“Great leaders undergo reinvention throughout different periods of history” to what extent does this statement reflect the image and interpretation of Boudicca since the first century AD?
The tale of Boudicca, the warrior queen dates back to 60 AD, when the Celts rose up in revolt against their Roman oppressors. Yet the only ancient written sources about the battle today are riddled with bias and fabrications. All due to the fact that history is written by the victors and in this case the literate. The Celts or the Britons were an illiterate people therefore the majority of our knowledge about these peoples comes from Roman scholars. When analysing these sources it becomes evident that ancient historians were able make an image of Boudicca for how they themselves perceived her or how they wished the readers to view her. As an effect of this her story has been written and viewed in many different lights over the centuries. The main sources for analysis are two ancient Roman historians Tacitus and Dio and sources circa the Victorian Era.
In chronological order the first ancient historian that had a profound impact on the tale of Boudicca was Cornelius Tacitus, the Author of the Annals (109 AD) and Agricola (98 AD); two publishing’s that spoke of Boudicca and her uprising against Rome. The key focus in his writing was highlighting Boudicca as a female leader of war, this generated much disgust from Roman society, in which women were delicate creatures to be owned. Having a female as a leader was not tolerated and conveyed to the Romans that the Britons were an uncivilised, primitive people. Tacitus writes of a pre-battle speech by Boudicca in which her opening statement is ‘not the first time that the Britons have been led to battle...
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...light the fact that she is a woman and therefore heroically strong.
Historians; culture; time; and morals all play a profound role in the imagery of significant people of the past. Boudicca was a great leader of the past that through the era submit to recreation on what type of a person she was. From enemy to heroin her story has experienced all forms of publicity. This will continue to alter as the principles of the readers alter through the ages.
Bibliography
Adler, E 2008, Boudica's Speeches in Tacitus and Dio, Project Muse, Baltimore, USA.
Lawson, S 2013, Nationalism and Biographical Transformation: The case of Boudicca, Australian National University, accessed 9 May 2014, .
Trow, M 2005, Boudicca The Warrior Queen, Sutton Publishing Limited, Great Britain.
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