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Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.
(09-16-2016, 05:54 AM)Alecto Wrote: did the Romans really think that they had disarmed the Iceni (as well as some other tribes) ?

Tacitus at least says that was the plan, back in AD47: "Ostorius... prepared to disarm the suspect [peoples] and to overawe the whole district on this side of the Trent and Severn." (Annals, 12.41) This led to the Iceni revolt of that year, but it's hard to imagine that the Romans, having beaten the Iceni, would scale back their demand for disarmament.

What 'disarmament' would mean in this context is hard to judge. Were the Britons compelled to surrender a certain number of spears, or destroy a certain number of chariots? Were the 1st-century equivalent of UN weapons inspectors sent round the villages, probing the forges for traces of weapons-grade iron slag?

If the Iceni tried to re-arm in preparation for their revolt, how long would it have taken them? What access did they have to good quality metal for making blades and armour? Presumably they still had hunting weapons, and agricultural implements they could use (or forge their ploughshares into swords - if they even had iron ploughshares...). But helmets and armour would have been in short supply until after the fall of Colchester.

Did the Britons really have 'chariots' at the last battle, as Dio says? Or were they using light farm carts adapted for war, as the Adamklissi metopes seem to show the Sarmatians or Dacians doing?



(09-16-2016, 11:21 AM)Theoderic Wrote: it would be a first for the Brythons to win a formal battle against the Romans and it may have been this that gave them the confidence and the extra weapons for the next battle

I'm sure it did! However 'formal' the battle was, the defeat of Cerialis combined with the conquest of Colchester would have been a major boost to the rebel cause.

I like to think that, as you've suggested yourself, the Brit.Mus 'Tring helmet' might have been plundered from Colchester by one of the rebels, and later discarded close to the battle site!

*Incidentally, I was reading through T's Agricola and found this interesting snippet, from Calgacus's pre-battle speech: "All the incentives to victory are on our side. The Romans have no wives to kindle their courage; no parents to taunt them with flight; many have either no country or one far away." (Omnia victoriae incitamenta pro nobis sunt: nullae Romanos coniuges accendunt, nulli parentes fugam exprobraturi sunt; aut nulla plerisque patria aut alia est.)

The mention of 'wives' (coniuges, again) here - presumably at the battle - may be significant. But notice that the Caledonians appear to have brought their 'parents' along too!
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
RE: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand. - by Nathan Ross - 09-16-2016, 12:56 PM

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