Boadicea: warrior, mother and myth

Abstract

Boadicea, as national legend has it, was a great British queen who led her people to battle against the Roman invaders. Her scythed chariots and rearing stallions, together with a sense of victory and patriotism, are embedded in our national memory. In fact, however, she was not queen of Britain, and our vision of her is greatly distorted. Indeed, the more closely we look at what is actually known about Boadicea, the more puzzling appears the fact that she is so famous a figure of British history now, nearly 2000 years after her death.