Tacitus Compared With Archaeological Evidence Essay, Research Paper

Tacitus compared with archaeological evidence Tacitus says that Prastugas (king of Iceni and husband of

Boudicca) died and left his tribe to be split between his daughters and Caesar.

He says that the Romans invaded the tribe and took it over as if it had been

given to them as a gift. Boudicas daughters were then raped and she was

flogged. This is the reason Tacitus gives for the revolt breaking out.

Archaeological evidence however, suggests other reasons why the revolt might

have broken out. One of these is that before the roman invasion of Britain, the

Iceni had not traded with any other part of the world, so when the romans

invaded Britain, the shock for the Iceni was much greater than for the other

British tribes. Other tribes traded with each other before the Roman invasion

but the Icenians believed it undermined their traditional values. Since the

shock was so big for the Iceni, they probably hated the Romans from the

beginning. Then, when their king died and their alliance was over, they might have

decided that they did not like the Roman rule so they decided to revolt against

it. Tacitus makes no mention of this theory, so which one is true is debatable.

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Icenians had revolted then went towards Colchester to sack it. Tacitus says

that Camulodunum (now Colchester) had no walls or ditches to protect it.

Archaeological evidence backs this by showing that there were remains of the

old ditch before the romans, but no attempt to rebuild it. Tacitus says that

the reason for there being no attempt to rebuild the ditch is down to 2 things,

Firstly the Romans thought more of luxuries than Necessities, and secondly, the

plan to rebuild a ditch was thwarted by supporters of the revolution. Because

of this, when the Britons went to sack Colchester, they easily did so. The

Roman defence was not at all successful and the Romans ask Procurator Catus

Decianus who sent less than 200 badly armored men. The Britons easily destroyed

these reinforcements and the only part of the reinforcements that managed to hold

out, held out in the temple.