He had the distinction of being the first Roman to cross the Atlas Mountains, and he wrote a description so vivid and detailed that it was later used by other Roman writers in recounting the event.
Finally, in ad 59, he received command of Roman Army units stationed in Britain when he was made governor-general of the islands. It was in this position that Suetonius took the actions that would make him a model of command and control. One of his duties was to quell the continued disquiet among the indigenous Celtic peoples and make the province a peaceful, wealth-generating part of the empire.
As part of the ongoing campaign to control the Celts, Suetonius launched a campaign against their spiritual leaders, the Druids, on the Island of Anglesey in northern Wales. Although the expedition succeeded in eliminating the Druids—Suetonius had them slaughtered and their holy groves of oak trees chopped down and uprooted, in the typical Roman style of conflict resolution—the action unfortunately placed him on the western side of the island just as new trouble was breaking out in the east.
At the same time Suetonius was quelling one rebellion on Anglesey, Roman bureaucrat Catus Decianus was starting another in the area of modern Norfolk. The Iceni, a tribe indigenous to the area, had been allowed to remain autonomous following an earlier failed rebellion in ad Under the complaisant rule of their king, Prasutagus, the Iceni had maintained reasonably peaceful co-existence with the Romans since then, a nominally independent Celtic island surrounded by an increasingly hostile Roman sea.
All that changed upon the death of Prasutagus in ad Whatever his motives, the attempt failed. The Romans confiscated Iceni lands and goods, removed nobles from their lands, and ravaged the area as they saw fit. Catus levied heavy taxes against the Iceni, and private Roman financiers chose this moment to call in Iceni loans. Failure to pay the loans resulted in additional confiscation, depredation, and subjugation of the Iceni and their lands.
When Boudicca, now queen of the Iceni, publicly objected to Catus over his rapacious treatment of her people, he punished her in the most brutal manner possible: she was stripped naked and flogged in front of her own people while her two daughters were systematically raped by Roman soldiers. Whatever the motivation of his choice, Catus created a large mess for Suetonius to clean up.
Filled with understandable rage and indignation, Boudicca marshaled the Iceni and Trinovante, another grieved Celtic tribe that had suffered under Roman rule, in a campaign of retribution. Her army marched first to Camulodunum modern-day Colchester and massacred the civilian inhabitants there, some of whom were burned alive in the Temple of Claudius, then burned the entire city to the ground. When the commander of the nearby Legio IX Hispana was informed of the destruction of Camulodunum, he reacted by sending what forces he could to contain the rampaging Celts.
The Roman column was ambushed and decimated while en route. Suetonius, still on Anglesey, got news of the Iceni revolt. He reacted swiftly to meet the threat. He immediately went to Londinium London with a small detachment from his own command, the Legio XIV Gemina, anticipating that it would be the next target of the rampaging Celts.
Along the way, Suetonius received one piece of bad news after another. In 69, during the year of civil wars that followed the death of Nero see Year of four emperors , he was one of Otho's senior generals and military advisors. He and Publius Marius Celsus defeated Aulus Caecina Alienus, one of Vitellius's generals, near Cremona, but Suetonius would not allow his men to follow up their advantage and was accused of treachery as a result. When Caecina joined his forces with those of Fabius Valens , Suetonius advised Otho not to risk a battle but was overruled, leading to Otho's decisive defeat at Bedriacum.
Suetonius was captured by Vitellius and obtained a pardon by claiming that he had deliberately lost the battle for Otho, although this was almost certainly untrue.
His eventual fate remains unknown. Here is a bit of legal housekeeping. This page contains affiliate links. That means I receive a small commission pittance if you buy something from amazon using those links. These small commisions help to pay the costs associated with running this site so that it stays free. Add our Button link:. Check out some great books and help the site!
He was continuing the effort to Conquer Wales, and earning a good reputation from it. Two future Governors of Britain served under him in this time. However, things would not be well for long.
Soon after somebody we don't know who, but it was probably Seneca the Younger as he loaned The Iceni ,, sesterces that they didn't want gave an order to invade The Iceni Lands, confiscate all their property, flog Boudica, and rape her two daughters.
What followed was a Roaring Rampage of Revenge to end all rampages, where Boudica was elected leader of a massive coalition of British tribes, and first headed to Camulodunum modern Colchester, and commonly cited candidate for Camelot. The city's defenders asked for reinforcements The rebels stormed the city and methodically destroyed the entire place ; killing every man, woman, child , and slave in the city before burning it to the ground a large layer of ash is buried beneath the city even to this day.
Other reinforcements an entire legion, IX "Hispania" were also wiped off the face of the Earth, contributing to the legend of the "Lost Legion". As soon as he received news of this massacre, Governor Suetonius dropped everything and marched several miles through hostile territory to Londinium modern London.
He reached it before Boudica's Host did, but knew he did not have the men to defend the city. He abandoned it , but not before evacuating as many as its citizens as he could. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single entry from a reference work in OR for personal use for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice.
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