Who was the Celtic warrior Queen Boudica, and what did she look like?
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Boudica was the Queen of the Iceni tribe, located in what is now Norfolk, England. She led an uprising of Celtic tribes after the Romans pillaged her town, and raped her daughters. Although she was eventually defeated, she remains a British folk hero to this day.
But what's most mysterious is her appearance. Boudica’s grave and body have never been found.
The only physical description we have to work from comes from Roman Historian Cassius Dio, although he was writing over a hundred years after her death:
"In stature she was very tall, in appearance most terrifying, in the glance of her eye most fierce, and her voice was harsh; a great mass of the tawniest hair fell to her hips; around her neck was a large golden necklace; and she wore a tunic of diverse colors over which a thick mantle was fastened with a brooch…"
The Briton Phenotype.
I’ve created Boudica’s appearance based on what we know - she was in her late twenties or early thirties when she died. She would have classic Celtic-Briton features, which are all backed up by the description given by Dio - she would be tall, with light coloring - red or blonde hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. Common Celtic-Briton facial features are a high forehead, defined cheekbones, narrow nose, and eyebrows that lay close to the eyes.
The Celts are not a unified people, so different tribes would have different traditions. But overall, the Celts were a very decorated people - they loved brightly colored clothing, woven with wool and dyed with natural dyes. Actually, Celtic outfits were so colorful that the Romans often remarked upon it, which is probably why Dio mentions it in his description of Boudica.
The design of the garments would be something like a Roman tunic.
The Snettisham Great Torc. Found in Snettisham, UK. Electrum, 150 BC–50 BC. Diam. 19.9 cm. British Museum. (Photo: (c) The Trustees of the British Museum)
Dio also mentions this large gold necklace that she wears - and he’s talking about a Torc - this thick gold ring worn around the neck. There are dozens of archaeological examples of these.
Despite romantic depictions of Boudica as a painted warrior queen, she probably never wore the blue face paint called woad, although she may have worn eyeliner or other makeup.
We know her hair was long and tawny - although Romans use this term loosely, most assume she had red or red-gold hair. Celtic women would decorate their hair with braids or twists, as well as beads or bits of metal. The warriors would sometimes use chalk-lime to bleach or decorate their hair, although we aren’t sure if Boudica did this.
