Caratacus: King of the Britons

Tristan Hughes (0:00)

When we think of ancient Britain's resistance to Roman rule, one name towers above them all. Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni.

But before Boudicca, there was another British leader who resisted for far longer, Boudicca's neighbour and rival, Caratacus. When other British rulers surrendered to Roman rule, Caratacus fought on for seven long years. When pitched battle failed, he turned to guerrilla warfare. Time and again, he slipped through the iron grip of Rome, eluding capture and proving himself not only an accomplished military leader, but also quite the escape artist. He was a commander so cunning that he became public enemy number one. He was a king so charismatic that even the Romans respected his resilience. Today, I'm very pleased to have my good friend, Dr. Miles Russell on the show. Miles' new book is called Caratacus, Great King of Britain, and it tells the remarkable story of this British resistance hero.

Miles, it is such a pleasure to have you back on the show. It's great to see you again, my friend.

Miles Russell (1:18)

It's brilliant to be here. It's fantastic. Thank you for inviting me.

Tristan Hughes (1:21)

Last time we chatted, well, we normally chat, we're out in the open field, aren't we? I'm usually at one of your dig sites.

Miles Russell (1:26)

In some kind of sun blasted field. Yes. It's quite nice to be here in the studio.

Tristan Hughes (1:29)

Overlooking Arnage Ramparts, the top made in Castle and the like. So welcome to the big city. First of all, the big smoke. And you have written this new book about one of my favourite figures also from ancient history. I know a big figure of you too.

Caratacus, this other big British resistance hero. Many people think Boudicca straight away, but he's the other major one at the beginning of the Roman occupation, the Roman invasions of Britain.

Miles Russell (1:55)

He is, he is. I usually pronounce him as Caratacus, but- It's gonna get to that. But yeah, he is, he's one of those figures. He's actually really significant. I mean, arguably, he's the whole cause of the Roman invasion of Britain. He fights the Romans for such a long period of time, but he's always overlooked.

So Boudicca gets the big lighting, Boudicca gets the big story, Boudicca gets the big sort of Hollywood treatment, whereas Caratacus tends to get ignored and forgotten.

Tristan Hughes (2:21)

I deliberately started by saying Caratacus, because I knew you were going to challenge me straight away.

So come on, let's get into the nerdy naming. Caratacus or Caratacus?

Miles Russell (2:31)

It technically should be Caratacus. So we've got the Carer bit is effectively in Brythonic or Welsh. It's like the same deration as Cariad, it's the beloved.

So the stress should be on the Carer and then Tarcus rather than Caratacus. Or sometimes even you see it's spelled Caractacus with an extra C. So ignore those, it should be Caratacus.

Tristan Hughes (2:52)

So it's like how the evolution of Boudicca has become Boudicca over the decades. It's a bit similar with Caratacus?

Miles Russell (2:59)

It is. I mean, the problem is that when we're looking at these histories, the name has been transcribed multiple times through the Medieval era, and people have been copying it, and there's so many spelling variations. So as with Boudicca, Boudiccia has been a name corruption, but we think it should be Boudicca, and Caratacus. There's lots of different variant forms of his name, but that seems to be the one that is probably the most correct.

Tristan Hughes (3:22)

So what does Caratacus mean? So beloved Caratacus?

Miles Russell (3:25)

It's just really the beloved. He is someone who, and it's interesting in his story, he seems to have this great charismatic personality. People love him, people support him, and people genuinely mourn his loss. So it's one of those difficult things. So is this a birth name or is this the name he's inherited? Like with Boudicca, it seems to be translated as Victorious. So is that a name she was given at birth with the hope she would be? Or is that more a sort of a name that she is given after her initial conquests against the Romans? So I think with all these names, we've got to be careful. We don't know when they're actually introduced.

Tristan Hughes (4:00)

Why can we also call him King of the Britons?

Miles Russell (4:04)

He's minting coins to start with. He's got his name slapped all over a whole series of coins before the Romans arrive. And he seems to be wielding a significant power within central Southern Britain. He's displacing other monarchs and he's creating a territory of his own. So he certainly identified himself as a king, although the Romans don't give him that kind of honour.