ICENI Island of Brittany 1st century A.D. 50 - 60 - Lot 133

ICENI Island of Brittany 1st century A.D. 50 - 60 Upright head of the queen "Boudicca". Behind, palmette. R/. Horse galloping to right. Above, triangle in the center of a twisted cord forming a rouelle. Below, barely visible, lozenge with curved edges and pelleted corners. ♦ GP 244; Van Arsdel n°790-1; Rudd 1567 Norfolk silver denarius said to queen *Boudicca (1.24 g). Very fine. Iceni. The Iceni were a Brittonic people present in what is now Norfolk and Suffolk in northeastern Britain, between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD. *Boudicca or Boadicea (the Victorious), the famous Queen of the Icenaeans, wife of King Pratsutagos, shook Nero's Roman legions in 61 AD. She set island Britain on fire, setting Londonium (London) ablaze and slaughtering her enemies, drawing an entire nation behind her. An undisputed war leader, she was above all a wife, mother and scorned woman in search of revenge. Defeated in the Midlands, Queen Boudicca and her daughters committed suicide by poison. She was a huge, terrifying-looking woman, with fiery eyes and a harsh voice," writes Greek historian Dion Cassius (155-235). A great mass of red hair fell to her hips, around her neck glittered a broad golden pectoral." This warrior queen is a legend in England, where she is the embodiment of resistance."