Roman bronze statuette dated to the late 1st century – early 2nd century CE, representing a Germanic man with his hair in aSuebian knot
TheGermanic peoples were tribal groups who lived inNorthern Europe duringClassical antiquity and theEarly Middle Ages. In modern scholarship, they typically include not only the Roman-eraGermani who lived in bothGermania and parts of theRoman Empire, but also allGermanic speaking peoples from this era, irrespective of where they lived, most notably theGoths. Another term,ancient Germans, is considered problematic by many scholars because it suggests identity with present-dayGermans.[1] Although the first Roman descriptions ofGermani involved tribes west of the Rhine, their homeland ofGermania was portrayed as stretching east of theRhine, to southernScandinavia and theVistula in the east, and to the upperDanube in the south. Other Germanic speakers, such as theBastarnae and Goths, lived further east in what is nowMoldova andUkraine. The termGermaniis generally only used to refer to historical peoples from the 1st to 4th centuries CE.[2]
Different academic disciplines have their own definitions of what makes someone or something "Germanic".[3] Some scholars call for the term's total abandonment as a modern construct, since lumping "Germanic peoples" together implies a common group identity for which there is little evidence.[4] Other scholars have defended the term's continued use and argue that a common Germanic language allows one to speak of "Germanic peoples", regardless of whether these ancient and medieval peoples saw themselves as having a common identity.[5] Scholars generally agree that it is possible to refer to Germanic languages from about 500 BCE.[6] Archaeologists usually associate the earliest clearly identifiable Germanic speaking peoples with theJastorf culture of thePre-Roman Iron Age in central and northern Germany and southern Denmark from the 6th to 1st centuries BCE. This culture existed around the same time that theFirst Germanic Consonant Shift is theorized to have occurred, leading to recognizably Germanic languages.[7][a] Germanic languages expanded south, east, and west, coming into contact withCeltic,Iranic,Baltic, andSlavic peoples before they were noted by the Romans.
Roman authors first described theGermani near the Rhine in the 1st century BCE, while the Roman Empire was establishing its dominance in that region. Under EmperorAugustus (27 BCE – 14 CE), the Romans attempted to conquer a large part of Germania between the Rhine andElbe, but withdrew after their shocking defeat at theBattle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 CE. The Romans continued to manage the Germanic frontier carefully, meddling in cross-border politics, and constructing a long fortified border, theLimes Germanicus. From 166 to 180 CE, Rome was embroiled in a conflict against the GermanicMarcomanni andQuadi with their allies, which was known as theMarcomannic Wars. After this major disruption, new groupings of Germanic peoples appear for the first time in the historical record, such as theFranks,Goths,Saxons, andAlemanni. During theMigration Period (375–568), such Germanic peoples entered the Roman Empire and eventually established their own "barbarian kingdoms" within the territory of the Western Roman empire itself. Over time, the Franks became the most powerful of them, conquering many of the others. Eventually, the Frankish kingCharlemagne claimed the title ofHoly Roman Emperor for himself in 800.
Archaeological finds suggest that Roman-era sources portrayed the Germanic way of life as more primitive than it actually was. Instead, archaeologists have unveiled evidence of a complex society and economy throughout Germania. Germanic-speaking peoples originally shared similar religious practices. Denoted by the termGermanic paganism, they varied throughout the territory occupied by Germanic-speaking peoples. Over the course ofLate Antiquity, most continental Germanic peoples and theAnglo-Saxons of Britain converted to Christianity, but the Saxons andScandinavians converted only much later. The Germanic peoples shared a native script—known asrunes—from around the first century or before, which was gradually replaced with theLatin script, although runes continued to be used for specialized purposes thereafter.
Traditionally, the Germanic peoples have been seen as possessing a law dominated by the concepts offeuding andblood compensation. The precise details, nature and origin of what is still normally called "Germanic law" are now controversial. Roman sources state that the Germanic peoples made decisions in a popular assembly (thething) but that they also had kings and war leaders. The ancient Germanic-speaking peoples probably shared a common poetic tradition,alliterative verse, and later Germanic peoples alsoshared legends originating in the Migration Period.
The publishing ofTacitus'sGermania byhumanist scholars in the 1400s greatly influenced the emerging idea of "Germanic peoples". Later scholars of theRomantic period, such asJacob and Wilhelm Grimm, developed several theories about the nature of the Germanic peoples that were highly influenced byromantic nationalism. For those scholars, the "Germanic" and modern "German" were identical. Ideas about the early Germans were also highly influential among members of the nationalist and racistvölkisch movement and later co-opted by theNazis. During the second half of the 20th century, the controversial misuse of ancient Germanic history and archaeology was discredited and has since resulted in a backlash against many aspects of earlier scholarship.
The etymology of the Latin wordGermani, from which LatinGermania and English Germanic are derived, is unknown, although several proposals have been put forward. Even the language from which it derives is a subject of dispute, with proposals of Germanic,Celtic, Latin, andIllyrian origins.[10]Herwig Wolfram, for example, thinksGermani must beGaulish.[11] The historianWolfgang Pfeifer more or less concurs with Wolfram and surmises that the nameGermani is likely of Celtic etymology and is related to theOld Irish wordgair ('neighbours') or could be tied to the Celtic word for their war cries,gairm, which simplifies into 'the neighbours' or 'the screamers'.[12] Regardless of its language of origin, the name was transmitted to the Romans via Celtic speakers.[13]
It is unclear whether any people group ever referred to themselves asGermani.[14] Bylate antiquity, only peoples near the Rhine, especially theFranks and sometimes the Alemanni, were calledGermani orGermanoi by Latin andGreek writers respectively.[15]Germani subsequently ceased to be used as a name for any group of people and was revived as such only by thehumanists in the 16th century.[14] Previously, scholars during theCarolingian period (8th–11th centuries) had already begun usingGermania andGermanicus in a territorial sense to refer toEast Francia.[16]
In modern English, the adjectiveGermanic is distinct fromGerman, which is generally used when referring to modern Germans only.Germanic relates to the ancientGermani or the broader Germanic group.[1] In modern German, the ancientGermani are calledGermanen and their countryGermania isGermanien, and there are clearly distinct terms for modern Germans (Deutsche) and modern Germany (Deutschland). In English however there are no common terms which distinguishGermans fromGermani, orGermany fromGermania, blurring the distinctions.[17] To avoid ambiguity the Latin terms are often used, or theGermani are sometimes called "ancient Germans".[18][1]
The modern definition of Germanic peoples developed in the 19th century, when the termGermanic was linked to the newly identifiedGermanic language family. Linguistics provided a new way of defining the Germanic peoples, which came to be used in historiography and archaeology.[19][3] While Roman authors did not consistently excludeCeltic-speaking people or have a term corresponding to Germanic-speaking peoples, this new definition—which used the Germanic language as the main criterion—presented theGermani as a people or nation (Volk) with a stable group identity linked to language. As a result, some scholars treat theGermani (Latin) orGermanoi (Greek) of Roman-era sources as non-Germanic if they seemingly spoke non-Germanic languages.[20] For clarity, Germanic peoples, when defined as "speakers of a Germanic language", are sometimes referred to as "Germanic-speaking peoples".[3] Today, the term "Germanic" is widely applied to "phenomena including identities, social, cultural or political groups, to material cultural artefacts, languages and texts, and even specific chemical sequences found in human DNA".[21] Several scholars continue to use the term to refer to a culture existing between the 1st to 4th centuries CE, but most historians and archaeologists researching Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages no longer use it.[22]
Apart from the designation of a language family (i.e., "Germanic languages"), the application of the term "Germanic" has become controversial in scholarship since 1990,[3] especially among archaeologists and historians. Scholars have increasingly questioned the notion of ethnically defined people groups (Völker) as stable basic actors of history.[23] The connection of archaeological assemblages to ethnicity has also been increasingly questioned.[24] This has resulted in different disciplines developing different definitions of "Germanic".[3] Beginning with the work of the "Toronto School" aroundWalter Goffart, various scholars have denied that anything such as a common Germanic ethnic identity ever existed. Such scholars argue that most ideas about Germanic culture are taken from far later epochs and projected backwards to antiquity.[25] Historians of the Vienna School, such asWalter Pohl, have also called for the term to be avoided or used with careful explanation,[26] and argued that there is little evidence for a common Germanic identity.[27] The Anglo-SaxonistLeonard Neidorf writes that historians of the continental-European Germanic peoples of the 5th and 6th centuries are "in agreement" that there was no pan-Germanic identity or solidarity.[28] Whether a scholar favors the existence of a common Germanic identity or not is often related to their position on the nature of theend of the Roman Empire.[29]
Defenders of continued use of the termGermanic argue that the speakers of Germanic languages can be identified as Germanic people by language regardless of how they saw themselves.[5] Linguists and philologists have generally reacted skeptically to claims that there was no Germanic identity or cultural unity,[30] and they may viewGermanic simply as a long-established and convenient term.[31] Some archaeologists have also argued in favor of retaining the termGermanic due to its broad recognizability.[32] ArchaeologistHeiko Steuer defines his own work on theGermani in geographical terms (coveringGermania), rather than in ethnic terms.[33] He nevertheless argues for some sense of shared identity between theGermani, noting the use of a common language, a commonrunic script, various common objects of material culture such asbracteates andgullgubber (small gold objects) and the confrontation with Rome as things that could cause a sense of shared "Germanic" culture.[34] Despite being cautious of the use ofGermanic to refer to peoples,Sebastian Brather,Wilhelm Heizmann andSteffen Patzold nevertheless refer to further commonalities such as the widely attested worship of deities such asOdin,Thor andFrigg, and ashared legendary tradition.[31]
