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Norfolk and Sussex in Britain. In 61 A.D. Prasutagus died and left his kingdom to Emperor Nero,
believing that client status would assure its survival. The imperial response was, according to Tacitus,
appalling: Roman legionnaires plunderd the realm, flogged the queen and ravished her daughters.
CATUS, the procurator of Britain, fomented the revolt further by demanding funds back from the Iceni,
given by the Romans in the past as gifts. SENECA also called for the return of 40 million sesterces he
had forced the Britons to accept as a loan.
Boudicca gathered her warriors and with the blessings of her DRUIDS called for a war against Rome.
While the legate of the local legions, SUETONIUS PAULINUS, was away on a campaign to subjugate
the Druids on Anglesey Island, the queen's force grew to some 120,000 men.
The strength of Boudicca's attack was compounded by surprise. Suetonius had made no preparations for a
revolt. CAMULODUNUM (Colchester), the center of Roman administration, was undefended as
Boudicca stormed it easily, burning it to the ground. The Iceni collided with the legions of Petillius
CEREALIS, and the cohorts were destroyed, retreating to LINDUM; Catus fled to Gaul. When Paulinus
received word of the rebellion and returned, Boudicca was threatening Lincoln, and more importantly,
LONDINIUM (London). Paulinus was forced to abandon London; the city fell to Iceni, and its
inhabitants were massacred. Verulamium was captured next, while the Romans regrouped for war.
Suetonius had assembled his troops near Verulamium (St. Alban's), where he awaited the Iceni. With
their wives and children in nearby wagons to watch, the warriors of Boudicca swept forward, screaming
as they came to grips with the enemy. The Romans held firm, however, and then counterattacked,
smashing the Briton forces. Boudicca's troops broke but were hemmed in by their own wagons, and men,
women and children were thus annihilated by the vengeful cohorts. Tacitus put the number of Iceni dead
at 80,000, a suspicious number. The losses were unquestionably high, however, and Boudicca's power
was crushed. Rather than face Roman retaliation, she retuned to her home and committed suicide.
Boudicca reportedly wiped out 70,000 colonists and townsfolk, ending imperial policies of colonization
without fortifications. Dio described Boudicca in some detail, stating:
-> In stature she was very tall, in appearance most terrifying, in the glance of her eye most fierce, and her
voice was harsh; a great mass of the tawniest hair fell to her hips; around her neck was a large golden
necklace; and she wore a tunic of diverse colours over which a thick mantle was fashioned with a brooch.
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¤ BRIGANTES The most populous and powerful tribe in Britain until the era of Emperor VESPASIAN