What was Tacitus’ General Description of Germania?

Tacitus was a Latin historian, Roman senator, and suffect consul(completing the one-year term of a consul that died) that wrote some books. One of them was Germania. He wrote in 98 AD during the beginning of Emperor Trajan’s reign. There were a few possible motives: either reminding of Domitian’s war against the Danubian tribes or preparing Trajan’s war against them under Decebalus. However, Tacitus described Germania: what were the general descriptions? What view did he have? How did the Germanic tribes live and do in society? What parts did he get wrong?

Demographics
On the Romans’ side of the Rhine and Danube Rivers, they had Gauls, Raetians, and Pannonians. On the other side, Sarmartians and Danubians lived there with another geographic feature: the Carpathian Mountains. In Germania, the surroundings were the North, Black, and Baltic Seas, Scandinavia, and forests. The Germanic people were also known as the Germani.

The Romans saw Germania as unstable and little to gain. Germanic tribes sang about Arminius due to saving them from the Romans by winning at Teutoburg Forest. However, to the Romans, it was a major psychological defeat, which prevented them from trying to gain Germania. Nevertheless, they were capable, and Germanicus proved it against Arminius. What stopped it was Tiberius for his paranoia against Germanicus’ successes and popularity and seeing the land as useless for Roman expansion. There were many Germanic tribes like the Vandals, Marso, Chatti, and the Suebi to name a few. Arminius led the Cherusci. Also, they used battle songs, which was baritus; the Romans had classicus. In addition, the Germanic people had been the same despite having other non-Germani in their lands. Intermarriage existed, but it did not have much effect on changing the appearance of the Germani. Unfortunately, Nazi Germany misinterpreted it as Germans being Aryans: blue eyes and blonde hair. Also, they thought to be homogenous, and intermarrying, especially Jews, was not allowed.

Natural Resources
Germania contained mainly forests and marshes. Crops were available and had apple trees. However, Tacitus did not mean having fruit trees as apple trees but possibly referred to olives and vines, which were more significant to the Romans. Also, the Germanic people had nut trees like In addition, cattle were the most common livestock. Finally, there was little to no gold or silver.

Military Aspects
Romans needed iron for their gladius, but Germania had insufficient iron. Few Germanic warriors held swords, wore breastplates, and rode horses. The infantry was their main offensive arm: the same as the Romans. They used spears and threw javelins; they wore little to no armor: cloaks or the top being naked; they were agile. Their horses were of poor quality. As for kings, they did not have all the power; the Germani focused on martial values. Women and children were camp followers, and the females assisted the warriors: encouraging and feeding them. In addition, some chiefs wanted only female hostages.

Religion
The Romans and Gauls worshiped Mercury: the god of speed. The Greek equivalent was Hermes. The Germanic people committed animal sacrifices and revered gods that were tangible. Their version of Mercury was “Wotan, Wodan, or Odin” (Birley 107). They used a nut tree’s branch as part of the religious rituals. In addition, they saw birds as morality, and different birds could be good or evil. The Romans used the birds’ flight to determine their fate.

Government
Chiefs formed an institution to make decisions: an equivalent to the Roman Senate. One hundred members served as advisors. The Germani followed the lunar calendar, which focused on the moon’s phases. Also, freedmen became more significant but were not much of an improvement to slaves. For punishments, “traitors and deserters are hanged on trees” (Birley 43). Cowards and Sodomites went into bogs. In addition, there were public punishments with private shame, and fines were “horses or cattle” (Birley 44).

Civic duties and the Chief’s retinue
A 14–16-year-old male wore a shield and spear, which would make him a young man. The chiefs assigned rankings to their warriors, which led to having power and competing with one another. Also, they had to be the bravest, and wars helped to increase their rank. Men hunted, slept, and ate; women, older men, and the young were to be the homemakers. Cattle and crops were gifts.

Settlements
There were no cities, and the buildings did not resemble the Roman style. The Germanic tribes used timber for everything due to having vast forests, but they also used clay. In addition, they had underground storage pits for dung and crop storage.

Fashion
Germanic males wore sagum or sagulum: a cloak with a brooch. Also, they wore trousers. In Scandinavia, they wore sealskin. However, Germanic women possibly wore long gowns, but in Mainz, they had trousers. They had their arms and breasts shown.

Customs
Despite women wearing gowns that showed their arms and breasts, they had no sexual intercourse. Tacitus stated the husband gave the dowry to his wife, which was false. Instead, the bride’s parents received it. Her father gave the sword to the groom, which symbolized control: a patriarchal society. There were few adulteries, but Tacitus claimed: there were no signs of infanticide, which was false; some committed abortions. He claimed they were dirty due to Germanic mothers breastfeeding their children. Since he was a senator, he would take the view of the wealthy and the powerful: rich Roman mothers allowed slaves or freed women to breastfeed their children. The Romans wanted children, but the Germani were slower and chose to do so out of their free will. Also, on hereditary rights, the Germanic people focused on families and friendships, but Romans put more emphasis on friends; the compensation was livestock. Individualism, not cooperation, was more for Germanic society. In addition, Tacitus criticized them as drunkards.

Also, there was food, entertainment, farming practices, and funerals. The Germanic people drank beer but could consume wine if they lived near the Rhine and Danube rivers: the Roman presence. The Germani ate simple foods: “fresh fruit, fresh game, or curdled milk” (Birley 49). For entertainment, they performed simple shows: a sword dance. If they were sober, they played dice. The losers became slaves. In farming practices, they worked in the fields and did not punish them. Freedmen were significant but not much better than slaves, except for serving in the monarchies. Tacitus falsely claimed farming cultivated lands; instead, they did subsistence farming: most lands not being arable. The chiefs used and divided land by rank. It was essential to their society. At funerals, the Germans displayed no vulgarity and no showing off, which the Romans struggled with. To sum up, customs and morality superseded the laws.

Conclusion
Tacitus had a subtle but heavily Roman-centric view. Although the Germanic people valued military honor and freedom, which the Romans supported, they went to the worst extremes. Two, the tribes focused on war and emotions more than the ‘stoic’ Romans. Three, they became more civilized in the Roman way but stuck to their traditions. Four, they emphasized morality more than laws, which the Romans preferred.

In my next blog post, I will write about Tacitus’ view on the specifics of different Germanic tribes.

Works Cited

Pagán, Victoria Emma. A Companion to Tacitus. Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.
Tacitus, Publius Cornelius. Agricola and Germany. Translated by Anthony Richard Birley, Oxford University Press, 1999.
Thomas, Richard F. “The Germania as Literary Text.” Academia.Edu, 1 Apr. 2016, www.academia.edu/23910438/The_Germania_as_literary_text.