Several different regions called Germania in the Roman era, about 0-200 CE (names in red were peoples calledGermani, despite not living withinGermania)
The first author to describe theGermani as a large category of peoples distinct from theGauls andScythians wasJulius Caesar, writing around 55 BCE during his governorship of Gaul.[35] In Caesar's account, the clearest defining characteristic of theGermani people was that their homeland was east of theRhine,[36] oppositeGaul on the west side. Caesar sought to explain both why his legions stopped at the Rhine and also why theGermani were more dangerous than the Gauls to the empire.[37] Explaining this threat he also classified theCimbri andTeutons, who had previously invaded Italy, asGermani.[38][39] Although Caesar described the Rhine as the border betweenGermani and Celts, he also describes theGermani cisrhenani on the west bank of the Rhine, who he believed had moved from the east.[40] It is unclear if theseGermani were actually Germanic speakers.[41] According to the Roman historianTacitus in hisGermania (c. 98 CE), it was among this group, specifically theTungri, that the nameGermani first arose, before it spread to further groups.[42] Tacitus reported that in his time many of the peoples west of the Rhine within Roman Gaul were still consideredGermani.[43] Caesar's division of theGermani from the Celts was not taken up by most writers in Greek.[44]
Caesar and authors following him regarded Germania as stretching east of the Rhine for an indeterminate distance, bounded by the Baltic Sea and theHercynian Forest.[45]Pliny the Elder and Tacitus placed the eastern border at theVistula.[46] The Upper Danube served as a southern border. Between there and the Vistula Tacitus sketched an unclear boundary, describing Germania as separated in the south and east from the Dacians and the Sarmatians by mutual fear or mountains.[47] This undefined eastern border is related to a lack of stable frontiers in this area such as were maintained by Roman armies along the Rhine and Danube.[44] The geographerPtolemy (2nd century CE) applied the nameGermania magna ("Greater Germania",Greek:Γερμανία Μεγάλη) to this area, contrasting it with the Roman provinces ofGermania Prima andGermania Secunda (on the west bank of the Rhine).[48] In modern scholarship, Germania magna is sometimes also calledGermania libera ("free Germania"),[49] a name coined by Jacob Grimm around 1835.[50]
Caesar and, following him, Tacitus, depicted theGermani as sharing elements of a common culture.[51] A small number of passages by Tacitus and other Roman authors (Caesar, Suetonius) mention Germanic tribes or individuals speaking a language distinct from Gaulish. For Tacitus (Germania 43, 45, 46), language was a characteristic, but not defining feature of the Germanic peoples.[52] Many of the ascribed ethnic characteristics of theGermani represented them as typically "barbarian", including the possession of stereotypical vices such as "wildness" and of virtues such as chastity.[53] Tacitus was at times unsure whether a people were Germanic or not. He expressed uncertainty about thePeucini, who he says spoke and lived like theGermani, though they did not live in Germania, and they were beginning to look like Sarmatians through intermarriage. TheOsi andCotini lived in Germania, but were notGermani, because they had other languages and customs.[b] TheAesti lived on the eastern shore of the Baltic and were likeSuebi in their appearance and customs, although they spoke a different language.[52] Ancient authors did not differentiate consistently between a territorial definition ("those living inGermania") and an ethnic definition ("having Germanic ethnic characteristics"), and the two definitions did not always align.[54]
In the 3rd century, when Romans encountered Germanic-speaking peoples living north of the Lower Danube who fought on horseback, such as Goths and Gepids, they did not call themGermani. Instead, they connected them with non-Germanic-speaking peoples such as theHuns,Sarmatians, andAlans, who shared a similar culture.[44] Romans also called them "Gothic peoples", (gentes Gothicae) even if they did not speak a Germanic language, and they often referred to the Goths as "Getae", equating them to a non-Germanic people residing in the same region.[55] The writerProcopius described these new "Getic" peoples as sharing similar appearance, laws, Arian religion, and a common language.[56]
Several ancient sources list subdivisions of the Germanic tribes. Writing in the first century CE,Pliny the Elder lists five Germanic subgroups: the Vandili, the Inguaeones, the Istuaeones (living near the Rhine), the Herminones (in the Germanic interior), and the Peucini Basternae (living on the lower Danube near the Dacians).[57] In chapter 2 of theGermania, written about a half-century later, Tacitus lists only three subgroups: the Ingvaeones (near the sea), the Herminones (in the interior of Germania), and the Istvaeones (the remainder of the tribes);[58] Tacitus says these groups each claimed descent from the godMannus, son ofTuisto.[59] Tacitus also mentions a second tradition that there were four sons of either Mannus or Tuisto from whom the groups of the Marsi, Gambrivi, Suebi, and Vandili claim descent.[60][61] The Herminones are also mentioned byPomponius Mela, but otherwise, these divisions do not appear in other ancient works on theGermani.[60]
There are a number of inconsistencies in the listing of Germanic subgroups by Tacitus and Pliny. While both Tacitus and Pliny mention some Scandinavian tribes, they are not integrated into the subdivisions.[57] While Pliny lists theSuebi as part of the Herminones, Tacitus treats them as a separate group.[62] Additionally, Tacitus's description of a group of tribes as united by the cult ofNerthus (Germania 40) as well as the cult of theAlcis controlled by theNahanarvali (Germania 43) and Tacitus's account of the origin myth of theSemnones (Germania 39) all suggest different subdivisions than the three mentioned inGermania chapter 2.[63]
The subdivisions found in Pliny and Tacitus have been very influential for scholarship on Germanic history and language up until recent times.[57] However, outside of Tacitus and Pliny there are no other textual indications that these groups were important. The subgroups mentioned by Tacitus are not used by him elsewhere in his work, contradict other parts of his work, and cannot be reconciled with Pliny, who is equally inconsistent.[62][61] Additionally, there is no linguistic or archaeological evidence for these subgroups.[62][64] New archaeological finds have tended to show that the boundaries between Germanic peoples were very permeable, and scholars now assume that migration and the collapse and formation of cultural units were constant occurrences within Germania.[65] Nevertheless, various aspects such as the alliteration of many of the tribal names in Tacitus's account and the name of Mannus himself suggest that the descent from Mannus was an authentic Germanic tradition.[66]
Although Proto-Germanic is reconstructed without dialects via thecomparative method, it is almost certain that it never was a uniform proto-language.[74] The late Jastorf culture occupied so much territory that it is unlikely that Germanic populations spoke a single dialect, and traces of early linguistic varieties have been highlighted by scholars.[75] Sister dialects of Proto-Germanic itself certainly existed, as evidenced by the absence of the First Germanic Sound Shift (Grimm's law) in some "Para-Germanic" recorded proper names, and the reconstructed Proto-Germanic language was only one among several dialects spoken at that time by peoples identified as "Germanic" by Roman sources or archeological data.[76] Although Roman sources name various Germanic tribes such as Suevi, Alemanni,Bauivari, etc., it is unlikely that the members of these tribes all spoke the same dialect.[77]
Definite and comprehensive evidence of Germanic lexical units only occurred afterCaesar's conquest ofGaul in the 1st century BCE, after which contacts with Proto-Germanic speakers began to intensify. TheAlcis, a pair of brother gods worshipped by theNahanarvali, are given by Tacitus as a Latinized form of*alhiz (a kind of 'stag'), and the wordsapo ('hair dye') is certainly borrowed from Proto-Germanic*saipwōn- (Englishsoap), as evidenced by the parallel Finnish loanwordsaipio.[78] The name of theframea, described by Tacitus as a short spear carried by Germanic warriors, most likely derives from thecompound*fram-ij-an- ('forward-going one'), as suggested by comparable semantical structures found in earlyrunes (e.g.,raun-ij-az 'tester', on a lancehead) andlinguistic cognates attested in the laterOld Norse,Old Saxon andOld High German languages:fremja,fremmian andfremmen all mean 'to carry out'.[79]
The inscription on theNegau helmet B, carved in theEtruscan alphabet during the 3rd–2nd c. BCE, is generally regarded as Proto-Germanic.[80]
In the absence of earlier evidence, it must be assumed that Proto-Germanic speakers living inGermania were members of preliterate societies.[81] The only pre-Roman inscriptions that could be interpreted as Proto-Germanic, written in theEtruscan alphabet, have not been found inGermania but rather in the Venetic region. The inscriptionharikastiteiva\\\ip, engraved on theNegau helmet in the 3rd–2nd centuries BCE, possibly by a Germanic-speaking warrior involved in combat in northern Italy, has been interpreted by some scholars asHarigasti Teiwǣ (*harja-gastiz 'army-guest' +*teiwaz 'god, deity'), which could be an invocation to a war-god or a mark of ownership engraved by its possessor.[80] The inscriptionFariarix (*farjōn- 'ferry' +*rīk- 'ruler') carved ontetradrachms found inBratislava (mid-1st c. BCE) may indicate the Germanic name of a Celtic ruler.[82]
By the time Germanic speakers entered written history, their linguistic territory had stretched farther south, since a Germanicdialect continuum (where neighbouring language varieties diverged only slightly between each other, but remote dialects were not necessarilymutually intelligible due to accumulated differences over the distance) covered a region roughly located between theRhine, theVistula, theDanube, and southernScandinavia during the first two centuries of theCommon Era.[83] East Germanic speakers dwelled on the Baltic sea coasts and islands, while speakers of the Northwestern dialects occupied territories in present-day Denmark and bordering parts of Germany at the earliest date when they can be identified.[84]
In the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, migrations of East Germanicgentes from the Baltic Sea coast southeastwards into the hinterland led to their separation from the dialect continuum.[85] By the late 3rd century CE, linguistic divergences like the West Germanic loss of the final consonant-z had already occurred within the "residual" Northwest dialect continuum.[86] The latter definitely ended after the 5th- and 6th-century migrations ofAngles,Jutes and part of theSaxon tribes towards modern-day England.[87]
