Category Archives: Golden Ages

Good times, like the Age of Pericles and Pax Romana: looking back at not-quite-utopias.

Pax Romana: Good Times, Remembered

“…the glory that was Greece,And the grandeur that was Rome….”(“To Helen,” Edgar Allen Poe (1845) via Wikipedia) I don’t yearn for ‘the good old days’ of my youth, or for more remote golden ages. My memory’s too good, and I’ve … Continue reading

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Pax Romana, Caligula: Fiend, Monster, or Baddie?

Caligula is currently famous, or infamous, for being a stark-raving-mad monster with no redeeming qualities. Although scholars have been acknowledging that we don’t actually know much about him. I’m not about to try rehabilitating Caligula’s image. But I’ve got suspicions … Continue reading

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Pax Romana: Augustus to Nero

The Pax Romana had been in progress for eight decades on July 19, A.D. 64. A fire started in a retail district near Rome’s Circus Maximus. It was a windy night. The fire spread. Fast. The Great Fire of Rome … Continue reading

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