Iceni AR Unit

Struck: 43 - 61
Mint: Norfolk
Size: 11.4mm
Weight: 1.17g
Die Axis: 180°
Grade: XF
Ref: ABC 1567, VA 792-1. Rare

Obverse: Stylized head facing right, trefoils to right.
Reverse: Stylized horse right, lozenge below, pelta with tricorn above.
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Boudica was a queen of the Iceni tribe of Celtic Britons, who led an uprising against the Roman Empire in AD 60 or 61. She is considered a national heroine and symbol of justice and independence. Boudica's husband Prasutagus, ruled as a nominally independent ally of Rome, and left his kingdom jointly to his daughters and to the Roman emperor in his will. However, his will was ignored, the kingdom was annexed and his property taken. According to Tacitus, Boudica was flogged and her daughters raped. Cassius Dio adds that previous imperial donations to influential Britons were confiscated and that loans to the Britons had been called in.

When the Roman governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus was campaigning on the island of Mona (modern Anglesey), Boudica led the Iceni and other British tribes in revolt destroying Camulodunum (modern Colchester). Upon hearing of the revolt, Suetonius hurried to Londinium (modern London), the rebels' next target. He lacked sufficient numbers to defend the city, and Londinium was evacuated and abandoned. Boudica led a very large army against a detachment of the Legio IX Hispana, defeating them and burning Londinium and Verulamium.

An estimated 70,000–80,000 Romans and civilians were killed in the three cities by those following Boudica. Suetonius, meanwhile, regrouped his forces, possibly in the West Midlands, and despite being heavily outnumbered he decisively defeated the Celtic Britons. The crisis caused Nero to consider withdrawing all Roman forces from Britain, but Suetonius's victory over Boudica confirmed Roman control of the province. Boudica then either killed herself to avoid capture (according to Tacitus), or died of illness (according to Cassius Dio).

While the ‘Norfolk God’ type coin was around before Boudica, R.D. van Arsdell, Talbot and others attribute this die variety to the very end of the Iceni period and perhaps even to the time of the rebellion itself due to studies of hoards deposited during the Icenian rebellion.