Replica of an altar for the Matrons of Vacallina (Matronae Vacallinehae) from Mechernich-Weyer, Germany
The Germanic languages are traditionally divided betweenEast,North andWest Germanic branches.[88] The modern prevailing view is that North and West Germanic were also encompassed in a larger subgroup called Northwest Germanic.[89]
Northwest Germanic: mainly characterized by thei-umlaut, and the shift of the long vowel*ē towards a long*ā in accented syllables;[90] it remained adialect continuum following the migration of East Germanic speakers in the 2nd–3rd century CE;[85]
North Germanic orPrimitive Norse: initially characterized by themonophthongization of the soundai toā (attested from c. 400 BCE);[91] a uniform northern dialect orkoiné attested in runic inscriptions from the 2nd century CE onward,[92] it remained practically unchanged until a transitional period that started in the late 5th century;[93] andOld Norse, a language attested by runic inscriptions written in theYounger Fuþark from the beginning of theViking Age (8th–9th centuries CE);[94]
West Germanic: includingOld Saxon (attested from the 5th c. CE),Old English (late 5th c.),Old Frisian (6th c.),Frankish (6th c.),Old High German (6th c.), and possiblyLangobardic (6th c.), which is only scarcely attested;[95] they are mainly characterized by the loss of the final consonant -z (attested from the late 3rd century),[96] and by thej-consonant gemination (attested from c. 400 BCE);[97] early inscriptions from the West Germanic areas found on altars where votive offerings were made to theMatronae Vacallinehae (Matrons of Vacallina) in theRhineland dated to c. 160–260 CE; West Germanic remained a "residual" dialect continuum until theAnglo-Saxon migrations in the 5th–6th centuries CE;[87]
East Germanic, of which onlyGothic is attested by bothrunic inscriptions (from the 3rd c. CE) and textual evidence (principallyWulfila's Bible; c. 350–380). It became extinct after the fall of theVisigothic Kingdom in the early 8th century.[98] The inclusion of theBurgundian andVandalic languages within the East Germanic group, while plausible, is still uncertain due to their scarce attestation.[99] The latest attested East Germanic language,Crimean Gothic, has been partially recorded in the 16th century.[100]
Further internal classifications are still debated among scholars, as it is unclear whether the internal features shared by several branches are due to early common innovations or to the later diffusion of local dialectal innovations.[101][d]
Generally, scholars agree that it is possible to speak of Germanic-speaking peoples after 500 BCE, although the first attestation of the nameGermani does not occur until much later.[6] Between around 500 BCE and the beginning of thecommon era, archeological and linguistic evidence suggest that theUrheimat ('original homeland') of theProto-Germanic language, the ancestral idiom of all attested Germanic dialects, existed in or near thearchaeological culture known as the lateJastorf culture of the central Elbe in present day Germany, stretching north intoJutland and east into present-day Poland.[105][f] If the Jastorf Culture is the origin of the Germanic peoples, then the Scandinavian peninsula would have become Germanic either via migration or via assimilation over the course of the same period.[106] Alternatively,Hermann Ament [de] has stressed that two other archaeological groups must have belonged to theGermani: one on either side of theLower Rhine and reaching to theWeser, and another in Jutland and southern Scandinavia. These groups would thus suggest a "polycentric origin" for the Germanic peoples.[107] The neighboringPrzeworsk culture in modern Poland is thought to possibly reflect both a Germanic and aSlavic component.[108][g] The identification of the Jastorf culture with theGermani has been criticized bySebastian Brather, who notes that it seems to be missing areas such as southern Scandinavia and the Rhine-Weser area, which linguists argue to have been Germanic, while also not according with the Roman-era definition ofGermani, which included Celtic-speaking peoples further south and west.[109]
One category of evidence used to attempt to locate the Proto-Germanic homeland uses traces of early linguistic contacts with neighbouring languages. Germanic loanwords in theFinnic andSámi languages have preserved archaic forms (e.g. Finnickuningas, from Proto-Germanic*kuningaz 'king';rengas, from*hringaz 'ring'; etc.),[110] with the older loan-layers possibly dating back to an earlier period of intense contacts between pre-Germanic andFinno-Permic (i.e.Finno-Samic) speakers.[111] Sharedlexical innovations betweenCeltic and Germanic languages, concentrated in certain semantic domains such as religion and warfare, indicate intensive contacts between theGermani andCeltic peoples, usually identified with the archaeologicalLa Tène culture, found in southern Germany and the modern Czech Republic.[112] Early contacts probably occurred during the Pre-Germanic and Pre-Celtic periods, dated to the 2nd millennium BCE,[113][h] and the Celts appear to have had a large amount of influence on Germanic culture up until the first century CE, which led to a high degree of Celtic-Germanic shared material-culture and social organization.[114] Scholars have also highlighted some evidence of linguistic convergence between Germanic and theItalic languages, whoseUrheimat is supposed to have been situated north of the Alps before the 1st millennium BCE.[115] Shared changes in their grammars also suggest early contacts between Germanic andBalto-Slavic languages; however, some of these innovations are shared with Baltic only, which may point to linguistic contacts during a relatively late period, at any rate after the initial breakup of Balto-Slavic intoBaltic andSlavic languages, with the similarities to Slavic being seen as remnants of Indo-European archaisms or as the result of secondary contacts.[116][117][i]
According to some authors theBastarnae, orPeucini, were the firstGermani to be encountered by theGreco-Roman world and thus to be mentioned in historical records.[118] They appear in historical sources going as far back as the 3rd century BCE through the 4th century CE.[119] Another eastern people known from about 200 BCE, and sometimes believed to be Germanic-speaking, are theSciri (Greek:Skiroi), who are recorded threatening the city ofOlbia on the Black Sea.[120] Late in the 2nd century BCE, Roman and Greek sources recount the migrations of the Cimbri, Teutones andAmbrones whom Caesar later classified as Germanic.[121] The movements of these groups through parts ofGaul,Italy andHispania resulted in theCimbrian War (113–101 BCE) against the Romans, in which the Teutons and Cimbri were victorious over several Roman armies but were ultimately defeated.[122][123][124]
The first century BCE was a time of the expansion of Germanic-speaking peoples at the expense of Celtic-speaking polities in modern southern Germany and the Czech Republic.[125][126] Before 60 BCE,Ariovistus, described by Caesar as king of theGermani, led a force including Suevi across the Rhine into Gaul nearBesançon, successfully aiding theSequani against their enemies theAedui at theBattle of Magetobriga.[127][128] Ariovistus was initially considered an ally of Rome.[129] In 58 BCE, with increasing numbers of settlers crossing the Rhine to join Ariovistus,Julius Caesar went to war with them, defeating them at theBattle of Vosges.[128][130] In the following years Caesar pursued a controversial campaign to conquer all of Gaul on behalf of Rome, establishing the Rhine as a border. In 55 BCE he crossed the Rhine into Germania nearCologne. Near modernNijmegen he also massacred a large migrating group ofTencteri andUsipetes who had crossed the Rhine from the east.[131]
The Roman province ofGermania, in existence from 7 BCE to 9 CE. The dotted line represents theLimes Germanicus, the fortified border constructed following the final withdrawal of Roman forces from Germania.
Throughout the reign of Augustus—from 27 BCE until 14 CE—the Roman empire expanded into Gaul, with the Rhine as a border. Starting in 13 BCE, there were Roman campaigns across the Rhine for a 28-year period.[132] First came the pacification of the Usipetes, Sicambri, andFrisians near the Rhine, then attacks increased further from the Rhine, on theChauci,Cherusci,Chatti andSuevi (including theMarcomanni).[133] These campaigns eventually reached and even crossed the Elbe, and in 5 CE Tiberius was able to show strength by having a Roman fleet enter the Elbe and meet the legions in the heart ofGermania.[134] Once Tiberius subdued the Germanic people between the Rhine and the Elbe, the region at least up toWeser—and possibly up to theElbe—was made the Roman provinceGermania and provided soldiers to the Roman army.[135][136]
However, within this period two Germanic kings formed larger alliances. Both of them had spent some of their youth in Rome; the first of them wasMaroboduus of the Marcomanni,[j] who had led his people away from the Roman activities intoBohemia, which was defended by forests and mountains, and had formed alliances with other peoples. In 6 CE, Rome planned an attack against him but the campaign was cut short when forces were needed for theIllyrian revolt in the Balkans.[135][138]Just three years later (9 CE), the second of these Germanic figures,Arminius of the Cherusci—initially an ally of Rome—drew a large Roman force into an ambush in northern Germany, and destroyed the three legions ofPublius Quinctilius Varus at theBattle of the Teutoburg Forest.[139] Marboduus and Arminius went to war with each other in 17 CE; Arminius was victorious and Marboduus was forced to flee to the Romans.[140]
Following the Roman defeat at the Teutoburg Forest, Rome gave up on the possibility of fully integrating this region into the empire.[141] Rome launched successful campaigns across the Rhine between 14 and 16 CE under Tiberius and Germanicus, but the effort of integrating Germania now seemed to outweigh its benefits.[142] In the reign of Augustus's successor, Tiberius, it became state policy to expand the empire no further than the frontier based roughly upon the Rhine and Danube, recommendations that were specified in the will of Augustus and read aloud by Tiberius himself.[143] Roman intervention in Germania led to a shifting and unstable political situation, in which pro- and anti-Roman parties vied for power. Arminius was murdered in 21 CE by his fellow Germanic tribesmen, due in part to these tensions and for his attempt to claim supreme kingly power for himself.[140]
