BOUDICA
Cassius Dio, in his Roman Epitome of Book LXII, wrote about Boudica: “She was tall, terrible to look at and blessed with a powerful voice. A cascade of red hair reached its knees; wore a golden necklace of ornaments, a multicolored robe, and upon it a thick coat bound by a brooch. She always carried a long spear to frighten anyone who looked into her eyes”. He also reports that she has committed all manner of atrocities on behalf of the goddess Andraste, war goddess of the Iceni and related to goddess Nike (Victory), to the Magna Mater (Great Mother or great Goddess), and Cibele.
Boudica was the wife of the king Prasutagus of the Iceni (who ruled as a nominally independent ally of Rome) being the Iceni a Celtic tribe that lived in England to the time of the Roman emperor Nero (60 AD). After the death of his husband the peace that reigned between Romans and Iceni was broken apparently by naughtiness as to his inheritance and also by arrogance of the Roman occupants who will have repressed and stole the locals violently, publicly scourged Boudica and raped his daughters.
This Alpha female took up arms and revolted against the Roman armies by massacring garrisons and liberating various locations under Roman occupation. So effective and successful was the revolt that the Romans had to call the governor of Britain and legions of the continent, who finally succeeded in quelling the rebellion, though not capturing Boudica as she would have ingested poison not to be captured alive. Tacitus records that she addressed her army with these words: "It is not as a woman descended from noble ancestry, but one of the people that I am avenging lost freedom, my scourged body, the outraged chastity of my daughters," and concluded "This is a woman's resolve; as for men, they may live and be slaves."
The Boudica character has taken on legendary proportions ever since and Queen Victoria was seen as its equivalent in terms of grandeur, to the point where today we find a gigantic bronze statue of Boudica, next to the Westminster Bridge and the Palace of Westminster, representing Boudica in her chariot with her daughters.
