Hoard of Golden Coins
A birdwatcher found a lot more than the buzzard he was pursuing. He noticed a glint in a ploughed field. Rubbing off the mud, he found a 2,000-year-old gold “stater.” He spotted a second one and dug up a hoard of 1,300 Celtic coins, dating from 40-50 CE. This archaeology is fun to imagine in terms of Boudica, the famous leader of a revolt against Rome (whose statue in London is seen above).
The Boudica Archaeology Connection?
At the same time as the date of the coins, Boudica fought the occupying Roman forces. Boudica, the queen of the Celtic Iceni tribe, led attacks against Roman legions. She did so when Rome violated its agreements with her kingdom, following her husband’s death. And by violating, tradition holds the Romans flogged the queen and raped her daughters, along with other heinous acts. Certainly, the Romans didn’t honor the king’s will, which left his kingdom jointly to his daughters and the Roman emperor.
As a result, Boudica has become a popular figure of British folk legend. It’s possible (no evidence here, only the loosest of connections) that this decidedly massive hoard might be a ‘deposit’ from Boudica’s war chest as she prepared for her eastern campaigns. That certainly gives all that impressive gold an extra sparkle–even if only in our imaginations. (For extended article about Boudica by Faith Justice.)
Boudica Lives On in Historical Fiction
Boudica’s story has appealed to writers of historical fiction. There’s A Year of Ravens, an engaging “novel in seven parts.” It’s a series of connected short stories, each told by a different person in Boudica’s life, and each written by a different author. Some of my favorite historical fiction authors are in this collection, including Ruth Downie, Stephanie Dray, Vicky Alvear Shecter, and Kate Quinn.
There’s also Manda Scott’s four book series about Boudica. The first one has the title Boudica: Dreaming the Eagle.
Boudica is one of those almost “lost” women of leadership whose tales must be reconstructed from fragmentary archaeological evidence and equally fragmentary references within the written record—that is my kind of character! (Although not from the same time period that I write in.) If you enjoy reading the Roman period, and want to hear it from this “minority” point of view, dig in.