In the wake of Arminius's death, Roman diplomats sought to keep the Germanic peoples divided and fractious.[144] Rome established relationships with individual Germanic kings that are often discussed as being similar toclient states; however, the situation on the border was always unstable, with rebellions by theFrisians in 28 CE, and attacks by theChauci andChatti in the 60s CE.[145] The most serious threat to the Roman order was theRevolt of the Batavi in 69 CE, during the civil wars following the death ofNero known as theYear of the Four Emperors.[146] TheBatavi had long served as auxiliary troops in the Roman army as well as in the imperial bodyguard as the so-calledNumerus Batavorum, often called the Germanic bodyguard.[147] The uprising was led byGaius Julius Civilis, a member of the Batavian royal family and Roman military officer, and attracted a large coalition of people both inside and outside of the Roman territory. The revolt ended following several defeats, with Civilis claiming to have only supported the imperial claims ofVespasian, who was victorious in the civil war.[148]
The century after the Batavian Revolt saw mostly peace between the Germanic peoples and Rome. In 83 CE, EmperorDomitian of theFlavian dynasty attacked the Chatti north ofMogontiacum (nowMainz).[150] This war would last until 85 CE. Following the end of the war with the Chatti, Domitian reduced the number of Roman soldiers on the upper Rhine and shifted the Roman military to guarding the Danube frontier, beginning the construction of thelimes, the longest fortified border in the empire.[151] The period afterwards was peaceful enough that the emperorTrajan reduced the number of soldiers on the frontier.[152] According toEdward James, the Romans appear to have reserved the right to choose rulers among the barbarians on the frontier.[153]
Following sixty years of quiet on the frontier, 166 CE saw a major incursion of peoples from north of the Danube during the reign ofMarcus Aurelius, beginning theMarcomannic Wars.[154] By 168 (during theAntonine plague), barbarian hosts consisting of Marcomanni, Quadi, and Sarmatian Iazyges, attacked and pushed their way to Italy.[155] They advanced as far as Upper Italy, destroyed Opitergium/Oderzo and besieged Aquileia.[156] The Romans had finished the war by 180, through a combination of Roman military victories, the resettling of some peoples on Roman territory, and by making alliances with others.[157] Marcus Aurelius's successorCommodus chose not to permanently occupy any territory conquered north of the Danube, and the following decades saw an increase in the defenses at thelimes.[156] The Romans renewed their right to choose the kings of the Marcomanni and Quadi, and Commodus forbid them to hold assemblies unless a Roman centurion was present.[158]
The period after the Marcomannic Wars saw the emergence of peoples with new names along the Roman frontiers, which were probably formed by the merger of smaller groups.[157] These new confederacies or peoples tended to border the Roman imperial frontier.[159] Many ethnic names from earlier periods disappear.[160] TheAlamanni emerged along the upper Rhine and are mentioned in Roman sources from the third century onward.[161] TheGoths begin to be mentioned along the lower Danube, where they attacked the city ofHistria in 238.[162] The Franks are first mentioned occupying territory between the Rhine and Weser.[163] The Lombards seem to have moved their center of power to the central Elbe.[61] Groups such as the Alamanni, Goths, and Franks were not unified polities; they formed multiple, loosely associated groups, who often fought each other and some of whom sought Roman friendship.[164] The Romans also begin to mention seaborne attacks by the Saxons, a term used generically in Latin for Germanic-speaking pirates. A system of defenses on both sides of theEnglish Channel, theSaxon Shore, was established to deal with their raids.[165][166]
From 250 onward, the Gothic peoples formed the "single most potent threat to the northern frontier of Rome".[163] In 250 CE a Gothic kingCniva led Goths with Bastarnae, Carpi, Vandals, andTaifali into the empire, laying siege toPhilippopolis. He followed his victory there with another on the marshy terrain atAbrittus, a battle which cost the life of Roman emperorDecius.[162] In 253/254, further attacks occurred reachingThessalonica and possiblyThrace.[167] In 267/268 there were large raids led by the Herules in 267/268, and a mixed group of Goths and Herules in 269/270. Gothic attacks were abruptly ended in the years after 270, after a Roman victory in which the Gothic kingCannabaudes was killed.[168]
The Romanlimes largely collapsed in 259/260,[169] during theCrisis of the Third Century (235–284),[61] and Germanic raids penetrated as far as northern Italy.[170] Thelimes on the Rhine and upper Danube was brought under control again in 270s, and by 300 the Romans had reestablished control over areas they had abandoned during the crisis.[170] From the later third century onward, the Roman army relied increasingly on troops of Barbarian origin, often recruited from Germanic peoples, with some functioning as senior commanders in the Roman army.[171] In the 4th century, warfare along the Rhine frontier between the Romans and Franks and Alemanni seems to have mostly consisted of campaigns of plunder, during which major battles were avoided.[172] The Romans generally followed a policy of trying to prevent strong leaders from emerging among the barbarians, using treachery, kidnapping, and assassination, paying off rival tribes to attack them, or by supporting internal rivals.[173]
TheMigration Period is traditionally cited by historians as beginning in 375 CE, under the assumption that the appearance of theHuns prompted theVisigoths to seek shelter within the Roman Empire in 376.[174] The end of the migration period is usually set at 568 when the Lombards invaded Italy. During this time period, numerous barbarian groups invaded the Roman Empire and established new kingdoms within its boundaries.[175] These Germanic migrations traditionally mark the transition between antiquity and the beginning of the earlyMiddle Ages.[176] The reasons for the migrations of the period are unclear, but scholars have proposed overpopulation, climate change, bad harvests, famines, and adventurousness as possible reasons.[177] Migrations were probably carried out by relatively small groups rather than entire peoples.[178]
TheGreuthungi, a Gothic group in modern Ukraine under the rule ofErmanaric, were among the first peoples attacked by the Huns, apparently facing Hunnic pressure for some years.[179] Following Ermanaric's death, the Greuthungi's resistance broke and they moved toward theDniester river.[180] A second Gothic group, theTervingi under KingAthanaric, constructed adefensive earthwork against the Huns near the Dniester.[181] However, these measures did not stop the Huns and the majority of the Tervingi abandoned Athanaric; they subsequently fled—accompanied by a contingent of Greuthungi—to the Danube in 376, seeking asylum in the Roman Empire.[182] The emperorValens chose only to admit the Tervingi, who were settled in the Roman provinces ofThrace andMoesia.[181][183]
Due to mistreatment by the Romans, the Tervingi revolted in 377, starting theGothic War, joined by the Greuthungi.[184][181][k] The Goths and their allies defeated the Romans first atMarcianople, then defeated and killed emperor Valens in theBattle of Adrianople in 378, destroying two-thirds of Valens' army.[186][187] Following further fighting, peace was negotiated in 382, granting the Goths considerable autonomy within the Roman Empire.[188] However, these Goths—who would be known as theVisigoths—revolted several more times,[189] finally coming to be ruled byAlaric.[190] In 397, the disunited eastern Empire submitted to some of his demands, possibly giving him control overEpirus.[191] In the aftermath of the large-scale Gothic entries into the empire, the Franks and Alemanni became more secure in their positions in 395, whenStilicho, the barbarian generalissimo who held power in the western Empire, made agreements with them.[192]
A replica of an ivorydiptych probably depictingStilicho (on the right), the son of aVandal father and a Roman mother, who became the most powerful man in the Western Roman Empire from 395 to 408 CE[193][194]
In 401, Alaric invaded Italy, coming to an understanding with Stilicho in 404/5.[195] This agreement allowed Stilicho to fight against the force ofRadagaisus, who had crossed the Middle Danube in 405/6 and invaded Italy, only to be defeated outside Florence.[196] That same year, a large force of Vandals, Suevi, Alans, and Burgundianscrossed the Rhine, fighting the Franks but facing no Roman resistance.[197] In 409, the Suevi, Vandals, and Alans crossing the Pyrenees into Spain, where they took possession of the northern part of the peninsula.[198] The Burgundians seized the land around modernSpeyer,Worms, and Strasbourg, territory that was recognized by the Roman EmperorHonorius.[199] When Stilicho fell from power in 408, Alaric invaded Italy again and eventuallysacked Rome in 410; Alaric died shortly thereafter.[200] The Visigoths withdrew into Gaul where they faced a power struggle until the succession ofWallia in 415 and his sonTheodoric I in 417/18.[201] Following successful campaigns against them by the Roman emperorFlavius Constantius, the Visigoths were settled as Roman allies in Gaul between modern Toulouse and Bourdeaux.[202][203]
Other Goths, including those of Athanaric, continued to live outside the empire, with three groups crossing into the Roman territory after the Tervingi.[204] The Huns gradually conquered Gothic groups north of the Danube, of which at least six are known, from 376 to 400.Those in Crimea may never have been conquered.[205] TheGepids also formed an important Germanic people under Hunnic rule; the Huns had largely conquered them by 406.[206] One Gothic group under Hunnic domination was ruled by theAmal dynasty, who would form the core of theOstrogoths.[207] The situation outside the Roman empire in 410s and 420s is poorly attested, but it is clear that the Huns continued to spread their influence onto the middle Danube.[208]
In 428, the Vandal leaderGeiseric moved his forces across the strait of Gibraltar into north Africa. Within two years, they had conquered most of north Africa.[209] By 434, following a renewed political crisis in Rome, the Rhine frontier had collapsed, and in order to restore it, the Romanmagister militumFlavius Aetius engineered the destruction of the Burgundian kingdom in 435/436, possibly with Hunnic mercenaries, and launched several successful campaigns against the Visigoths.[210] In 439, the Vandals conqueredCarthage, which served as an excellent base for further raids throughout the Mediterranean and became the basis for theVandal Kingdom.[211] The loss of Carthage forced Aetius to make peace with the Visigoths in 442, effectively recognizing their independence within the boundaries of the empire.[212] During the resulting peace, Aetius resettled the Burgundians inSapaudia in southern Gaul.[213] In the 430s, Aetius negotiated peace with the Suevi in Spain, leading to a practical loss of Roman control in the province.[214] Despite the peace, the Suevi expanded their territory by conquering Mérida in 439 and Seville in 441.[215]
