German independence truly is fiercer than the despotism of an Arsaces. “Neither Samnite nor Carthaginian, neither Spain nor Gaul, not even the Parthians, have given us more frequent warnings. Rome had a troubled history with Germanic tribes: Rome’s Troubled History with the Germans Map of Ancient Germania, via University of Texas Library In the classical tradition, the Germania also contains veiled moralistic messages conveyed by Tacitus for sophisticated Roman audiences. It can tell us much about the civilizations that deploy it. The concept of the ‘noble savage’ is a notion with deep roots. On the one hand, concerned with backward ‘barbarian’ tribes, the Germania also offers a cultural fetishization of the ferocity, physical strength, and moral simplicity of these unspoiled tribes. Paradoxically, these reactions could range from racist derision and stereotyping to admiration and eulogizing. Several Graeco-Roman writers before Tacitus had written about the tribal north, including Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, Posidonius, and Julius Caesar.įor a Roman audience, the Germania provided an ethnographic insight that triggered some powerful cultural reactions. Romans had a real fascination for ‘barbarian’ people. Our reliance on this classical observation comes with its own challenges. Graeco-Roman testimony is, therefore, often the sole literary evidence that we have for early tribal peoples like the Germans a people integral to the foundation and development of the European continent. Written around 98 CE, the Germania is valuable because Rome’s tribal enemies (Germans, Celts, Iberians, and Britons) operated an oral rather than a literary cultural tradition. The Germania has remained invaluable to historians due to the view it offers into the customs and social landscape of early Germanic tribes. A powerhouse of Roman historical writing, Tacitus is one of the great writers of history. The Germaniais a short work by the historian and politician Publius Cornelius Tacitus (65 – 120 CE). Tacitus & The Germania Publius Cornelius Tacitus, via Wikimedia Commons

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