As with her name, it is ironic that the record of Boadicea's career has primarily been preserved by Roman historians, both Tacitus (TAS-I-tuhs; c. a. d. 56-120) and Dio Cassius (DEE-oh KASH-uhs; c. a. d. 150-235). But Tacitus, one of the great historians of all time, was wise enough to view his own society critically. In his writings about Boadicea, he did not try to hide either the brutality of the Romans or his admiration for the rebels.
In A. D. 60 or 61, Boadicea raised a force of some
120,000 soldiers to attack a settlement of Roman army veterans at Camulodunum (kam-yuh-loh-DOO-nuhm; modern-day
Nation called the Kenites. Formerly allied with the Israelites, the Kenites had moved their tents into Canaanite territory, signifying a change of loyalties.
The ensuing battle was an overwhelming victory for Israel. Sisera fled on foot and wound up at Jael's tent. She told him (4:18), "Come, my lord, come right in. Don't be afraid." It was forbidden for a man to enter a woman's tent unless he were her husband or father; therefore it seemed that Sisera had found the ideal hiding place.
As it turned out, however, Jael had other plans. After he received some milk from her, Sisera told her to stand watch at the tent flap in case someone came by; then he fell asleep. While he was sleeping, she "picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him. .
. . She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died" (v. 21). It was an act that required not only great nerve, but great physical strength. If she had not struck the first blow firmly, Sisera would have woken up and overpowered her.
Chapter 5 of Judges is the "Song of Deborah," in which the prophetess celebrated the victory and paid special tribute, in verses 24 through 27, to Jael. After that time, the Bible says, there was peace for forty years. The region occupied by the Canaanites had long been promised to the people of Israel as "a land flowing with milk and honey." It is interesting, then, that the two women who saved Israel in Judges 4 were named Jael, which means "mountain goat," and Deborah, which means "bee"—milk and honey.
Colchester). Her troops consisted of many tribes, united in their hatred of Roman rule, and they sacked and burned Roman villages along the way. Tacitus wrote that the seas turned “a blood-red color" and the waters swelled with “shapes like human corpses." They destroyed Camulodunum completely, then turned their eyes toward the town of Lon-dinium (luhn-DIN-ee-uhm).
The Romans had not sent a large force to Camulo-dunum because they did not believe the Britons could really pose a threat against battle-hardened veterans. In the case of Londinium, a settlement of some 30,000 people, the Roman governor decided it was not worth saving. Therefore he took
His troops and left. Everyone who could escape the town did, but many women, children, and old people remained.
The attack by the Britons was horrible, and Boadicea left no one alive. Certainly the Britons proved themselves equal to the Romans for viciousness. After they destroyed another town, they prepared to meet the Romans for a battle that would decide the war.
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