Boudicca

Book excerpt: Boudicca (Boadicea), Leader of the Iceni, is synonymous with rebellion and feminine strength, yet what we know of her is often far removed from the time in which she lived and the early authors who first wrote about her. In this new study, Marguerite Johnson returns to the original sources and interrogates them in order to unearth what the ancients thought of this most enigmatic heroine of British freedom. After a concise overview of Boudicca and the British rebellion against Rome, she turns to the writings of Tacitus and Dio and provides an in-depth analysis of their views on Boudicca and her people. These readings, which form the centrepiece of the book, are followed by an insightful series of readings of Boudicca post-antiquity, including the scant references to her in the writings that emerged after the fall of the Roman Empire to the most modern re-workings of this most fascinating of historical icons.