By 440,Attila and the Huns had come to rule a multi-ethnic empire north of the Danube; two of the most important peoples within this empire were theGepids and the Goths.[216] The Gepid kingArdaric came to power around 440 and participated in various Hunnic campaigns.[206] In 450, the Huns interfered in a Frankish succession dispute, leading in 451 to an invasion of Gaul. Aetius, by uniting a coalition of Visigoths, part of the Franks, and others, was able to defeat the Hunnic army at theBattle of the Catalaunian Plains.[217] In 453, Attila died unexpectedly, and an alliance led by Ardaric's Gepids rebelled against the rule of his sons, defeating them in theBattle of Nedao.[206] Either before or after Attila's death,Valamer, a Gothic ruler of the Amal dynasty, seems to have consolidated power over a large part of the Goths in the Hunnic domain.[218] For the next 20 years, the former subject peoples of the Huns would fight among each other for preeminence.[219]
The arrival of the Saxons in Britain is traditionally dated to 449, however, archaeology indicates they had begun arriving in Britain earlier.[220] Latin sources usedSaxon generically for seaborne raiders, meaning that not all of the invaders belonged to the continental Saxons.[165] According to the British monkGildas (c. 500 – c. 570), this group had been recruited to protect theRomano-British from thePicts, but had revolted.[221] They quickly established themselves as rulers on the eastern part of the island.[222]
In 455, in the aftermath of the death of Aetius in 453 and the murder of emperorValentinian III in 455,[223] the Vandals invaded Italy andsacked Rome in 455.[224] In 456, the Romans persuaded the Visigoths to fight the Suevi, who had broken their treaty with Rome. The Visigoths and a force of Burgundians and Franks defeated the Suevi at the Battle of Campus Paramus, reducing Suevi control to northwestern Spain.[215] The Visigoths went on to conquer all of the Iberian Peninsula by 484 except a small part that remained under Suevian control.[225]
The Ostrogoths, led by Valamer's brother Thiudimer, invaded the Balkans in 473. Thiudimer's sonTheodoric succeeded him in 476.[226] In that same year, a barbarian commander in the Roman Italian army,Odoacer, mutinied and removed the final western Roman emperor,Romulus Augustulus.[227] Odoacer ruled Italy for himself, largely continuing the policies of Roman imperial rule.[228] He destroyed the Kingdom of the Rugians, in modern Austria, in 487/488.[229] Theodoric, meanwhile, successfully extorted the Eastern Empire through a series of campaigns in the Balkans. The eastern emperorZeno agreed to send Theodoric to Italy in 487/8.[230] After a successful invasion, Theodoric killed and replaced Odoacer in 493, founding a new Ostrogothic kingdom.[231] Theodoric died in 526, amid increasing tensions with the eastern empire.[232]
Toward the end of the migration period, in the early 500s, Roman sources portray a completely changed ethnic landscape outside of the empire: the Marcomanni and Quadi disappeared, as had the Vandals. Instead, the Thuringians, Rugians, Sciri, Herules, Goths, and Gepids are mentioned as occupying the Danube frontier.[233] From the mid-5th century onward, the Alamanni had greatly expanded their territory in all directions and launched numerous raids into Gaul.[234] The territory under the Frankish influence had grown to encompass northern Gaul and Germania to the Elbe.[235] The Frankish kingClovis I united the various Frankish groups in 490s,[236] and conquered the Alamanni by 506.[237] From the 490s onward, Clovis waged wars against the Visigoths, defeating them in 507 and taking control of most of Gaul.[236] Clovis's heirs conquered the Thuringians by 530 and the Burgundians by 532.[238] The continental Saxons, composed of many subgroups, were made tributary to the Franks, as were the Frisians, who faced an attack by the Danes underHygelac in 533.[239]
The Vandal and Ostrogothic kingdoms were destroyed in 534 and 555 respectively by the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) empire underJustinian.[240] Around 500, a new ethnic identity appears in modern southern Germany, theBaiuvarii (Bavarians), under the patronage of Theodoric's Ostrogothic kingdom and then of the Franks.[229] The Lombards, moving out of Bohemia, destroyed the kingdom of the Heruli in Pannonia in 510. In 568, after destroying the Gepid kingdom, the last Germanic kingdom in theCarpathian basin,[229] the Lombards underAlboin invaded northern Italy, eventually conquering most of it.[241] This invasion has traditionally been regarded as the end of the migration period.[175] The eastern part of Germania, formerly inhabited by the Goths, Gepids, Vandals, and Rugians, was gradually Slavicized, a process enabled by the invasion of the nomadicAvars.[242]
Merovingian Frankia became divided into three subkingdoms:Austrasia in the east around theRhine andMeuse,Neustria in the west around Paris, andBurgundy in the southeast aroundChalon-sur-Saône.[243] The Franks ruled a multilingual and multi-ethnic kingdom, divided between a mostly Romance-speaking West and a mostly Germanic-speaking east, that integrated former Roman elites but remained centered on a Frankish ethnic identity.[244] In 687, thePippinids came to control the Merovingian rulers asmayors of the palace in Neustria. Under their direction, the subkingdoms of Frankia were reunited.[245] Following the mayoralty ofCharles Martel, the Pippinids replaced the Merovingians as kings in 751, when Charles's sonPepin the Short became king and founded theCarolingian dynasty. His son,Charlemagne, would go on to conquer the Lombards, Saxons, and Bavarians.[246] Charlemagne was crownedRoman emperor in 800 and regarded his residence ofAachen as the new Rome.[247]
Following their invasion in 568, the Lombards quickly conquered larger parts of the Italian peninsula.[248] From 574 to 584, a period without a single Lombard ruler, the Lombards nearly collapsed,[249] until a more centralized Lombard polity emerged under KingAgilulf in 590.[250] The invading Lombards only ever made up a very small percentage of the Italian population, however Lombard ethnic identity expanded to include people of both Roman and barbarian descent.[251] Lombard power reached its peak during the reign of KingLiutprand (712–744).[252] After Liutprand's death, the Frankish King Pippin the Short invaded in 755, greatly weakening the kingdom.[252] The Lombard kingdom was finally annexed by Charlemagne in 773.[253]
After a period of weak central authority, the Visigothic kingdom came under the rule ofLiuvigild, who conquered the Kingdom of the Suebi in 585.[254] A Visigothic identity that was distinct from the Romance-speaking population they ruled had disappeared by 700, with the removal of all legal differences between the two groups.[255] In 711,a Muslim army landed at Grenada; the entire Visigothic kingdom would be conquered by theUmayyad Caliphate by 725.[256]
In what would become England, theAnglo-Saxons were divided into several competing kingdoms, the most important of which wereNorthumbria,Mercia, andWessex.[257] In the 7th century, Northumbria established overlordship over the other Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms, until Mercia revolted underWulfhere in 658. Subsequently, Mercia would establish dominance until 825 with the death of KingCenwulf.[257] Few written sources report onVendel period Scandinavia from 400 to 700, however this period saw profound societal changes and the formation of early states with connections to the Anglo-Saxon and Frankish kingdoms.[258] In 793, the first recordedViking raid occurred atLindisfarne, ushering in theViking Age.[259]
Wooden idols fromOberdorla moor, modernThuringia. The idols were found in context with animal bones and other evidence of sacrificial rites.[260]
Germanic paganism refers to the traditional, culturally significant religion of the Germanic-speaking peoples.[261] It did not form a uniform religious system across Germanic-speaking Europe, but varied from place to place, people to people, and time to time. In many contact areas (e.g.Rhineland and eastern and northern Scandinavia), it was similar to neighboring religions such as those of theSlavs,Celts, andFinnic peoples.[262] The term is sometimes applied as early as theStone Age,Bronze Age, or the earlierIron Age, but it is more generally restricted to the time period after the Germanic languages had become distinct from other Indo-European languages. From the first reports in Roman sources to the final conversion to Christianity, Germanic paganism thus covers a period of around one thousand years.[263] Scholars are divided as to the degree of continuity between the religious practices of the earlier Germanic peoples and those attested in laterNorse paganism and elsewhere: while some scholars argue that Tacitus, early medieval sources, and the Norse sources indicate religious continuity, other scholars are highly skeptical of such arguments.[264]
With the exception ofSinthgunt, proposedcognates to these deities occur in other Germanic languages, such asOld English andOld Norse. By way of thecomparative method,philologists are then able to reconstruct and propose early Germanic forms of these names from earlyGermanic mythology. Compare the following table:
A deity similarly associated with healing magic in the Old EnglishNine Herbs Charm and particular forms of magic throughout the Old Norse record. This deity is strongly associated with extensions of *Frijjō (see below).
A goddess associated with extensions of the goddess *Frijjō (see below). The Old Norse record refers to Fulla as a servant of the goddess Frigg, while the second Merseburg Charm refers to Volla as Friia's sister.
Associated with the goddess Volla/Fulla in both the Old High German and Old Norse records, this goddess is also strongly associated with the god Odin (see above) in both the Old Norse and Langobardic records.
The structure of the magic formula in this charm has a long history prior to this attestation: it is first known to have occurred inVedic India, where it occurs in theAtharvaveda, dated to around 500 BCE.[273] Numerous other beings common to various groups of ancient Germanic peoples receive mention throughout the ancient Germanic record. One such type of entity, a variety of supernatural women, is also mentioned in the first of the two Merseburg Charms:
A type of goddess-like supernatural entity. The West Germanic forms present some linguistic difficulties but the North Germanic and West Germanic forms are used explicitly as cognates (compare Old Englishides Scildinga and Old Norsedís Skjǫldunga).[275]
Other widely attested entities from the North and West Germanic folklore includeelves,dwarfs, and themare. (For more discussion on these entities, seeProto-Germanic folklore.)
The great majority of material describing Germanic mythology stems from the North Germanic record. The body of myths among the North Germanic-speaking peoples is known today asNorse mythology and is attested in numerous works, the most expansive of which are thePoetic Edda and theProse Edda. While these texts were composed in the 13th century, they frequently quote genres of traditional alliterative verse known today aseddic poetry andskaldic poetry dating to the pre-Christian period.[276]
An image of a museum reproduction of one of the two golden horns of Gallehus, found in Denmark and dating to the early fifth century. Composed in Proto-Norse, the Elder Futhark inscription on the horn features the earliest known generally accepted example of Germanic alliterative verse.
