[The following takes place during Boudicca’s Rebellion.]
The revolt was first felt at Camulodunum, home to tens of thousands of Roman citizen settlers and Romanized Britons. With the Iceni descending from the north and the Trinovantes flooding up from the south, 120,000 wild-eyed rebels swarmed into the city, killing everyone they encountered. The desperate people of Camulodunum sent messengers galloping away seeking help.
[…]
Auxiliaries of this small force at Camulodunum combined with legion veterans residing there, who hurriedly assembled at the massive nine-year-old temple of Claudius at the centre of the city. The senior centurions decided to attempt to defend the temple, and were joined by thousands of terrified civilians – men, women and children, many of them the families of the retired legionaries. The civilians would have clustered in the temple basement, which still exists today beneath the Norman castle later built over the site of the Roman temple.
[…]
The Temple of Claudius at Camulodunum was surrounded by the rebels, and for two days the veterans and their supporters held out. In the end, rebel agents among those inside the temple provided access for the tribesmen. Thousands of Boudicca’s warriors then flooded in and overwhelmed the defenders.
[…]
Subsequent events indicate that, leaving one cohort to garrison the fort, Cerialis set off for Camulodunum with the 2,000 men of four cohorts of the 9th Hispana and several squadrons of cavalry. With the pace of the relief force dictated by the marching speed of the infantry, at best Cerialis’ force would have taken four days to reach Camulodunum, using the paved military highways that led south and east. Unbeknownst to the men of the relief force, when they were only halfway to their destination, Camulodunum fell.
Meanwhile, Boudicca’s rebel Britons were plundering and burning the city, and torturing and killing their thousands of Roman captives. According to Tacitus, some Romans at Camulodunum were hanged on gallows while others were crucified. All were subjected to torture by fire.
Dio described Roman prisoners being impaled on red-hot skewers and boiled alive. Some were forced to look at their own entrails after they had been cut from their bodies. Dio says that female Romans [sic] captives came in for particularly barbaric torture and mutilation at the hands of the Britons.
Source:
Dando-Collins, Stephen. “Part III: The Battles – Boudicca’s British Revolt.” Legions of Rome: The Definitive History of Every Imperial Roman Legion. Thomas Dunne Books, 2012. 305-6. Print.
Original Source(s) Listed:
Dio, LXII, 2, 7.
Tac., A, XIV, 33.
Further Reading:
Boudica (Latinised as Boadicea or Boudicea, and known in Welsh as Buddug
Quintus Petillius Cerialis Caesius Rufus, otherwise known as Quintus Petillius Cerialis
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