War and Peace in Ancient Rome

The history of Rome is the history of war: The annihilation of Carthage. Brutus stabbing Caesar in the back. The defeat of Marc Antony and Cleopatra at Actium. Constantine’s vision before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. The final fall of the city of Rome in 476.

Mars, God of War

The husband of Venus and, according to legend, the illegitimate father of Romulus and Remus, the twins who founded the city of Rome. Left to die as babies, they were suckeld by a mother wolf, who raised them. The most important god to the army, Mars gave his name to the Campus Martius, the field on the Tiber where soldiers trained, and to the month of March, when hostilities generally resumed after the winter.

Pax, Goddess of Peace

Not as popular as Mars, especially for an Empire whose economy depended on war, but often prayed to by those of a less martial temperament. Pax worship was at its pinnacle during the reign of Caesar Augustus, and the Pax Romana of his reign was unprecedented in its scope and duriation.

Victoria, Goddess of Victory

The Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Nike, and like her the charioteer of Jove. Victoria was one of the most popular goddesses in the pantheon, with her own temple on Palatine Hill. When her statue was removed by the emperor Gratianus in 382 CE—long after Constantine the Great established Rome as a Christian Empire—the people rioted. Interestingly, after the conversion to Christianity, Victoria grew wings and began to resemble an angel.

Many of these original coins actually circulated in Roman Britain during this era.