The Boudican Revolt (Celtics vs. Romans)
Of all the ancient cultures that grew and flourished during the Silver Age, none were as mighty and influential as that of the Romans. What began as a humble tribe in the Latium region of Italy soon swelled into the ancient era’s most domineering and diverse global empire. The expansion of the Roman Empire inevitably led to conflicts with the local cultures of the regions they expanded into, as well as other imperial powers. Usually, such flare-ups would be quelled through either military action or a bureaucratic integration of the conquered province into the empire. In fact, much of the Romans’ success in maintaining such a massive empire came from their willingness to welcome conquered people under the Roman tent. Perhaps one of the most infamous examples of this system of Roman integration can be found in the province of Roman Britain. Julius Caesar famously ventured into Britain, the first of any Roman, during the Gallic Wars. Eventually, Britain would become an integrated province of Rome as discussed above, creating an atmosphere alchemized by Roman oppression and the Celtic desire for freedom.
As the Romans conquered Britannia in AD 43 many native tribes came under the yoke of Roman rule, the most notable of which, for our story, being the Iceni tribe. In a cunning move of diplomacy, and displaying an excellent understanding of his tribe’s prostate position at the feet of mighty Rome, Iceni King Prasutagus constructed a will to guarantee the Iceni tribe’s independence among the waves of conquest. In his will, Prasutagus laid control of his lands to his two daughters as well as Roman Emperor Nero in an attempt to secure Iceni autonomy after his death. Upon his death, however, Rome ignored Prasutagus’ will, and the Romans launched a violent invasion into the Iceni homeland. Tacitus in his Annals describes the horrors in stunning detail:
Prasutagus, king of the Iceni, famed for his long prosperity, had made the emperor his heir along with his two daughters, under the impression that this token of submission would put his kingdom and his house out of the reach of wrong. But the reverse was the result, so much so that his kingdom was plundered by centurions, his house by slaves, as if they were the spoils of war. First, his wife Boudicea was scourged, and his daughters outraged. All the chief men of the Iceni, as if Rome had received the whole country as a gift, were stript of their ancestral possessions, and the king's relatives were made slaves. (Tac. Ann. 14.31)
Having been whipped, having her daughters raped (that is what Tacitus means by “outraged”), and having witnessed the land of her ancestors be mercilessly desecrated, Boudica gathered the boiling rage of the wronged Icenis, as well as other natives, and shaped it into a cohesive revolt against Roman rule.
As Boudica’s army mustered its strength, it began its destructive march across Roman Britain. The first target of Boudica’s vengeance was the Roman colony of Camulodunum (modern-day Colchester) which housed veterans of the Roman military. Boudica and her rebels then eviscerated Roman Commander Petillius in the field of battle, who with his own Legion had attempted to relieve the colony from Boudica’s conquest. With the defeat of Petillius and in the path of the advancing Boudican army at the city of Londinium (modern-day London), the governor of Roman Britain, Gaius Suetonius, decided to abandon the city of Londinium to Boudica in a tactical retreat so that he might save troops and organize an opposing army. Soon enough, the Roman war machine kicked into high gear, and after the successful pillaging and destruction of multiple Roman settlements, Boudica’s army would meet its destruction in the field of battle. At a currently unknown location, Suetonius swung into battle with Boudica with an astonishing 10,000 troops at his back. While Boudica is cited as having around 230,000-300,000 rebels, the efficiency and effectiveness of Roman military techniques decimated the rebel population. Despite being outnumbered by more than twenty times their number, the Roman military snuffed out the Boudican revolutionary spark once and for all.
While the events of the revolt themselves are rather straightforward and may seem unextraordinary, their primary significance for us in the twenty-first century lies more in what they represent. In terms of the Roman military, the fact that only 10,000 Roman men could capture a decisive victory over 200-300,000 rebels offers us a retrospective microcosm of the relative efficacy of Roman logistics, weaponry, and tactics compared to contemporary peoples. Such an unbalanced display of military might makes it a lot easier to understand how the Romans had such global success in expanding their empire in Britain and countless other provinces where they were met with similar resistance. One Roman soldier was statistically worth twenty, maybe thirty (depending on which figure you choose) Boudican rebels. Boudica’s revolt offers us, thousands of years in the future, a direct example of the massive power gulf between Rome and its contemporaries.
Perhaps the more profound symbolically resonant story of the Boudican revolt comes in the figure of Boudica herself. Boudica would grow in the twentieth century to become a symbol of the suffragettes -women campaigning for the right to vote- and in more modern times remain a general symbol of gender equality and resistance in the face of oppression. Boudica lives on as a national British heroine, representing the struggle for justice and the right to absolute independence for all. The modern-day symbolism of Boudica shows that in fact, the Roman time period was, in many ways, not so much different than our own. Boudica’s story seems a self-evident tale of feminine resistance to masculine oppression, and no historical tinkering or jostling of the facts is required to see the narrative. That Boudica’s resistance has stood the test of time and remains a poignant symbol of the fight for independence suggests a wider sentiment that, as detached and distant as these ancient people may seem, we still share quite a few things in common.
Works Cited
Complete Works of Tacitus. Tacitus. Alfred John Church. William Jackson Brodribb. Sara Bryant. edited for Perseus. New York. : Random House, Inc. Random House, Inc. reprinted 1942.
