Romans Empathize with the Enemy

In the second of this two-part special, Mary and Charlotte rejoin Boudica as she marches on London, continues her path of destruction, and finally meets the Roman army on the battlefield. 

It’s a dramatic story, complete with Boudica’s rousing speeches to her troops and her death by suicide when she realises the battle is lost. The Roman historians who tell this story depict her as a brutal perpetrator of war crimes, but… they also present her as a victim, brave warrior and inspiring speech-giver, able to skewer the injustice of Roman imperialism. 

The question is: why? Why do Roman historians, who had sole control of the narrative, portray Boudica as the agent of a just cause? Today, we rarely treat our enemies with such sympathy. The presentation of Boudica’s story gives fascinating insights into how the Romans not only tolerated but, to a certain extent, even encouraged criticism. 

Finally, Mary and Charlotte investigate the after-life of Boudica’s legend, ending with her status as a hero in Colchester - the very town she razed to the ground. And if you fancy driving round the Boudica roundabout a few times, it’s on Turner Road near Colchester North Station!

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Mary and Charlotte recommend some further reading:

The main ancient texts are: Tacitus, Agricola 14-16; Annals 14, 29-39; Dio Cassius, Histories of Rome 62, 1-2, all conveniently collected at https://www.roman-britain.co.uk/roman-conquest-and-occupation-of-britain/boudica-the-iceni-warrior-queen/boudica-classical-references/

Richard Hingley and Christina Unwin, Boudica: Iron Age Queen (Hambledon Continuum pb, 2006) is an accessible account of Boudica from the Iron Age to her modern representations. Hingley reviews the evidence and some of the books on the subject, including his own, at https://fivebooks.com/best-books/boudica-richard-hingley/ 

Charlotte tells the story of Boudica, and discusses some of the ways she has been represented, in her book Under Another Sky: Journeys In Roman Britain (Vintage, 2014)

You can find a detailed history of Thornycroft’s statue in Martha Vandrei, ‘A Victorian Invention? Thomas Thornycroft’s ‘Boadicea Group’, Historical Journal 57 (2014). The verses on the plinth are taken from William Cowper’s poem Boadicea. 

The Roman tombstone of the official who blew the whistle on Suetonius’ reprisals against the British, Julius Classicianus, can be seen in the British Museum.

Instant Classics handmade by Vespucci

Producer: Jonty Claypole 

Executive Producer: Natalia Rodriguez Ford

Video Editor: Jak Ford

Theme music: Casey Gibson

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