
Author: Tom Holland

No one does narrative history quite like Tom Holland. The third in his sweeping treatment of ancient and imperial Rome, War and Peace in Rome’s Golden Age picks up with the death of Nero and examines the Flavian Emperors up until Hadrian’s death.

One of the great things about Holland is his willngness to explore the gaps between the facts that we know and the world behind the facts without reservation. He is not afraid to submit his wealth of historical awareness and knowledge to a necessary imagination, using the power of story to evoke questions and intrigue as he goes.

And what a story it is, traversing world shaping moments such as the fall of Jerusalem and Pompei. For as familiar as these stories are, its the inner workings of the world these events occupy that remains most intriguing. Its fascinating to consider, as a people looking back on an all too familiar legacy to us today regarding history’s greatest empire, just how uncertain and fearful the people and leaders of Rome actually were in the present. Even more striking to consider that the thing that caused this uncertainty was fear over Rome’s increasing diversity amidst the rise of immigration. Things feel far too real when considering our own present context as Holland navigates the construction of Hadrian’s wall. A striking shift from Rome’s once open borders.

Anyone with an interest in the Jewish revolt and the fall of Jerusalem I think will find plenty to stoke their imagination of this historical conquest. And if anyone has read Dominion, the focus he gives to the subsequent rise of Chrisitanity within the same soil that sees Rome’s eventual fall should not be surprising. I really loved the perspective he brings to these parallel events operating as part of the same story. There is some rich commentary to be found, and perhaps some important convictions and contextualization for constrasting two different portraits of the notion of kingdom. As the title of the book suggests, this age is considered Rome’s zenith, or golden age, but this zenith is shaped by the ever present tension of war and peace, the very things that continue to throw the promise of Empire, or the kingdoms of this world, into question today.