Tacitus’ Tactics

An in-depth analysis of Tacitus’ storytelling techniques with regards to a certain British uprising, called Boadicea’s rebellion.

This essay is about Tacitus and the tactics he used in his writings. It is an analytical, argumentative work about a specific British uprising in 61 CE and how Tacitus portrays women both before and after the rebellion as opposed to how he describes the Romans and men involved.
Tacitus, in his Annals, wrote about many events, one of which was a certain British rebellion. The rebellion occurred in or around 61 C.E., but Tacitus did not write his Annals until 109 C.E. A Celtic tribe in Wales called the Iceni, who were under the control of Nero’s Rome, revolted. A woman named Boudica, who was the rightful queen of the province and who had been greatly wronged by the Romans, led the revolt. Boudica was whipped while Roman slaves viciously raped her two daughters. The Roman soldiers took over the land; the kingdom and the King’s property were plundered as though they were the spoils of war (Dudley 139). Soldiers and slaves took everything belonging to the members of the upper classes and pushed them off their land. The Queen led her troops, which mainly consisted of women into battle against Romanized cities in Briton, such as London. The troops ravaged the countryside until Suetonius, a great military leader and Roman hero, met her in battle. In this decisive battle, Boudica’s troops lost miserably and the Queen committed suicide.