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The Iceni were an Iron Age tribe, who inhabited the flatlands and marshes of present-day Norfolk, Suffolk, and parts of Cambridgeshire.They allied with Rome during Claudius’ conquest of Britain in AD 43, however, Roman encroachment after the death of the Iceni King, Prasutagus, led to tribal revolts against Roman occupation.In AD 60 or 61, when the Roman governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus was campaigning on the island of Mona (modern Anglesey) on the northwest coast of Wales, Boudica led the Iceni, the Trinovantes and other British tribes in revolt which led to the destruction of Londinium (London), Camulodunum (Colchester) and Verulamium...

New research published by archaeologists from MOLA reveals a previously unknown Roman fort, built in AD63 as a direct response to the sacking of London by the native tribal Queen of the Iceni, Boudica. The revolt razed the early Roman town to the ground in AD60/61 but until now little was understood about the Roman's response to this devastating uprising. Excavations at Plantation Place for British Land on Fenchurch Street in the City of London exposed a section of a rectangular fort that covered 3.7acres. The timber and earthwork fort had 3metre high banks reinforced with interlacing timbers and faced...

New view of Mr Boudica RACHEL BULLER 13 February 2006 10:49 For centuries, he has remained in the shadow of his famous wife, the warrior Queen of East Anglia's Iceni tribe. But while Boudica outshines him in history, new research shows that Prasutagus was not quite the down-trodden husband previously suggested. For it was he, and not his wife, who graced the coinage of the period. Until now, Prasutagus has only existed in historical conjecture and myth as King of the Iceni, the tribe occupying East Anglia, which was ruled with Boudica under Roman authority. However, new studies on a...

Tunnelers expanding London's Underground (Tube) stations have stumbled on a cache of more than two dozen Roman-era skulls. The skulls likely date from the first century A.D. and may possibly—just possibly—be victims of the famed Queen Boudicca's troops, decapitated during her uprising against Roman rule in 61 A.D.

A dig in search of Anglo-Saxon skeletons has instead unearthed signs of a sprawling Roman settlement. The discovery was made last week, on the grounds of Cambridge's Newnham College. Evidence of a 16th or 17th century farmhouse that could date back to the reign of Henry VIII was unearthed at the site as well. "We knew there was a Roman settlement here before but we had no idea of the size," said Dr Catherine Hills. "The village has been buried under the gardens for nearly 2,000 years, and may have seen the Roman conquest of Britain and Boudicca's revolt. The...

One of the largest hoards of Roman coins ever discovered in Britain has been officially declared 'treasure' today. Amateur metal detecting enthusiast Keith Bennett discovered a total of 1,141 Roman denarii, or silver coins, in a field last July. The coins, stashed in a clay urn and buried around four feet underground, date from between 206 BC and 195 BC. [incorrect dates, the writer apparently should have said "AD" not "BC"] ...The coins will be valued by the British Museum and they will be worth a reasonably significant sum.' Mr Bennett, 42, who works at the central library in Leamington...

Legion of the Damned: Did Boudicca's curse cause 6,000 of Rome's fiercest warriors to vanish without trace? Over the course of its ...1,000-year history, Ancient Rome gave rise to many extraordinary stories which live on to this day. ...No wonder Hollywood has always loved Rome, whose ...sheer spectacle have given rise to great epic movies from Ben-Hur to Gladiator. Mystery: The unexplained disappearance of the 6,000 legionaires from Ninth Legion in Scotland is the inspiration behind two competing filmsYet the latest movies... comes not from the heart of Rome, but from a remote northern province...we now call Scotland, but which...

A hoard of Roman treasure believed to have been hidden from Boudicca in the first century has been discovered by archaeologists in Colchester. The collection, including fine gold and silver jewellery, had been buried for safekeeping during the early stages of Boudicca's Revolt, Colchester Archaeological Trust said. It represents the first hoard of precious metals ever found in Colchester town centre and is thought to have belonged to a wealthy Roman woman, who stashed the treasure under her house when she heard the vengeful queen's armies were approaching. The archaeologists said the hoard was found under the floor of a...

The largest hoard of prehistoric gold coins in Britain in modern times has been discovered by a metal detectorist in Suffolk, it emerged today. The collection of 824 gold staters was found in a broken pottery jar buried in a field near Wickham Market. Jude Plouviez, of the Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service, said the coins dated from 40BC to AD15 and were thought to have been minted by predecessors of Boudicca - the Iceni Queen who spearheaded a revolt against occupying Roman forces. Their value when in circulation had been estimated at a modern equivalent of between £500,000 and...

Boadicea may have had her chips on site of McDonald's By Nick Britten (Filed: 25/05/2006) Archaeologists believe they may have found the final battle site for the warrior queen Boadicea - on the site of a McDonald's restaurant. Having spent her life in fierce resistance to one empire - the Romans - her last stand is thought to have been overshadowed by another one, this time corporate. Having found ancient artefacts where new houses and flats are due to be built, experts have now asked the local authority to allow a full excavation of the area. Little is known about...

