4
REBELS
1 War chariots
2 Tribal forces
3 Wagons
ROMANS
A Legions
B Auxiliary infantry
C Auxiliary cavalry2
234
TRAPPED
After the Roman
counterattack, the rebels
try to retreat but cannot flee
because their escape routes
are blocked by chariots they
had left with the rear guard.NO MERCY
The victorious Romans finished the day with a slaughter, a
common occurrence in ancient battles. Most people were killed
after the battle was already won; victors showed no mercy to
the defeated. According to Tacitus: “Our soldiers spared not to
slay even the women, while the very beasts of burden, transfixed
by the missiles, swelled the piles of bodies.” Britannia governor
Suetonius Paulinus then unleashed pitiless reprisals, aided by
2,000 legionaries, eight auxiliary cohorts, and 1,000 horsemen
sent from Germany by Emperor Nero. But Suetonius’s troubled
rule was short-lived, and before the end of A.D. 61 Nero had
replaced him with a new governor.FIRST-CENTURY CELTIC
HELMET. BRITISH
MUSEUM, LONDON
AKG/ALBUM