West Germanic mythology (that of speakers of, e.g., Old English and Old High German) is comparatively poorly attested. Notable texts include theOld Saxon Baptismal Vow and the Old EnglishNine Herbs Charm. While most extant references are simply to deity names, some narratives do survive into the present, such as the Lombard origin myth, which details a tradition among theLombards that features the deities Frea (cognate with Old NorseFrigg) and Godan (cognate with Old NorseÓðinn). Attested in the 7th-centuryOrigo Gentis Langobardorum and the 8th-centuryHistoria Langobardorum from theItalian Peninsula, the narrative strongly corresponds in numerous ways with the prose introduction to the eddic poemGrímnismál, recorded in 13th-century Iceland.[277][278]
Very few texts make up the corpus of Gothic and other East Germanic languages, and East Germanic paganism and its associated mythic body is especially poorly attested. Notable topics that provide insight into the matter of East Germanic paganism include theRing of Pietroassa, which appears to be a cult object (see alsoGothic runic inscriptions), and the mention of the GothicAnses (cognate with Old NorseÆsir '(pagan) gods') byJordanes.[279]
Practices associated with the religion of the ancient Germanic peoples see fewer attestations. However, elements of religious practices are discernable throughout the textual record associated with the ancient Germanic peoples, includinga focus on sacred groves and trees, the presence ofseeresses, andnumerous vocabulary items. The archaeological record has yielded a variety of depictions of deities, a number of them associated with depictions of the ancient Germanic peoples (seeAnthropomorphic wooden cult figurines of Central and Northern Europe). Notable from the Roman period are theMatres and Matronae, some having Germanic names, to whom devotional altars were set up in regions of Germania, Eastern Gaul, and Northern Italy (with a small distribution elsewhere) that were occupied by the Roman army from the first to the fifth century.[280]
Germanic mythology and religious practice is of particular interest to Indo-Europeanists, scholars who seek to identify aspects of ancient Germanic culture—both in terms of linguistic correspondence and by way ofmotifs—stemming fromProto-Indo-European culture, includingProto-Indo-European mythology. The primordial being Ymir, attested solely in Old Norse sources, makes for a commonly cited example. In Old Norse texts, the death of this entity results in creation of the cosmos, a complex of motifs that finds strong correspondence elsewhere in the Indo-European sphere, notably inVedic mythology.[281]
Germanic peoples began entering the Roman Empire in large numbers at the same time thatChristianity was spreading there,[282] and this connection was a major factor encouraging conversion.[283] The East Germanic peoples, the Langobards, and the Suevi in Spain converted toArian Christianity,[284] a form of Christianity that believed that God the Father was superior to God the Son.[285] The first Germanic people to convert to Arianism were the Visigoths, at the latest in 376 when they entered the Roman Empire. This followed a longer period of missionary work by bothOrthodox Christians and Arians, such as the ArianWulfila, who was made missionary bishop of the Goths in 341 and translated theBible into Gothic.[286] The Arian Germanic peoples all eventually converted to Nicene Christianity, which had become the dominant form of Christianity within the Roman Empire; the last to convert were the Visigoths in Spain under their kingReccared in 587.[287]
The areas of the Roman Empire conquered by the Franks,Alemanni, andBaiuvarii were mostly Christian already, but it appears that Christianity declined there.[288] In 496, the Frankish kingClovis I converted to Nicene Christianity. This began a period of missionizing within Frankish territory.[289] The Anglo-Saxons gradually converted following a mission sent by PopeGregory the Great in 595.[290] In the 7th century, Frankish-supported missionary activity spread out of Gaul, led by figures of theAnglo-Saxon mission such asSaint Boniface.[291] The Saxons initially rejected Christianization,[292] but were eventually forcibly converted byCharlemagne as a result of their conquest in theSaxon Wars in 776/777.[293]
While attempts to convert the Scandinavian peoples began in 831, they were mostly unsuccessful until the 10th and 11th centuries.[294] The last Germanic people to convert were the Swedes, although theGeats had converted earlier. The paganTemple at Uppsala seems to have continued to exist into the early 1100s.[295]
Germanic speakers developed a native script, the runes (or thefuþark), and the earliest known form of which consists of 24 characters. The runes are generally held to have been used exclusively by Germanic-speaking populations.[l] All known early runic inscriptions are found in Germanic contexts with the potential exception of one inscription, which may indicate cultural transfer between the Germanic speakers to Slavic speakers (and may potentially be theearliest known writing among Slavic speakers).[m]
Like other indigenous scripts of Europe, the runes ultimately developed from thePhoenician alphabet, but unlike similar scripts, the runes were not replaced by the Latin alphabet by the first century BCE. Runes remained in use among the Germanic peoples throughout their history despite the significant influence of Rome.[n]
The precise date that Germanic speakers developed the runic alphabet is unknown, with estimates varying from 100 BCE to 100 CE.[301] Generally accepted inscriptions in the oldest attested form of the script, called theElder Futhark, date from 200 to 700 CE.[302] The wordrune is widely attested among Germanic languages, where it developed from Proto-Germanic*rūna and held a primary meaning of 'secret',[303] but also other meanings such as 'whisper', 'mystery', 'closed deliberation', and 'council'.[304] In most cases, runes appear not to have been used for everyday communication and knowledge of them may have generally been limited to a small group,[301] for whom the termerilaR is attested from the sixth century onward.[305]
The letters of the Elder Futhark are arranged in an order called thefuthark, named after its first six characters.[306] The alphabet is supposed to have been extremely phonetic, and each letter could also represent a word or concept, so that, for instance, the f-rune also stood for*fehu ('livestock,personal property'). Such examples are known asideographic runes.[307] Runic inscriptions are found on organic materials such as wood, bone, horn, ivory, and animal hides, as well as on stone and metal.[308] Inscriptions tend to be short,[301] and are difficult to interpret as profane or magical. They include names, inscriptions by the maker of an object, memorials to the dead, as well as inscriptions that are religious or magical in nature.[309]
Germanic personal names are commonlydithematic, consisting of two components that may be combined freely (such as the Old Norse female personal nameSigríðr, consisting ofsigr 'victory' +fríðr 'beloved'). As summarized by Per Vikstrand, "The old Germanic personal names are, from a social and ideological point of view, characterized by three main features: religion, heroism, and family bonds. The religious aspect [of Germanic names] seems to be an inherited, Indo-European trace, which the Germanic languages share with Greek and other Indo-European languages."[310]
One point of debate surrounding Germanic name-giving practice is whether name elements were considered semantically meaningful when combined.[310] Whatever the case, an element of a name could be inherited by a male or female's offspring, leading to an alliterative lineage (related, seealliterative verse). Therunestone D359 in Istaby, Sweden provides one such example, where three generations of men are connected by way of the element*wulfaz, meaning 'wolf' (the alliterativeHaþuwulfaz, *Heruwulfaz, andHariwulfaz).[310] Sacral components to Germanic personal names are also attested, including elements such as *hailaga- and *wīha- (both usually translated as 'holy, sacred', see for exampleVé), and deity names (theonyms). Deity names as first components of personal names are attested primarily in Old Norse names, where they commonly reference in particular the godThor (Old NorseÞórr).[311]
The ancient Germanic-speaking peoples were a largelyoral culture. Written literature in Germanic languages is not recorded until the 6th century (Gothic Bible) or the 8th century in modern England and Germany.[312] The philologistAndreas Heusler proposed the existence of various genres of literature in the "Old Germanic" period, which were largely based on genres found in high medievalOld Norse poetry. These include ritual poetry, epigrammatic poetry (Spruchdichtung), memorial verses (Merkdichtung), lyric, narrative poetry, and praise poetry.[313]Heinrich Beck suggests that, on the basis of Latin mentions in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, the following genres can be adduced:origo gentis (the origin of a people or their rulers), the fall of heroes (casus heroici), praise poetry, and laments for the dead.[314]
Some stylistic aspects of later Germanic poetry appear to have origins in theIndo-European period, as shown by comparison with ancient Greek and Sanskrit poetry.[315] Originally, the Germanic-speaking peoples shared a metrical and poetic form, alliterative verse, which is attested in very similar forms in Old Saxon,Old High German andOld English, and in a modified form inOld Norse.[316] Alliterative verse is not attested in the small extantGothic corpus.[317] The poetic forms diverge among the different languages from the 9th century onward.[318]
Later Germanic peoples shared a commonlegendary tradition. These heroic legends mostly involve historical personages who lived during themigration period (4th–6th centuries CE), placing them in highly ahistorical and mythologized settings;[319][o] they originate and develop as part of anoral tradition.[321][322] Some early Gothic heroic legends are already found inJordanes'Getica (c. 551).[323] The close link between Germanic heroic legend and Germanic language and possibly poetic devices is shown by the fact that the Germanic speakers inFrancia who adopted a Romance language, do not preserve Germanic legends but rather developed their own heroic folklore—excepting the figure ofWalter of Aquitaine.[324]
Until the middle of the 20th century, the majority of scholars assumed the existence of a distinct Germanic legal culture and law.[325] Early ideas about Germanic law have come under intense scholarly scrutiny since the 1950s, and specific aspects of it such as the legal importance ofSippe, retinues, and loyalty, and the concept of outlawry can no longer be justified.[326][327] Besides the assumption of a common Germanic legal tradition and the use of sources of different types from different places and time periods,[326] there are no native sources for early Germanic law.[328][329] The earliest written legal sources, theLeges Barbarorum, were all written under Roman and Christian influence and often with the help of Roman jurists,[330] and contain large amounts of "Vulgar Latin Law", an unofficial legal system that functioned in the Roman provinces.[331]
As of 2023, scholarly consensus is that Germanic law is best understood in contrast withRoman law, in that whereas Roman law was "learned" and the same across regions, Germanic law was not learned and incorporated regional peculiarities.[332] Common elements include an emphasis onorality, gesture, formulaic language, legal symbolism, and ritual.[333] Some items in the "Leges", such as the use of vernacular words, may reveal aspects of originally Germanic, or at least non-Roman, law. Legal historian Ruth Schmidt-Wiegand writes that this vernacular, often in the form of Latinized words, belongs to "the oldest layers of a Germanic legal language" and shows some similarities to Gothic.[334][335]
