GOLDEN
RULE
Tacitus describes
Boudica wearing a
torque, a feature of
Celtic warrior dress.
Weighing just over
two pounds, the
Snettisham Great
Torque (above) is
made from an alloy
of gold, silver, and
copper. 150-50 B.C.
British Museum,
London
E. LESSING/ALBUM
St. Albans in Hertfordshire. Whereas the already
attacked Camulodunum was a colony of Roman
citizens, and Londinium was the main port of
the province with a population including ma-
ny overseas traders, Verulamium was a “native”
town. At this settlement, Britons who were allies
of the Romans were constructing a new urban
development on the Roman model.
Across London, Colchester, and St. Albans,
archaeologists have uncovered thick layers of
burning dating to A.D. 60, a testament to the
fury of the British reaction to Roman domina-
tion. Tacitus wrote of the barbarous treatment
of the townspeople by the Britons, remarking
that it had been reckoned that a total of 70,000
Romans and provincials were killed at Camulo-
dunum, Londinium, and Verulamium.England. This settlement was
the principal cultural symbol of
Roman power in Britain; here,
Claudius had accepted the sur-
render of British kings in A.D. 43.
Camulodunum had been the
main Roman military base until
A.D. 50, when the fortress was re-
placed by a Roman colony—a town
with houses, public buildings, and indus-
trial premises, frequented by traders.
The massive and impressive stone temple,
built in classical Roman style and sacred to the
cult of Claudius the Emperor, had been con-
structed at Camulodunum to commemorate
his conquest. Boudica’s followers completely
burned this edifice, leaving no stone standing.
The bronze statue of the emperor Claudius
that probably stood in a public space such as
the forum in Camulodunum was furiously de-
capitated by the Britons. In 1907 the head was
discovered in the River Alde in Suffolk, nearly
40 miles from Colchester, and is now displayed
in the British Museum.
After ambushing and defeating a unit of the
Roman Ninth Legion sent to protect the colo-
ny, the Britons moved southwest toward Lon-
dinium. Swiftly established on the banks of the
Thames after A.D. 43, the future British capital
city was the second most important urban cen-
ter in the developing imperial province. With a
population of perhaps around 9,000 people, it
was founded as a trading port for bringing people
and goods into Britannia. The Roman governor
of Britannia, Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, marched
to Londinium but decided not to engage the Brit-
ons in battle there. Many inhabitants fled before
the settlement was ferociously laid to waste.
Tacitus described how the next settlement
to fall to the ire of Boudica’s troops was Ver-
ulamium, a Roman town near what is todayAcross London, Colchester, and St. Albans,
archaeologists have discovered thick layers
of burning dating to A.D. 60, a testament to
the intensity of the fury of Boudica’s rebels.