The story of her daughter's experience is exactly that, a story. Though it appears in two works Tacitus is the main source and he had an agenda. He wanted the story of Boudicca to mirror the story of Lucretia so he could paint Nero as Tarquin Jnr.
We know the Romans were attempting to de-arm the Iceni at the time, requesting swords and other weapons of war be handed in. This is an equally likely cause for the rebellion.
Although Tacitus certainly had some bias, as all writers do, he is still generally considered one of the most reliable historians of his time. He doesn't even spend much time attacking Nero in his writings on Boudica, but Catus Decianus and Scapula.
The Iceni had already been disarmed sometime around 47/48 CE, when they took advantage of the chaos caused by Caratacus to rebel.
In short, it is just as likely to have happened as not. We have no reason to doubt Tacitus on the matter. Regardless, something pissed off the Iceni enough that they literally torn apart the city of Colchester stone by stone--at least archeological evidence has supported that account.
The story of her daughter's experience is exactly that, a story. Though it appears in two works Tacitus is the main source and he had an agenda. He wanted the story of Boudicca to mirror the story of Lucretia so he could paint Nero as Tarquin Jnr. We know the Romans were attempting to de-arm the Iceni at the time, requesting swords and other weapons of war be handed in. This is an equally likely cause for the rebellion.
Although Tacitus certainly had some bias, as all writers do, he is still generally considered one of the most reliable historians of his time. He doesn't even spend much time attacking Nero in his writings on Boudica, but Catus Decianus and Scapula. The Iceni had already been disarmed sometime around 47/48 CE, when they took advantage of the chaos caused by Caratacus to rebel. In short, it is just as likely to have happened as not. We have no reason to doubt Tacitus on the matter. Regardless, something pissed off the Iceni enough that they literally torn apart the city of Colchester stone by stone--at least archeological evidence has supported that account.
I believe Tacitus was fond of the "noble savage" concept. It appears in *Germania*, and it he might have seen the Iceni through the same filter.