Submitted by Nick Gilbert on Thu, 03/04/2010 - 10:50
The warrior Queen, the avenging mother, the woman scorned. Ask any English person who led 'us' in the fight against Rome and they will tell you about a woman whose fame outweighs her achievements. Called Boadicea, Boudicca or Boudica, she has a legendary status, like Vercingetorix in Gaul, as one of the leaders of the old world who fought with courage against Rome. Hopelessly outmatched in so many ways, they represented tradition, their religions and some would say freedom against foreign oppressors. The logistical capability and military precision of the Empire meant that resistance to Roman dominance was in the most part futile. Those who succeeded were few and far between. Boudicca led a rebellion which, literally and metaphorically, set Roman Britain ablaze, but in doing so guaranteed the destruction of her people and their way of life. I want to look at who she was and why she rebelled, and ask what her legacy really was.
Thanks to GPS, satellite imaging and digital communication systems, it’s uncommon for so much as a solitary soldier to go missing on the battlefields of the 21st century. But in ancient times – when civilizations often knew precious little of the world outside their sometimes narrow boundaries – it was apparently possible for entire armies to march against a foreign foe and fall off the face of the earth altogether, without conclusive explanation.
Every single one of Crassus's surviving legionaries was thought to have been put to the sword. But a legend has persisted for centuries which suggests that some of them in fact met a very different fate.
Submitted by Bija Knowles on Thu, 10/22/2009 - 16:17
A fourth skeleton has been unearthed at the site of York University's proposed new campus at Heslington East, 3.5 km outside the city of York. The skeleton is well preserved and was found laid with feet pointing north to south, rather than the east-west direction common in Christian burials of that time. It was discovered buried next to a less well-preserved skeleton in a separate grave.
So far little is known about the individual – except that it is male. Cath Neal, Field Officer for the Heslington East archaeological project, hopes that the good condition of this skeleton will enable them to discover more about the person's life. Isotope tests will provide more details about the diet and provenance of the person – for example, traces of a Mediterranean diet might indicate that the person had travelled north to reach Roman Eboracum (the modern city of York in North Yorkshire). The skeleton is currently being cleaned and will then be sent to an osteo-archaeologist for further tests.
Eboracum was founded in around 71 AD, about 10 years after the revolt of Boudica, during the reign of Vespasian. The Ninth Legion built a fortress on the north-east bank of the river Ouse and during the next 300 years the site became a permanent military base as well as a thriving civilian town. When Hadrian vistid Eboracum in 120 AD, the Ninth Legion had left – some say they were annihilated in a war with northern tribes, but it is more likely they were transferred elsewhere in the empire.
In 208 AD Septimus Severus established the imperial court in Eboracum and this was his base for three years while he waged a campaign against tribes north of Hadrian's Wall. Severus in fact died in York in 211 AD. His son Caracalla divided Roman Britain into two and Made Eboracum the capital of Lower Britain. Constantius I also died in Eboracam. When the Romans left Britannia in around 410 AD, Eboracum was abandoned. There is no record of habitation again until about 600 AD.
The legendary Ninth Legion – Legio IX Hispana (The “Spanish Legion”) – was one of the oldest and most feared units in the Roman army by the early 2nd century AD. Raised by Pompey in 65 BC, it had fought victorious campaigns across the Empire, from Gaul to Africa, Sicily to and Spain and Germania to Britain.
No one knows for sure why, but sometime after 108/9 AD, the legion all but disappeared from the records. The popular version of events – propagated by numerous books, television programmes and films – is that the Ninth, at the time numbering some 4,000 men, was sent to vanquish the Picts of modern day Scotland, and mysteriously never returned.
The real explanation is very likely much more mundane – the unit was probably either simply disbanded, or continued to serve elsewhere, before finally being destroyed at another battle some years later. The myth, as is so often the case, tends to overshadow the truth.
Rome’s Most Fearsome Fighting Machine
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Roman historians could be very reticent in recording the facts about legions that had been disgraced, and officials weren’t adverse to covering up the fate of vanquished armies for sake of public morale.
The warrior Queen, the avenging mother, the woman scorned. Ask any English person who led 'us' in the fight against Rome and they will tell you about a woman whose fame outweighs her achievements. Called 
Thanks to GPS, satellite imaging and digital communication systems, it’s uncommon for so much as a solitary soldier to go missing on the battlefields of the 21st century. But in ancient times – when civilizations often knew precious little of the world outside their sometimes narrow boundaries – it was apparently possible for entire armies to march against a foreign foe and fall off the face of the earth altogether, without conclusive explanation.
A fourth skeleton has been unearthed at the site of York University's proposed new campus at Heslington East, 3.5 km outside the 
