Cornelius Tacitus on the life and customs of the ancient Germans

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 634.

Julius on the germanic tribes

General account

Historical sources of Germanic languages

Greek historian and geographer of the 4^th century BC Pitheas mentioned the Germanic tribes for the first time.

Plutarch drew our attention to such Germanic tribes as the Tetjtones and the Cimbrians who endangered the safety of the Roman empire.

In the 2^nd century the Alexandrian geographer Claudius Ptolemaeus described Germania, giving a list of 69 Germanic tribes.

The history of the Goths was told by Cassiodorus.

The history of the Saxons was written by Widukind of Corve. His "Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorwn" (737) described the Angles, Saxons and Jutes who had left the continent for the British Isles.

Book 4 of Julius Caesar's "Commentaries on Gaelic Wars" begins with the description of the Usipetes (Usipians) and Tenchtheri (Tencterians), two of the Germanic tribes that were forced to cross the Rhine under the pressure of the Suebi (Suevians).

When Caesar arrived, he resolved to make war against the Germans to prevent them from entering the Roman territories.

Gains Cornelius Tacifus (55-117) described the peoples of Germany in "De Situ, moribus etpopulis Germaniae.".

Tacitus mentioned about 40 tribes of the Germans. Among the tribes living to the west Tacitus gives the names of the Cattans, the Usipians, the Tencteriasns. the Chamavians, the Angrivarians, the Dutgubinians. and the Chasuarians.

Pliny the Elder`s classification

"True glory lies in doing what deserves to be written and writing what deserves to be read."

Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD) is famous for the "Histona Naturalis" He divides all Germanic tribes into 6 groups:

1) the Vandals inhabifed the eastern part of Germanic territory.

2) the Ingvaeones inhabited the north-western part of Germanic territory, the shores of the North Sea. English is the descendant of the tribes, that originally belonged to this group;

3) the Istvaeones inhabited the western part of Germanic territory, among them the Franks. The Istaevonic dialect was Old Low Franconian from which Dutch originated;

4) the Irmiones inhabited the southern part of Germanic territory, what is now southern Germany;

5) the Hilleviones inhabited Scandinavia;

6) the Peucini and Bastarnae who lived close to the Dacians.