So gamer-neckbeard-babymen are being set off by the patching of Total War: Rome II to give *some* factions a *slight* chance of getting a female general - historical revision by SJWs, they call it. Of course, they’re wrong - the Romans knew women warriors & rulers. THREAD 1/ 
Boudicca, or Boadicea, is perhaps the most famous war-leader of the Roman period, at least here in Britain. While much about her life is shadowed by a lack of physical evidence & biased Roman accounts, we do know that she was a queen of the Iceni tribe, from modern Norfolk. /2
Following the death of her chieftain husband, Prasutagus, & the rape of her daughters by Romans, it is said, she led the Iceni on a fiery trail of destruction across Camulodunum (Colchester), Verulamium (St Albans) & Londinium (London) in 61CE - thousands were killed. /3
In fact, such was the devastation rained down on the towns, that it’s thought to have left a trace in the archaeological record - a layer of ash & debris. Archaeologists have also found artefacts like this head of Claudius - severed and chucked in the River Alde in Suffolk. /4
Having laid waste to three Roman towns, Boudicca was defeated - albeit we don’t know where, we don’t know when and we’re not sure who by. Still, she gave the Romans a tremendous fright, and it led to changes in the provincial governorship. /5
Cartimandua, queen of the BrIgantes, was a different story, though no less fierce. After the invasion of Britain, she allied with Rome and ruled over 20 years in her own right. She ruled much of what would be northern England & she clung to it through cunning and bravery. /6
Cartimandua spent her reign seeing off threats from other tribes & factions within the Brigantes. In fact, she had to call on Rome to help her fight off attacks, but she was more than capable of leading her own troops into battle. She disappears from sources around 69CE. /7
As a culture that didn’t leave many written records, there’s only a few accounts of female warriors & rulers facing off against the might of Rome - this is true. However, archaeology demonstrates that there was nothing too odd about a woman leading warriors into battle. /8
The Wetwang Slack site in Yorkshire, near Driffield, reveals a young woman among the 3 important chariot burials discovered there. While her two compatriots were buried with swords alongside them, she did have her own chariot - vehicles ridden into war, as accounts attest. /9
John Dent’s 1994 thesis on the Wetwang Slack site has plenty more information and is accessible online, if you’re interested in learning more about it. /10 etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/1819/1/DX19057…
Archaeology also offers us clues that certain Celt women held very high status. I’ve talked before about the grave of a woman excavated at the Heuneburg, in south-west Germany. Her grave was full of jewelry of a very high quality, that demonstrated it was made especially. /11
If you’d like to learn more about the Heuneburg site, this is an excellent overview. /12 cambridge.org/core/journals/…
The Heuneburg grave is just one of a number that have been found, showing that women in the Iron Age and the classical era could hold important positions and lead armies into battle. Yes, they may not have been too common, but they were there, and they were renowned. /13
Even the most biased & coloured of Roman accounts intimate that they had more power & equality among their own than most of Roman society. As queens, warriors and priestesses, they could wield a kind of power that most Roman women could only dream of. /14 legendarywomen.org/content/ancien…
So no, the devs at @CAGames aren’t being ‘SJWs’ or caving to a 'PC agenda', in adding a slight chance of women generals for some of the factions - they’re just making things a *tiny* closer to the reality of almost two millennia ago. Take your hands off it & go outside lads. /FIN
PS. Here's a link to the transcript of this thread - republishable on request - and also, @CAGames's statement on the matter. docs.google.com/document/d/10V…
PPS. So see? Your glorious Felix Legions won't be led by no vagina-havin' feeeeeemale...
