Germanic Peoples

Germani was a group of related tribes that belonged to the Indo-European language family and occupied the territory of modern Denmark, the southern coast of Norway and Sweden. By the 5th century AD, Germanic tribes had settled the vast area between the Rhine and Vistula from west to east, the Danube in the south, and the Dnieper and Maeotian Sea in the southeast.

The term "Germans"is used to refer to peoples who spoke mainly Germanic languages, living in the period from the Bronze Age to the end of the Great Migration era. By the 7th century, as a result of migrations, the ancient Germans mixed with other peoples and took part in the formation of many other European nations.

Ancient authors distinguished Germans and Celts inconsistently, so archaeology and language are essential when testing their ethnic labels.

Map of Germany in the early 1st century AD.

Germanic-speaking peoples developed in northern Europe, with early centres in Jutland, the lower Elbe region and southern Scandinavia. From the first century BCE, Roman writers increasingly distinguished Germani from neighbouring peoples. Movements of Germanic-speaking groups into adjoining regions had begun before the Common Era. By the third century CE, their attacks affected much of the northern Roman frontier. During the fifth-century migrations, Germanic groups helped bring down the Western Roman Empire and established themselves in regions extending from Britain and Spain to the Black Sea and North Africa.

Mediterranean knowledge of northern Europe was initially limited and mediated by Celtic and Scythian-Sarmatian neighbours. Pytheas of Massalia, who travelled towards the North Sea and possibly the Baltic in the later fourth century BCE, is associated with some of the earliest surviving reports of these northern regions.

Rome confronted the Cimbri and Teutones during their migrations and wars of 113–101 BCE. Ancient accounts portray them as threatening peoples arriving from a distant north. Such literary descriptions need to be distinguished from reliable evidence about their origins and customs.

Gold Roman coin (aureus) of the Emperor Domitian (81-96 AD). The reverse side shows a captured German on a shield.

Julius Caesar provided an early substantial ethnographic account of Germanic peoples. His conquest of Gaul brought Roman forces to the Rhine and into conflict with groups beyond it. By the end of the first century BCE, Roman armies had reached the Elbe. First-century CE authors described the distribution, social organisation and customs of Germanic communities in greater detail.

Warfare continued with varying intensity. In the Teutoburg Forest in 9 CE, an alliance of Germanic groups destroyed three Roman legions. Rome subsequently held only limited territory east of the Rhine. In the later first century CE, the Empire increasingly relied on the Rhine, Danube and Upper German–Raetian Limes as frontier lines, combining defence with punitive expeditions. The Danubian frontier was also repeatedly attacked as populations moved south and east.

Bas-relief with German horsemen in the service of Rome. Found in Mainz,Germany. 1-2 century AD

The wars of the mid-third century severely strained the empire. Emperor Decius died fighting the Goths in 251 CE, and Gothic attacks by land and sea reached Greece, Thrace and Asia Minor. In the 270s, Rome abandoned Dacia north of the Danube under pressure from Germanic and Sarmatian groups. The Upper German–Raetian Limes was also given up, with defence reorganised along the Rhine, Iller and Danube.

The empire survived these crises, but from the 370s further large-scale movements brought Germanic groups into Roman territory, where some established lasting settlements and political power.

Battle of the Romans with the Germans circa 252. It is assumed that the battle of Roman troops with the Goths is depicted.

Religious Context

Germanic cults of the ancient period are known through Roman reports, archaeology, and later northern tradition. Sacred groves, warrior sacrality, oaths, weapon offerings, and the connection of religion with lineage and chieftainship were important. See also Religion of the Celts and Germans.

Related topics

Antiquity, Rome, Fall of the Western Roman Empire

Literature

• H. J. Eggers, E. Will, R. Joffroy and W. Holmqvist. Les Celtes et les Germains à l’époque païenne. Paris, 1965, pp. 7–12.

• “Germanic Peoples”. Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (in Russian).

• Ammianus Marcellinus. Roman History. Russian edition: Moscow, AST, 2005.

• Gaius Julius Caesar. The Gallic War. In a Russian edition with the works of Sallust. Moscow: AST, Ladomir, 2007.

• Jordanes. The Origin and Deeds of the Goths. Russian edition: St Petersburg, Aleteia, 1997.

• Tacitus. Germania. In Works in Two Volumes, vol. 1: Annals and Minor Works. Russian edition: Leningrad, Nauka, 1969.