Head of Claudius cut off Statue by Boudicca's Army

This "decapitated" bronze head of a statue of the Roman Emperor Claudius was found in the River Alde at Rendham, near Saxmundham, Suffolk

Claudius was the Emperor who commanded that Britannia be conquered and he arrived, complete with elephants, just in time to complete the conquest of the South East corner of Britain in 43AD by assaulting the capital of then dominate Catuvellauni/Trinovantes tribes at Camulodunum (Colchester).

This head was found in 1907, and formed part of a life-size bronze statue of the Claudius who reigned from 41 to 54. The Conquest of Britain provided a much needed military triumph for Claudius, who had no previous reputation as a leader, and was perceived as a retiring and scholarly person.

Life-size imperial statues were placed in important public and official spaces, and it is conceivable - possibly even likely - that this statue might originally have occupied such a space in the Forum of the Colonia for retired veterans of Legio XX Valeria Victrix that was built at Colchester, over the native oppidum.

It has been suggested that the removal of the head, and presumably the destruction of the body of the statue, could have taken place during the rebellion of the British tribal leader Boudica in AD 61. Boudica's forces initially raised from her home tribe of the Iceni from modern Norfolk, stormed south and sacked the new Colonia at Camulodunum, massacring the inhabitants, soldiers and civilians alike.

This provides a dramatic reason why this hacked off imperial statue-head ended up as a votive offering at the bottom of the River Alde, just south of the Iceni home territory.