Boudica's Speeches in Tacitus and Dio1

Some recent scholarship has argued that ancient Roman historians inevitably cast foreigners as inferior and thereby justified Roman imperialism and colonialism. This paper questions this position's validity through an examination of the Boudica orations in Tacitus (Ann. 14.35.1-2) and Cassius Dio (62.3-6). It argues that both authors present complex portrayals of Boudica and seem at least partially capable of valorizing her complaints against Roman misrule.