Pax Romana (reenactment)

Last updated
Pax Romana
Location Netherlands
Period Ancient Rome
Earliest year portrayed69 AD
Latest year portrayed79 AD
Website www.paxromana.eu
Roman soldiers of the Cohors XV. Cohors xv.jpg
Roman soldiers of the Cohors XV.
Roman marine of the Classis Germanica. Classis.jpg
Roman marine of the Classis Germanica.

Pax Romana is a Classical reenactment society based in the Netherlands, with the main goal to show Romans in the Netherlands as they would have lived in the last quarter of the first century AD.

Contents

Origin

The group was set up in 2007 by a group of Ancient Rome enthusiasts, including archaeologists and a Latinist. The group is member of the Landelijk Platform voor Levende Geschiedenis.

About

Pax Romana works as a living history and re-enactment group. It primarily focuses on education through school visits, film projects, and reenactment. As their members come from all over the Netherlands, the society has no primary base. As of 2015 there are around twenty members, about fifteen of which specialize in Roman military life. The military members generally portray realistic fictional characters based on historical data at events. To this end, Pax Romana uses reproductions of actual equipment and attempts to reproduce authentic traits such as hairstyles and mannerisms, relying on research and advice from archaeologists and historians. Male members mainly portray the military life, with women and children playing Batavian and Roman civilians.

Units portrayed

Pax Romana has the capability to reconstruct multiple branches of the Roman military and Batavian civilians.

Cohors XV Voluntariorum Civium Romanorum

The 15th cohort of Roman volunteers is one of the most well-known Roman units of the Netherlands in Roman times[ citation needed ]. The unit consisted of old legionnaires and veterans and was called Voluntariorum (Volunteers). Stamps and inscriptions of the unit have been found at the castella Leiden-Roomburg (Matilo) en Woerden (Laurium). As far as known today the 15th cohort was in both fortresses between 70 and 240-250 AD. Stamps were also found in Alphen aan den Rijn ( Albaniana ), Utrecht, Vechten ( Fectio ) and Cologne ( Colonia Agrippina ). These were probably built by the material the soldiers of the 15th cohort fabricated.

Civilians

The civilians are formed by Batavians and Romans. The Batavi were an ancient Germanic tribe, originally part of the Chatti. [1] They lived around the Rhine delta, in the modern day Netherlands, in the second half of the first century BC to the third century AD. The Roman civilians distinguish themselves by the use of more 'Romanised' clothing, jewelry and haircuts.

Projects

Pax Romana has multiple projects portraying different types of Roman military units.

Classis Augusta Germanica

The Classis Germanica was established in 12 BC by Drusus at Castra Vetera. [2] It controlled the Rhine river, and was mainly a fluvial fleet, although it also operated in the North Sea. It is noteworthy that the Romans' initial lack of experience with the tides of the ocean left Drusus' fleet stranded on the Zuyder Zee. [3] After ca. 30 AD, the fleet moved its main base to the castrum of Alteburg, some 4 km south of Colonia Agrippinensis (modern Cologne). [4] Later granted the honorifics Augusta Pia Fidelis Domitiana following the suppression of the Revolt of Saturninus. [5] The classis Germanica rendered outstanding services in multitudinous landing operations. In 46, a naval expedition made a push deep into the Black Sea region and even travelled on the Tanais. In 47 a revolt by the Chauci, who took to piratical activities along the Gallic coast, was subdued by Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo. [6] By 57 an expeditionary corps reached Chersonesos (see Charax, Crimea).

Gladiators

Gladiatorial combats are well known as public entertainment in ancient Roman times. Pax Romana puts on reenactments of gladiatorial fights and currently has a Retiarius, Secutor, Thraex, Hoplomachus and Murmillo.

Cohortes Urbanae

The Cohortes Urbanae served as a police force in Rome and several other major Roman cities.

Notes

  1. Tacitus, Germania, 29.
  2. Cleere (1977), p. 16
  3. Webster & Elton (1998), p. 160
  4. Köln-Alteburg at livius.org
  5. Webster & Elton (1998), p. 162
  6. Webster & Elton (1998), p. 161

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