AustLit

'Picture it: Celtic Britain, circa 60 CE, in what is now Norfolk in eastern England. The unstoppable Roman Empire is consolidating the conquests begun 17 years earlier by Emperor Claudius. Its capital Camulodunum and vibrant settlements of Londinium and Verulamium lie forebodingly to the south-west. King Prasutagus, ruler of the Iceni and client ally of Rome, is nearing death without a male heir. Aware that Rome will likely seize his small kingdom and with it the nominal freedom of his tribe, Prasutagus, in a fit of wishful thinking, bequeaths half his kingdom to Emperor Nero and the other half to his two daughters. Nero has other ideas. He orders Prasutagus’s widow, Queen Boudica, to hand over full control of the kingdom, stripping the Iceni of their ally status for good measure. Boudica refuses. No self-respecting empire would tolerate such an insubordinate move: she is punished with a public flogging and the gang rape of her two teen daughters.' (Introduction)