Olive oilIncenseWineA quarrel actually endedA welcome home
Invocation Approach
Tone
Measured and warm
Address
PaxPeacePax Augusta
Relationship
The quiet that has to be maintained
Warning
She is the peace of the settlement and can be the peace of the sword
Resonance
Those returning and those making an end
Symbols
The olive branchThe caduceusThe cornucopiaThe altar
Mythology Summary
Pax is the Roman personification of peace, cultivated by Augustus as Pax Augusta: the Senate voted the Ara Pacis Augustae in 13 BCE, it was consecrated on 30 January 9 BCE in the Campus Martius, and the day was kept as her festival. Vespasian built the Templum Pacis, dedicated in 75 CE, after the Jewish war, and Pax appears on imperial coinage with olive branch, caduceus and cornucopia. She is the Latin counterpart of the Greek Eirene and, like her, a civic personification rather than a figure of myth.
Modern Practice
Pax is invoked at the end of a conflict and at a homecoming, and her practice is maintenance: the terms kept, the return honoured, the quiet defended. The Roman Pax was also the peace of the victor, and a modern practice does well to say which peace is being asked for.