by Brian Paul Scipione
Boudikka: The Warrior Queen
The story of Boudikka, a Celtic Queen who leads an uprising against the colonial Roman Empire, might be summed up by a Hollywood exec like so: “It’s like Braveheart but with a woman!”
Roman historian Tacitus preserved the history of Boudikka, commonly spelled Boudicca, and Cassius Dio later expanded on it. Boudikka was accounted to be a fair and wise ruler who essentially followed her deceased husband's philosophy that it was best to play ball with the Roman conquerors.
In this telling the Romans suddenly break the treaty and take over the lands of Boudikka’s tribes. She protests. In retaliation she is flogged and her daughters are raped. She flees to a neighboring tribe who take her in despite their previous enmity. Boudikka rallies all native Britons and assembles a vast rebel army. They charge the surprised Romans and force them back almost to the southernmost shores of the island. Boudikka’s bloodlust causes her to make some unwise decisions. . . .
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