Boudica | |
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Queen Boudica in John Opie's painting Boadicea Haranguing the Britons
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Born | Britannia |
Died |
c. 60 or 61 AD Britannia |
Other names | Boudicca, Boadicea, Buddug |
Occupation | Queen of the Iceni |
Spouse(s) | Prasutagus |
Boudica or Boudicca (/ˈbuːdɪkə/, Latinised as Boadicea or Boudicea /boʊdɪˈsiːə/, and known in Welsh as Buddug [ˈbɨ̞ðɨ̞ɡ]) was a queen of the British Celtic Iceni tribe who led an uprising against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire in AD 60 or 61, and died shortly after its failure. She is sometimes considered a British folk hero.
Boudica's husband, Prasutagus, ruled as a nominally independent ally of Rome and left his kingdom jointly to his daughters and the Roman emperor in his will. However, when he died, his will was ignored, and the kingdom was annexed. According to Tacitus, Boudica was flogged and her daughters raped.Cassius Dio provides an alternative explanation for Boudica's response, saying that previous imperial donations to influential Britons were confiscated and the Roman financier and philosopher Seneca called in the loans he had forced on the reluctant Britons.