Tacitus: Germania

Rahel Woldemichael
History paper #1
Tacitus: Germania

Tacitus, Roman author, was one of the people to write about the Germanic society in great detail. Tacitus, being a Roman, has lopsided ways of writing about Germania, the enemies of Rome. This text informs us about the many ways of life in Germania. It introduces us to a somewhat full looks of Germany that, at the time was unavailable. This text is very useful because, in 97-8 AD when this was written, not much was known about Germania. This can be observed from his way of writing, the usefulness of his work amongst many historians. In his text, Tacitus discussed many defining elements of the Germania society, and from that it can be inferred how it reflected the Roman world within
Tacitus: “…no corresponding power to ensure hard work and exertion, and little capacity to bear thirst and heat, but their climate and soil have taught them to bear cold and hunger.” People of Germania even though they have much of similar features with each other, they were unlike any other race; they were not mixed with any other race, for reasons stated above. Tacitus: “…Germania has never been tainted by intermarriage with other nations, and stands out as a race distinctive, pure and unique of its kind.” As described above Germania had many important essentials of family, political, and social life. One of the many important parts of Germania’s life style was their way of leading a family life. Tacitus described their family orientation as, abnormal. Their women were treated with much more dignity and value than anywhere else, for their time (98-7 AD). When men got injured during a war, they would go to their mothers or wives, as they are their encouragers and helpers. In a marriage, the husband and wife were seen as partners, which began before they get married, when both bring gifts to the table. These gifts would symbolize of this partnership. Tacitus: “… she is coming to
The first recognized comparison was marriage. Tacitus identified marriage in Germania society as his greatest comparison to Rome. Germania’s values on marriage were stronger than Romans as Tacitus pointed it out. Tacitus: “… marriage there is strict, and no feature of their culture deserves higher praise. They are almost unique among barbarians in being satisfied with one wife each.” Second major comparison was their military base. Rome had a well standing military standard that developed through time. Germania had a weak and easy defense force that lacked training unlike Britannia. Britannia had a well standing training that prepared soldiers appropriately for the necessary defense Romans might need. Third major comparison between Rome and Germania was their use of money. Tacitus described Germania’s use of money as old fashioned. Germania used old money, and did not have much value for gold and silver; not as much as Rome. Tacitus seems to think that it was gods doing, either punishing them or giving them mercy by not letting them have gold or silver in their land. Tacitus: “… gods have denied them gold and silver… one may see among them vessels, given as presents to their envoys and leading men, as lightly esteemed as earthenware … they like money that is old and familiar.” The comparison goes on to distinguish many similarities and differences between