Roman Britain and Boudica

Oxford Latin Anthology – Inspiration for the Fight

In this course, Professor Christopher Whitton (University of Cambridge) explores the Boudican Revolt (60 or 61 AD). It will be particularly useful for those reading the ‘Inspiration for the fight’ (Boudica … finivit) set text for OCR Latin GCSE (J282). In the first lecture, we think about Roman rule in Britain in general and the figure of Boudica in particular. After that, in the second lecture, we focus on the account of the Boudican Revolt in Tacitus’ Annals. And in the third lecture, we think the figure of the dux femina [female leader] in the Roman imagination, a category that includes Boudica herself, but also figures from Greek myth (e.g. Clytemnestra) and Roman history (e.g. Agrippina the Younger). The course ends with a few suggestions for further reading.

Roman Britain and Boudica

In this lecture we think about Roman rule in Britain in general and the figure of Boudica in particular, focusing in particular on: (i) Boudica, including: her name, its meaning, her status as queen of the Iceni, her revolt in 60 or 61 AD, and what we actually know about her; (ii) the history of expansion of the Roman Empire into Britain, from Julius Caesar (55 BC) to the Battle of Watling Street (60 or 61 AD); (iii) Boudica’s revolt, including: what triggered the revolt; Boudica’s destruction of Camulodunum (Colchester), Londinium (London) and Verulamium (St Albans); the Battle of Watling Street; (iv) Roman rule in Britain after the Battle of Watling Street, including: the creation of Londinium (London) as capital; the Romans’ expansion into the north of England and Scotland; the construction of Hadrian’s Wall (122 AD) and the Antonine Wall (142 AD); (iv) Boudica as a figure of national myth in England, especially in the reigns of Elizabeth I (1558-1603) and Victoria (1837-1901); (v) the veneration of similar figures in France (Vercingetorix, Gallic chieftain who led a revolt against Julius Caesar in 52 BC) and Germany (Arminius, German chieftain who annihilated three Roman legions at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD); and (vi) the extent to which the Britain in the 19th century identified both with the Roman Empire and with the British resistance to the Roman Empire, with figures such as Boudica.