A little bit of History: the action of Boudicca took place in the ancient Britain of I century AD, during the reign of Nero. At that time the isle was still called Britannia and it was under the Roman army control. The story of the revolt is really sad: Boudicca's daughters have been raped by roman soldiers and, in the end, she lost the war and poisoned herself to avoid capture. This is what historians told us. Tacitus is the main source we can use to track a portrait of this woman: she was fierce, red haired, with an impressive guttural voice. Her revolt started when the reign of Iceni, after her husband's death, was annexed to the Roman empire. Romans didn't recognize feminine heritage so the reign was considered as conquered. Boudicca protested and she was flogged while her daughters were raped. But she didn't stop. We are in 60 or 61 AD, while the roman troops led by Gaius Suetonius Paulinus were marching against the Trinovantes; the Britons marched and destroyed Camulodunum (Colchester) and Paulinus hurried to Londinium (London) to evacuate the town. When the armies of Boudicca arrived in Londinium, the town was destroyed and burned and the Legio IX Hispanica couldn't do nothing to avoid the defeat. However, Paulinus managed to regroup his forces and defeated the rebels in the battle of Watling Street (location unknown). Britan was again under Nero's control.
So, let's talk about the pics now. I always liked her figure but, as you know, my heart beats for Rome. To get a "Briton look" I used my roman cotton red dress as tunic, hiding the typical mediterranean sleeves with a long black cape. The makeup on the cheeks is black lipstick painted with fingers. I also wore a golden bracelet to get a more "royal" figure. I hope you'll like these shots as I do, I'm planning to embody other historical figures soon ;)
Pics by Lele Photography
Full size pictures on my Tumblr account!
