Thoughts of an Iceni gladiator, awaiting the
opening of the arena portcullis:
Memories of rebellion (Carnage at Camulodunum):
Iceni Messenger: Hearken! The Ninth Legion has
been put to the sword! The war-Chief of Queen
Boudicca: Onwards to Camulodunum... wet your
swords! Redden the earth with Roman blood!
I remember the carnage at Camulodunum... The
glorious clash of Celtic sword against Roman
gladius, The pride in the eyes of our war-queen As
we hacked down the Imperial Eagle, And the severed
heads of centurions gaping atop our spears.
Bloodshed and Battle: 61 AD (C.E.)
We certainly taught the arrogant invading dogs a
lesson, at any rate. The omens and portents spoke
of vast bloodshed and great carnage, and after our
slaughterous victories at Camulodunum (the Temple
of Claudius burned wonderfully!), Londinium and
Verulanium, the cursed Romans finally dared to
meet us honourably upon the field of war at
Mandeussedum. They sent fifteen thousand
legionaires, their armour gleaming like gold in
the sun... but it would still yield to our swords
and spears, no The Roman scoundrel, Governor
Suetonius Paullinus, battle-scarred from his
campaigns against the Druids, was able to choose
the ground upon which to make his stand, and so it
was that he selected as the battlefield a narrow
valley, fronted by a flat plain, with dense
woodland at its rear. Aye... Mandeussedum, "the
place of the chariots"... I remember it vividly.
We were swelled by our victories, empowered by our
noble cause, enraged with the battle frenzy;
thirsting to take as many Roman heads as our
bright blades could sever! And yet we were perhaps
somewhat overconfident that day...
Abducted from the Iceni:
In the aftermath of our defeat at Mandeussedum, I
was captured by Romans with a veiled intent...
(though three of them died at my hands in the
attempt!) Nero was growing bored with the
gladiators, slaves and lion-fodder at his great
Circus, and so had requested Suetonius Paullinus
to provide the citizens of Rome with new
entertainment... The Emperor had heard much of the
wildness and fighting spirit of these barbaric
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Britons who had brought such woe to his far-famed
legions; these painted, pagan tribesmen who had
resisted the Empire's iron fist where the glorious
phalanxes of the East had not. "Agents of the
Imperium... hearken to my words", Nero had
demanded. "Bring to Rome some of these tribesman
for the Games. Let us pit them against our most
ravenous beasts and our greatest gladitorial
champions." And so I was taken in fetters aboard a
Roman trireme, the blood of slain legionaires
still crusted upon my thews, I was taken far from
the fens of my beloved homeland, to tread the sun
baked sand of the Circus Maximus... to fight for
my life in the Imperial Arena.
Arrival at the Circus Maximus:
The Circus Maximus was certainly a splendid sight,
I'll admit. A vast colosseum with great stone
columns and tiers, huge ornate arches and mighty
statues of grey marble. Countless people filled
the seats surrounding the sandy floor of the
Arena... and in his opulent royal enclosure,
flanked by gleaming guards and grovelling lackeys,
sat the great Emperor himself...
Emperor Nero: Fight, barbarian outlander! Please
us, and mayhap Mars will smile on thee this day!
Iceni warrior: Bah! I do not hail to your Roman
gods, and you are not my emperor! By Cernunnos,
the blood of my enemies shall stain the sand of
this cursed arena red this day!
The Combat Commences:
They unleashed the lions first. Hunger maddened
beasts, goaded into a frenzy by the cruel point of
many a pilum... And yet my own hunger, the hunger
for revenge, was greater, and my honed steel was
sharper than bestial fang and claw. And so they
ranged their finest warriors against me. Three
more iron gates around the arena yawned open, and
they strode from the colosseum tunnels amidst a
cacophony of cheering from the assembled Roman
spectators, urged on and showered with martial
adulation from the massed arena crowd, who howled
their bloodlust without cessation.
Far above, upon his great dias, the Emperor gave
the signal for the combat to begin, and with the
battle-lust engulfing me, with the red mist
swirling before my eyes, I vowed to my northern
gods that I would show these leering Romans the
fighting spirit and battle prowess of my people...
I would leave the arena littered with the bloody
corpses of my opponents... I would cast off the
imperial fetters and return to the fens! Aye, I
would escape, and make all Romans fear my name,
and compel Nero to rue the day Julius Caesar had
first ordered his legions across the grim grey sea
to my ancient island... BLOOD FOR BOUDICCA...
CARNAGE FOR CERNUNNOS!!
To be continued...
Lyrics: Byron Music: Jonny Maudling |