Roman Empire, Maximinus Thrax, Denarius

In the course of his reorganization of the empire, the first Roman emperor Augustus (27 BC-14 AD) established diverse new cults in Rome. His motivation was the belief of many Romans, that the catastrophes of the preceding civil wars had been caused by disregarding religious duties: In the last century of the Roman Republic, priestly offices had remained vacant; tempels had gone to pieces, and ceremonies had not been held. This is why the gods had been angry with the Romans. The civil wars had been a direct cause thereof.

Augustus ended the civil wars and declared the Pax Romana, a time of inner peace and of consolidating the state. The goddess Pax, depicted on the reverse of this denarius, was the personification of that peace, and the expression of Augustus' political program. Augustus promoted her cult by dedicating statues and altars to her name and by erecting a monument in her honor, the Ara Pacis Augustae.

This denarius with Pax on the reverse was issued by emperor Maximinus Thrax (235-238), who is depicted on the obverse.