Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.

[Nathan Ross]

It strikes me that 230,000 is on the close order of modern estimates of the total young adult male population of Britain in the first century CE!

I wonder if the '70,000 citizens and allies' apparently killed at London and Colchester (14.33), and the 'little less than 80,000 Britons' reportedly slain at the final battle (14.37) also represent significant numbers? The first number is probably far in excess of the total citizen population of the province; the second is also highly unlikely. Could there be a connection between them?

The presence of the womenfolk “wives” is interesting as this was not a migration … or was it?

I don't think there's any mystery to this. Tacitus says the Britons were "so fierce in spirit that they actually brought with them, to witness the victory, their wives riding in wagons" - so it's an example of their barbarian overconfidence!

But he later provides a more convincing reason for their presence: the Iceni and others had neglected to sow crops, "people of every age having turned to war." However we interpret this line, it suggests that that the Britons expected to be away from home for some time. Anyone left behind would not be able to feed or defend themselves. So, naturally, the warriors took their wives - and by extension their whole families - along with them when they went on campaign.