For that matter McDonald's may have their site on little chips of Boudicca.
Posted on 05/24/2006 8:59:01 PM PDT by blam
Most of the people the Romans were up against simply didn't who they were dealing with.
You couldn't pick up a book in Ancient Britain about the size of the ROman Empire, its operating techniques, etc.
She was out to revenge an unspeakable and stupid outrage against herself and her people.
If I remember correctly, Paulinus was later recalled and the Romans tried to be more conciliatory instead of predatory.
Give it to him. The idiot deserves it.
My wife is Irish-American and love Irish American women. Not Irish-American myself but nobody is perfect.
I can't believe the unsympathetic responses to this article.
Is FreeRepublic made up of Romans??
Personally I like the Romans and admire their military and engineering skills. But when they behave like jerks, as they did with Boudicca, they got what they deserved - for a while, anyway.
Like the two people you mention, she was patriot.
She wasn't a soldier and probably wasn't even a warrior herself, but the abuse she and her people suffered unjustly drove her to it.
She deserves a statue as much as the other two, Vincingetorix and Arminius.
Indeed...good points to bear in mind. Thanks.
What no one will give the woman credit for is the simple fact that, like few ever managed to, she -unified-, however briefly, a disparate bunch of self-contained clans into something resembling a fighting force.
Every Celtic man is his own 'king' and if you have 20,000 Celts charging on a battlefield, you have, in effect, 20,000 'kings' all out to do their own thing and fight their own little private war.
That is the great thing about Celts and unfortunately, was also their eventual downfall.
Each clan is utterly autonomous to the point that they rarely agreed to unite and cooperate even if it was for their own ultimate good.
It continues to this day.
I go to a lot of Highland games and the ones held east of the mountains, are mild and entertaining cultural celebrations.
The games held -west- of the mountains have brawls break out.
I *think* it's because the more "civilized" city folk who attend the eastern ones have somewhat lost the 'blood lust' of their forbearers and the western ones are comprised of the "hillbilly" descendants of the less 'polite company' sort.....;D
"She deserves a statue as much as the other two"
Indeed she does.
She did her level best to avenge her husband and daughters.
Any Celtic woman [and most Celtic men] would honor her for that, alone.
"Give it to him. The idiot deserves it."
Apprently he's got enough "punishment" on his hands already.
[bwahahahahaaaaaaaaa!]
How some men handle 'uppity women' is fascinating, really.
My ex literally tried to beat the "spirit" out of me.
My Sicilian husband encourages it and adores me all the more for it.
Go figger.
If she would have undertaken a guerrilla war, a la Caratacus, I might agree with you, especially considering the Iceni's homecountry had a lot of fen. But she didn't. And she didn't really go looking for the Roman Army, either.
The IXth [or a part of it] ran into her [Point, flank and recon were always a Roman weakness]. Bouddica seems to have no interest in anything but looting [Yes, the Romans did kill lots of civilians, but not usually if they surrendered in a timely fashion]. And when the Roman Army found her, and withdrew, she launched one of the dumbest assaults in military history.
The Romans were heavily engaged at Mona when she startted her revolt. Instead of attacking their Army in detail [IXth first, possibly IInd Augusta second], cutting off the ports the Romans depended on for supply and reinforcement and then either ambushing them, or defending the field of her choice; or starting a guerrilla campaign of harassing attacks, she lost it all on one throw [or her troops did; she took off]. Good try? Not even close.
She sure as hell doesn't deserve one more than Catavellanus or Caratacus.
Guess I really rattled your cage.
She wasn't a soldier, she wasn't a warrior, she was a queen. She had been abused horribly and struck back in the only way she could at the moment. I'm not sure we could have done better.
You can't defend the Romans in this situation - their actions were as deplorable as those of Varus in Germany and just as stupid. The only thing which saved them from another Teutoberger Wald was the fact that she wasn't an experienced commander.
She was however, a patriot and I think she desserves recognition for the try.
You and I looking back in retrospect can't farily condemn her as we don't know what she knew and didn't know about her opponents.
And yes, the Romans generally treated conquered people fairly well by ancient standards - once they were subdued. That was why the Empire succeeded and its predecessors did not. They practised ASSIMILATION. But in this case they screwed up big time with the Iceni. The whole situation shouldn't have happened in the first place.
Actually, the two year old carries it off rather well.
Good lord. I had ancestors fighting WITH Bodicea. Being a product of Celtic/Native American heritage, I understand more about this than I care to admit.
The true lesson of Bodicea is a Matriarchal culture survives just fine until there is conflict with a Patriarchal culture. She was chronically unprepared for battle, luckier than she had a right to be for a long time and tended to run her operation more on emotion than logic.
This is an example of what would happen if Hillary becomes President; the politics of emotion and a disheveled military.
The Celts were matrifocal, not matriarchal.
[and could you insult her worse than to compare her with Hillary?!?]...:D
I guess we disaagree on this one - not on the facts, but on our interpretation of the situation.
Interesting.
For that matter McDonald's may have their site on little chips of Boudicca.
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