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Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.
Sadly, there's almost no information about the man at all, except for his role in the revolt. Even his name is uncertain: Tacitus's habit of sometimes reversing nomen and cognomen ('Paulinus Suetonius' at one point) means that the rascally procurator could have been Catus Decianus or Decianus Catus. The first would seem more obvious, with the adoptive -ianus ending, but Anthony Birley (in People of Roman Britain) believes that Decianus was actually his nomen, and cites a couple of names from Africa as examples.

It's a shame we don't know more about the man, as he must have had an interesting career before becoming procurator of Britain (quite a prestigious role). Most other known procurators (all later) came from the equestrian military cursus, and one was a former primus pilus and praetorian tribune. It's quite possible, therefore, that Decianus could have served in the army in Britain previously - a spell as cohort prefect c.47, during the first Iceni revolt, would fit chronologically, but perhaps is just too apt an explanation for his apparent hatred of Boudica and her people!

As for tenure - even the tenure of a governor is open to question, and perhaps had no fixed term. Decianus's successor Julius Classicianus, however, took over in 61 and died in London c.65, presumably still in post. So we could assume that a procurator could easily serve four years, and perhaps more.
Nathan Ross
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Messages In This Thread
Re: Calling all armchair generals! - by Ensifer - 03-11-2010, 03:13 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-18-2012, 06:26 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 12:02 AM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 02:50 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 05:40 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 11:26 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-24-2012, 05:11 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-24-2012, 09:42 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-24-2012, 10:10 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-25-2012, 03:11 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-25-2012, 03:25 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-25-2012, 08:36 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-26-2012, 02:57 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-27-2012, 01:50 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 08-05-2012, 02:24 PM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-07-2014, 02:18 PM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-08-2014, 01:50 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-11-2014, 02:03 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-18-2014, 07:54 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-20-2014, 02:37 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-25-2014, 08:29 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Nathan Ross - 01-14-2013, 07:09 AM

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