Boudicca: Myths vs Reality

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 10 July 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Boudicca, the warrior queen of the Iceni tribe, has become a symbol of resistance and British defiance. But what do we really know about her, and her bloody revolt against Roman rule? Dr Shushma Malik from the University of Cambridge joins us to untangle this mystery and explore the lasting legacy of this enigmatic ruler.

Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Tim Arstall.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi everyone, welcome to Dan Snow's history here.
0:07.0	An entire province of the empire almost torn from the mighty grasp of Rome.
0:13.0	A legion destroyed, the Eagles humiliated, Roman towns wiped off the map.
0:19.0	Roman settlers massacred. Roman historians tell off the map. Roman settlers massacred.
0:22.1	Roman historians tell us the name of the rebel leader, the woman responsible for this destruction.
0:30.6	A British queen, Budaka.
0:34.1	One historian, Tastas, even recounts rousing speeches that she gave to her furious followers.
0:41.3	But there is a nagging problem with all of this. How much can we trust these few sources that have survived?
0:49.1	Was Budaqa real? What really happened in that great uprising in Roman Britain in the first century AD?
0:57.7	To talk about what we know and what we can only guess at, how far we can trust these Roman sources,
1:04.3	I've gone to the brilliant Dr Shushma Malik, she's a lecturer at the University of Cambridge,
1:10.3	she's the author of the Nero Antichrist. She
1:14.1	has got answers, or at least she's going to tell me one of the best questions to ask. This is Dan Snow's
1:19.2	history hit, and we're talking all about the great Budakan uprising. Enjoy. T-minus 10. The Thomas bombs dropped on Hiroshima.
1:31.3	God save the king.
1:33.3	No black white unity till there is first in black unity.
1:37.3	Never to go to war with one another again.
1:40.3	And lift off and the shuttle has cleared the power.
1:50.5	Shushma, thanks so much for coming on the podcast.
1:51.2	Hi, Dan.
1:51.9	Lovely to be here.
1:53.8	This is one of the big moments of British history, isn't it?
	...

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