There are some lines of William Cowper inscribed on the plinth of the bronze statue of Boadicea near Westminster Bridge in central London: "Regions Caesar never knew/Thy posterity shall sway." The words have never been truer. Hollywood has four films in development about the British warrior queen. One of them, Warrior, is being produced by Mel Gibson, partly with money from the proceeds of his film The Passion of The Christ (a rare example of fundamentalist Christian money backing a project with a pagan heroine). Along with a DreamWorks project called Queen Fury, Paramount's Warrior Queen and another called My...

Mel Gibson's forthcoming film about Britain's warrior queen Boudicca is guaranteed to cause fury amongst feminists and historians, experts predict. Folklorists believe Gibson - whose controversial The Passion Of The Christ movie sparked uproar among Jewish groups this year - faces widespread criticism in his efforts to bring Boudicca to the big screen, because she remains an enigma to historians. Scholars are also convinced feminists will attack Gibson if he fails to portray Boudicca as the icon they have turned her into. Folklorist Dr Juliette Wood, "Take any figure where there's been emotional investment and you're going to annoy someone....

With the success of "The Passion Of The Christ," Mel Gibson can pretty much make whatever movie he wants, and he is once again looking back in time – to produce an epic about Boudicca, who led Britain against Roman conquerors. The Scotsman newspaper reports that the film will be like "Bravehart - with a bra." Boudicca rose from peasant girl to military leader, and united the Celtic tribes of Britain. The film will be directed by Gavin O’Connor, who told the Hollywood trade paper Variety: "What drew me is that she was driven by personal revenge. Her goals were...

Flush from the success of The Passion Of The Christ, Mel Gibson is looking back in time once again – to produce an epic about Boudicca, who led Britain against Roman conquerors. Dubbed “Braveheart with a bra”, the film will chronicle Boudicca’s rise from peasant girl to a military leader who united the Celtic tribes of Britain. Gibson’s production company, Icon, appears keen to cash in on further historical tales, after The Passion netted hundreds of millions of pounds at the box office. The film will be directed by Gavin O’Connor who told the Hollywood trade paper Variety: “What drew...

Boudicca's warpaint puts farmer on the woad to recovery By Sarah Lonsdale (Filed: 28/09/2003) Woad, the plant whose deep blue pigment was used as a warpaint by the ancient Britons to frighten their enemies, is to be farmed commercially in Britain for the first time in 500 years. Large-scale production of woad, which was most famously used by the warrior queen Boudicca, finally died out in the 16th century when cheaper dyes imported from India made it uneconomic. Now, however, farming of the spinach-like plant, which produces colours ranging from pale blue to indigo, is to be resumed by a...

Men may have developed a psychology that makes them particularly able to engage in wars, a scientist said on Friday. New research has shown that men bond together and cooperate well in the face of adversity to protect their interests more than women, which could explain why war is almost exclusively a male business, according to Professor Mark van Vugt of the University of Kent in southern England. "Men respond more strongly to outward threats, we've labelled that the 'man warrior effect'," he told the British Association for the Advancement of Science meeting. "Men are more likely to support a...

A suspected Iron Age road, made of timber and preserved in peat for 2,000 years, has been uncovered by archaeologists in East Anglia. The site, excavated in June, may have been part of a route across the River Waveney and surrounding wetland at Geldeston in Norfolk, say experts. Causeways were first found in the area in 2006, during flood defence work at the nearby Suffolk village of Beccles. It is thought the road is pre-Roman, built by the local Iceni tribe. In AD60, the Iceni ambushed one Roman legion and sacked Roman settlements at London and Colchester before being defeated.

THE archeologists could barely hide their excitement. Beneath the main square of Ecija, a small town in southern Spain, they had unearthed an astounding treasure trove of Roman history. They discovered a well-preserved Roman forum, bath house, gymnasium and temple as well as dozens of private homes and hundreds of mosaics and statues — one of them considered to be among the finest found. But now the bulldozers have moved in. The last vestiges of the lost city known as Colonia Augusta Firma Astigi — one of the great cities of the Roman world — have been destroyed to build...

Stunning survey unveils new secrets of Caistor Roman town PA280/07 — December 13 2007 On the morning of Friday July 20, 1928, the crew of an RAF aircraft took photographs over the site of the Roman town of Venta Icenorum at Caistor St Edmund in Norfolk, a site which now lies in open fields to the south of Norwich. The exceptionally dry summer meant that details of the Roman town were clearly revealed as parched lines in the barley. The pictures appeared on the front page of The Times on March 4, 1929 and caused a sensation. Now, new investigations...

She crucified her enemies and burnt London to the ground. Meet Britain's first feminist, Boadicea By PAUL JOHNSON Last updated at 21:32pm on 6th February 2008 Britain's history is rich in fiery queens, and the first such heroine, tall with red hair down to her waist, commanding and brave, was Boadicea, warrior leader of the ancient Britons. She lived at the same time as the emperors Claudius and Nero, and led a surprisingly successful British revolt against Roman rule in AD60-61 (which, for reference, was when St Paul was writing epistles and St Mark composing his Gospel). She was a...