Warfare seems to have been a constant in Germanic society,[336] including conflicts among and within Germanic peoples.[337] There is no common Germanic word for "war", and it was not necessarily differentiated from other forms of violence.[338] Historical information on Germanic warfare almost entirely depends on Greco-Roman sources,[339] however their accuracy has been questioned.[340] The core of the army was formed by thecomitatus (retinue), a group of warriors following a chief.[341] As retinues grew larger, their names could become associated with entire peoples. Many retinues functioned asauxilia (mercenary units in the Roman army).[342]
Roman sources stress, perhaps partially as aliterary topos, that the Germanic peoples fought without discipline.[343][344] Germanic warriors fought mostly on foot,[345] in tight formations in close combat.[346] Tacitus mentions a single formation as used by theGermani, the wedge (Latin:cuneus).[347] Cavalry was rare: in the Roman period, it mostly consisted of chiefs and their immediate retinues,[345] who may have dismounted to fight.[348] However, East Germanic peoples such as the Goths developed cavalry forces armed with lances due to contact with various nomadic peoples.[349] Archaeological finds, mostly in the form of grave goods, indicate that most warriors were armed with spear, shield, and often with swords.[346] Higher status individuals were often buried with spurs for riding.[348] The only archaeological evidence for helmets andchain mail shows them to be of Roman manufacture.[350]
Unlike agriculture in the Roman provinces, which was organized around the large farms known asvillae rusticae, Germanic agriculture was organized around villages. When Germanic peoples expanded into northern Gaul in the 4th and 5th centuries CE, they brought this village-based agriculture with them, which increased the agricultural productivity of the land;Heiko Steuer suggests this means that Germania was more agriculturally productive than is generally assumed.[351] Villages were not distant from each other but often within sight, revealing a fairly high population density, and contrary to the assertions of Roman sources, only about 30% of Germania was covered in forest, about the same percentage as today.[352]
Based on pollen samples and the finds of seeds and plant remains, the chief grains cultivated in Germania were barley, oats, and wheat (bothEinkorn andemmer), while the most common vegetables were beans and peas. Flax was also grown.[353] Agriculture in Germania relied heavily on animal husbandry, primarily the raising of cattle, which were smaller than their Roman counterparts[354] Both cultivation and animal husbandry methods improved with time, with examples being the introduction of rye, which grew better in Germania, and the introduction of thethree-field system.[355]
It is unclear if there was a special class of craftsmen in Germania, however archaeological finds of tools are frequent.[356] Many everyday items such as dishes were made out of wood, and archaeology has found the remains of wooden well construction.[357] The 4th-century CE Nydam and Illerup ships show highly developed knowledge of ship construction, while elite graves have revealed wooden furniture with complexjoinery.[358] Products made from ceramics included cooking, drinking, and storage, vessels, as well as lamps. While originally formed by hand, the period around 1 CE saw the introduction of thepotter's wheel.[359] Some of the ceramics produced on potter's wheels seem to have been done in direct imitation of Roman wares,[360] and may have been produced by Romans in Germania or byGermani who had learned Roman techniques while serving in the Roman army.[361] The shape and decoration of Germanic ceramics vary by region and archaeologists have traditionally used these variations to determine larger cultural areas.[362] Many ceramics were probably produced locally in hearths, but large pottery kilns have also been discovered, and it seems clear that there were areas of specialized production.[360]
A 5th-century CE gold collar from Ålleberg, Sweden. It displays Germanicfiligree work.[363]
Despite the claims of Roman writers such as Tacitus that theGermani had little iron and lacked expertise in working it, deposits of iron were commonly found in Germania and Germanic smiths were skillful metalworkers.[364] Smithies are known from multiple settlements, and smiths were often buried with their tools.[365] An iron mine discovered at Rudki, in theŁysogóry mountains of modern central Poland, operated from the 1st to the 4th centuries CE and included a substantial smelting workshop; similar facilities have been found in Bohemia.[366] The remains of large smelting operations have been discovered byRibe in Jutland (4th to 6th century CE),[367] as well as at Glienick in northern Germany and atHeeten in the Netherlands (both 4th century CE).[368] Germanic smelting furnaces may have produced metal that was as high-quality as that produced by the Romans.[369] In addition to large-scale production, nearly every individual settlement seems to have produced some iron for local use.[367] Iron was used for agricultural tools, tools for various crafts, and for weapons.[370]
Lead was needed in order to make molds and for the production of jewelry, however it is unclear if theGermani were able to produce lead. While lead mining is known from within theSiegerland across the Rhine from the Roman Empire, it is sometimes theorized that this was the work of Roman miners.[371] Another mine within Germania was near modernSoest, where again it is theorized that lead was exported to Rome.[372] The neighboring Roman provinces ofGermania superior andGermania inferior produced a great deal of lead, which has been found stamped asplumbum Germanicum ("Germanic lead") in Roman shipwrecks.[373]
Deposits of gold are not found naturally within Germania and had to either be imported[374] or could be found having naturally washed down rivers.[375] The earliest known gold objects made by Germanic craftsmen are mostly small ornaments dating from the later 1st century CE.[374] Silver working likewise dates from the first century CE, and silver often served as a decorative element with other metals.[376] From the 2nd century onward, increasingly complex gold jewelry was made, often inlaid with precious stones and in apolychrome style.[377] Inspired by Roman metalwork, Germanic craftsmen also began working with gold and silver-gilt foils on belt buckles, jewelry, and weapons.[363] Pure gold objects produced in the late Roman period includedtorcs with snakeheads, often displayingfiligree andcloisonné work, techniques that dominated throughout Germanic Europe.[378]
A pair of trousers with attached stockings found in theThorsberg moor (3rd century CE)[379]
Clothing does not generally preserve well archaeologically. Early Germanic clothing is shown on some Roman stone monuments such asTrajan's Column and theColumn of Marcus Aurelius, and is occasionally discovered in finds from inmoors,[380] mostly from Scandinavia.[381] Frequent finds include long trousers, sometimes including connected stockings, shirt-like gowns (Kittel) with long sleeves, large pieces of cloth, and capes with fur on the inside.[382] All of these are thought to be male clothing, while finds of tubular garments are thought to be female clothing. These would have reached to the ankles and would likely have been held in place by brooches at the height of the shoulders, as shown on Roman monuments.[383] On Roman depictions, the dress was gathered below the breast or at the waist, and there are frequently no sleeves. Sometimes a blouse or skirt is depicted below the dress, along with a neckerchief around the throat.[384] By the middle of the 5th century CE, both men and women among the continental Germanic peoples came to wear a Roman-styletunic as their most important piece of clothing. This was secured at the waist and likely adopted due to intensive contact with the Roman world.[385] The Romans typically depict Germanic men and women as bareheaded, although some head-coverings have been found. Although Tacitus mentions an undergarment made of linen, no examples of these have been found.[384]
Surviving examples indicate that Germanic textiles were of high quality and mostly made offlax andwool.[379] Roman depictions show the Germani wearing materials that were only lightly worked.[386] Surviving examples indicate that a variety of weaving techniques were used.[384] Leather was used for shoes, belts, and other gear.[387]Spindles, sometimes made of glass or amber, and the weights fromlooms anddistaffs are frequently found in Germanic settlements.[379]
Archaeology shows that from at least the turn of the 3rd century CE larger regional settlements in Germania existed that were not exclusively involved in an agrarian economy, and that the main settlements were connected by paved roads. The entirety of Germania was within a system of long-distance trade.[390] Migration-period seaborne trade is suggested byGudme on the Danish island ofFunen and other harbors on the Baltic.[391]
Roman trade with Germania is poorly documented.[392] Roman merchants crossing the Alps for Germania are recorded already by Caesar in the 1st century BCE.[388] During the imperial period, most trade probably took place in trading posts in Germania or at major Roman bases.[393] The most well-known Germanic export to the Roman Empire was amber, with a trade centered on the Baltic coast.[394] Economically, however, amber is likely to have been fairly unimportant.[395] The use of Germanic loanwords in surviving Latin texts suggests that besides amber (glaesum), the Romans also imported the feathers of Germanic geese (ganta) and hair dye (sapo). Germanic slaves were also a major commodity.[396] Archaeological discoveries indicate that lead was exported from Germania as well, perhaps mined in Roman-Germanic "joint ventures".[397]
Products imported from Rome are found archaeologically throughout the Germanic sphere and include vessels of bronze and silver, glassware, pottery, brooches; other products such as textiles and foodstuffs may have been just as important.[398] Rather than mine and smeltnon-ferrous metals themselves, Germanic smiths seem to have often preferred to melt down finished metal objects from Rome, which were imported in large numbers, including coins, metal vessels, and metal statues.[399] Tacitus mentions inGermania chapter 23 that the Germani living along the Rhine bought wine, and Roman wine has been found in Denmark and northern Poland.[388] Finds of Roman silver coinage and weapons might have been war booty or the result of trade, while high quality silver items may have been diplomatic gifts.[400] Roman coinage may have acted as a form of currency as well.[401]
The use of genetic studies to investigate the Germanic past is controversial, with scholars such asGuy Halsall suggesting it could represent a hearkening back to 19th-century ideas of race.[402]Sebastian Brather,Wilhelm Heizmann, andSteffen Patzold write that genetics studies are of great use for demographic history, but cannot give us any information about cultural history.[403] In a 2013 book which reviewed studies made up until then, scholars noted that most Germanic speakers today have aY-DNA that is a mixture includinghaplogroup I1,R1a1a,R1b-P312 andR1b-U106; however, the authors also note that these groups are older than Germanic languages and found among speakers of other languages.[404]
