Remembering Boudica: Monuments of a Barbarian Queen
October 5 @ 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
AIA Society: Atlanta
Lecturer: Alison Futrell
Empire! Taxes! Violation! Massacre! In the early years of his reign, the emperor Nero briefly considered withdrawing the legions from the new province of Britannia. Before he could do so, the stability of empire was shaken by revolt, as Boudica, a tribal queen pushed beyond her limits by the excesses of the Roman colonizers, exacted a horrifying retribution, with deaths in the tens of thousands. The revolt of A.D. 60 is presented by Romans as an example of power gone wrong during the hated Nero’s anti-empire. While Nero diverts imperial resources into spectacle, the fringes of empire are disrupted by Boudica, a barbarian who power is sustained by nobility and ancient traditions, a woman whose leadership transcends gendered physical limitations, a queen who champions the liberty Romans found antithetical to the very concept of monarchy. The meanings of Boudica shift over time with different interpretations of gendered power and of the role played by Rome in Britain’s origins.
Charles Eliot Norton Memorial Lectureship
Time and Location TBA
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