The rediscovery of Tacitus'sGermania in the 1450s was used by Germanhumanists to claim a glorious classical past for their nation that could compete with that of Greece and Rome,[405] and to equate the "Germanic" with the "German".[406] While the humanists' notion of the "Germanic" was initially vague, later it was narrowed and used to support a notion of German(ic) superiority to other nations.[407] Equally important wasJordanes'sGetica, rediscovered byAeneas Sylvius Piccolomini in the mid-15th century and first printed in 1515 byKonrad Peutinger, which depicted Scandinavia as the "womb of nations" (Latin:vagina nationum) from which all the historical northeastern European barbarians migrated in the distant past.[408] While treated with suspicion by German scholars, who preferred the indigenous origin given by Tacitus, this motif became very popular in contemporary SwedishGothicism, as it supported Sweden's imperial ambitions.[409] Peutinger printed theGetica together withPaul the Deacon'sHistory of the Lombards, so that theGermania, theGetica, and theHistory of the Lombards formed the basis for the study of the Germanic past.[410] Scholars did not clearly differentiate between the Germanic peoples, Celtic peoples, and the "Scythian peoples" until the late 18th century with the discovery ofIndo-European and the establishment of language as the primary criterion for nationality. Before that time, German scholars considered the Celtic peoples to be part of the Germanic group.[411]
The beginning ofGermanic philology proper starts around the turn of the 19th century, withJacob andWilhelm Grimm being the two most significant founding figures. Their oeuvre included various monumental works on linguistics, culture, and literature.[412] Jacob Grimm offered many arguments identifying theGermans as the "most Germanic" of the Germanic-speaking peoples, many of which were taken up later by others who sought to equate "Germanicness" (German:Germanentum) with "Germanness" (German:Deutschtum).[413] Grimm also argued that the Scandinavian sources were, while much later, more "pure" attestations of "Germanness" than those from the south, an opinion that remains common today.[414] Germannationalist thinkers of thevölkisch movement placed a great emphasis on the connection of modern Germans to theGermania using Tacitus to prove the purity and virtue of the German people, which had allowed them to conquer the decadent Romans.[415] German historians used the Germanic past to argue for aliberal, democratic form of government and a unified German state.[416] ContemporaryRomantic nationalism in Scandinavia placed more weight on theViking Age, resulting in the movement known asScandinavism.[417]
In the late 19th century,Gustaf Kossinna developed several widely accepted theories tying archaeological finds of specific assemblages of objects. Kossina used his theories to extend Germanic identity back to theNeolithic period and to state with confidence when and where various Germanic and other peoples had migrated within Europe.[418] In the 1930s and 40s, theNazi Party made use of notions of Germanic "purity" reaching back into the earliest prehistoric times.[10] Nazi ideologues also used the "Germanic" nature of peoples such as the Franks and Goths to justify territorial annexations in northern France, Ukraine, and the Crimea.[419] Scholars reinterpreted Germanic culture to justify the Nazis' rule as anchored in the Germanic past, emphasizing noble leaders and warlike retinues who dominated surrounding peoples.[420] After 1945, these associations led to a scholarly backlash and re-examining of Germanic origins.[10] Many medieval specialists have even argued that scholars should avoid the termGermanic altogether since it is too emotionally charged, adding that it has been politically abused and creates more confusion than clarity.[421]
^The earlierNordic Bronze Age of southern Scandinavia also shows definite population and material continuities with the Jastorf Culture,[8] but it is unclear whether these indicate ethnic continuity.[9]
^Tacitus,Germania 43:Cotinos Gallica, Osos Pannonica lingua coarguitnon esse Germanos. However they were Germanic by country (natio),Germania 28:Osis, Germanorum natione.
^The reconstruction of such loanwords remains a difficult task, since no descendant language of substrate dialects is attested, and plausible etymological explanations have been found for many Germanic lexemes previously regarded as of non-Indo-European origin. The English termsword, long regarded as "without etymology", was found to be cognate with the Ancient Greekáor, the sword hung to the shoulder with valuable rings, both descending from the PIE root*swerd-, denoting the 'suspended sword'. Similarly, the wordhand could descend from a PGer. form*handu- 'pike' (<*handuga- 'having a pike'), possibly related to Greekkenteîn 'to stab, poke' andkéntron 'stinging agent, pricker'.[72] However, there is still a set of words ofProto-Germanic origin, attested inOld High German since the 8th c., which have found so far no competing Indo-European etymologies, however unlikely: e.g.,Adel 'aristocratic lineage';Asch 'barge';Beute 'board';Loch 'lock';Säule 'pillar'; etc.[73]
^Rübekeil 2017, pp. 996–997: West Germanic: "There seems to be a principal distinction between the northern and the southern part of this group; the demarcation between both parts, however, is a matter of controversy. The northern part, North Sea Gmc or Ingvaeonic, is the larger one, but it is a moot point whether Old Saxon and Old Low Franconian really belong to it, and if yes, to what extent they participate in all its characteristic developments. (...) As a whole, there are arguments for a close relationship between Anglo-Frisian on the one hand and Old Saxon and Old Low Franconian on the other; there are, however, counter-arguments as well. The question as to whether the common features are old and inherited or have emerged by connections over the North Sea is still controversial."
^Iversen & Kroonen 2017, p. 521: "In the more than 250 years (ca. 2850–2600 B.C.E.) when late Funnel Beaker farmers coexisted with the newSingle Grave culture communities within a relatively small area of present-day Denmark, processes of cultural and linguistic exchange were almost inevitable—if not widespread."
^Ringe 2006, p. 85: "Early Jastorf, at the end of the 7th century BCE, is almost certainly too early for the last common ancestor of the attested languages; but later Jastorf culture and its successors occupy so much territory that their populations are most unlikely to have spoken a single dialect, even granting that the expansion of the culture was relatively rapid. It follows that our reconstructed PGmc was only one of the dialects spoken by peoples identified archeologically, or by the Romans, as 'Germans'; the remaining Germanic peoples spoke sister dialects of PGmc."Polomé 1992, p. 51: "...if the Jastorf culture and, probably, the neighboringHarpstedt culture [de] to the west constitute the Germanic homeland, a spread of Proto-Germanic northwards and eastwards would have to be assumed, which might explain both the archaisms and the innovative features of North Germanic and East Germanic, and would fit nicely with recent views locating the homeland of the Goths in Poland."
^Mallory and Adams observe: "The Przeworsk Culture shows continuity with preceding cultures (Lusatian) and insures that the Slavic homeland was in its territory from whence theVenedi, one of the earliest historically attested Slavic tribes are specifically derived. On the other hand, Germanicists have argued that the Przeworsk culture was occupied by the Elbe-Germanic tribes and there are also those who argue that the Przeworsk reflects both a Germanic and Slavic component."[108]
^Koch 2020, pp. 79–80: "New words shared between these languages at this period are not detectable as loanwords. The smaller number that do show Celtic innovations probably post-date the transition from Pre-Celtic to Proto-Celtic ~1200 BC. For example, the Celto-Germanic group name giving Proto-Germanic *Burgunþaz and Pro-Celtic *Brigantes was *Bhr̥ghn̥tes, which then independently underwent the Germanic and Celtic treatments of Proto-Indo-European syllabic *r̥ and *n̥ . It would be unlikely for the name to have its attested Germanic form if it had been borrowed from Celtic after ~1200 BC and probably impossible after ~900 BC."
^Timpe & Scardigli 2010, pp. 581–582: "Also: eine Gemeinsamkeit von Germ., Balt. und Slaw., wobei die Neuerungen vor allem in einer Gemeinsamkeit von Germ. und Balt. zum Ausdruck kommen; die Gemeinsamkeit von Germ. und Slaw. beruht mehr auf der Bewahrung urspr. Verhältnisse und weist damit nicht auf engere Gemeinsamkeiten im Verlauf der Entwicklung. (...) Die Kontakte zum Extrem auf der anderen Seite, dem Slaw., sind wohl nur als eine Begleiterscheinung der Kontakte zum Balt. aufzufassen. Diese Kontakte zum Balt. müssen allerdings teilweise recht alt sein.";Simmelkjær Sandgaard Hansen & Kroonen 2022, pp. 166–167: "... as for the Balto-Slavic connection, other pieces of evidence show shared innovations with Baltic only, not with Slavic, which indicates a period of contact and joint development between Germanic and Balto-Slavic languages during a relatively late time period and, in any event, after the initial breakup of Balto-Slavic."
^Tacitus referred to him as king of the Suevians.[137]
^During the initial stage of the conflict between the Romans and the Tervingi, the Greuthungi had crossed the Danube into the Empire.[185]
^"The indigenous ancient alphabet ofGermania, thefuþark, consisted of twenty-four characters named runes."[297] "The discovery of a rune-inscribed bone from Lány (Břeclav, Moravia/Czech Republic) challenges the prevalent opinion that the olderfuþark was used exclusively by Germanic-speaking populations."[298]
^"Runes are an alphabetic script, calledfuþark, used among Germanic tribes ... The find reported here renders six of the last eight runes of the olderfuþark, making it the first find containing the final part of the olderfuþark in South-Germanic inscriptions, and the only one found in a non-Germanic context."[299]
^"For unknown reasons the Latin, or Roman, alphabet was not adapted in the North, but instead an alphabet was created that reflected Roman influence, but deviated in crucial features. History of writing in the Mediterranean area shows that there were many indigenous scripts, all somehow descending from the Phoenician mother script, but they were all replaced in ultimately the first century BC by the Roman script, the writing system of the leading culture."[300]
^Historian Shami Ghosh for instance, argues: "It is certainly the case that the Goths, Lombards, Franks, Angles, Saxons, and Burgundians...were all Germanic peoples, in that their vernacular tongue belonged to the Germanic sub-group of the Indo-European family of languages. It is also the case that the corpus of what literary scholars define as Germanic heroic poetry does contain narratives that have as a historical core events that took place largely in the period c.300–c.600—insofar as any of these narratives can in fact be related to any sort of historical realities at all. But there is little evidence from before the eighth century, at least, for any sense even of an awareness of an inter-relatedness among these peoples, and certainly not of any perception among them of any significance of such inter-relatedness—any sort of knowledge of and meaning granted to a common 'Germanentum', or 'Germanic-ness', that has any relation to the burden of significance such a concept has borne in modern scholarship. Furthermore, the historical links between the extant heroic texts and any verifiable historical fact are both invariably slender and often quite tenuous, and therefore should not be overvalued."[320]
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