Ancient history

Germanic peoples occupied much of the present-day territory of Germany in ancient times. The Germanic peoples are those who spoke one of theGermanic languages, and they thus originated as a group with the so-called first sound shift (Grimm’s law), which turned aProto-Indo-Europeandialect into a new Proto-Germanic language within the Indo-European language family. The Proto-Indo-European consonantsp,t, andk became theProto-Germanicf,[thorn] (th), andx (h), and the Proto-Indo-Europeanb,d, andg became Proto-Germanicp,t, andk. The historicalcontext of the shift is difficult to identify because it is impossible to date it conclusively. Clearly the people who came to speak Proto-Germanic must have been isolated from other Indo-Europeans for some time, but it is not obvious which archaeologicalculture might represent the period of the shift. One possibility is the so-calledNorthern European Bronze Age, which flourished in northern Germany and Scandinavia between about 1700 and 450bc.Alternatives would be one of the earlyIron Agecultures of the same region (e.g., Wessenstadt, 800–600bc, or Jastorf, 600–300bc).

Evidence from archaeological finds and place-names suggests that, while early Germanic peoples probably occupied much of northern Germany during the Bronze and early Iron ages, peoples speakingCeltic languages occupied what is now southern Germany. This region, together with neighboring parts ofFrance andSwitzerland, was the original homeland of the CelticLa Tène culture. About the time of the Roman expansion northward, in the first centuriesbc andad, Germanic groups were expanding southward into present-day southern Germany. The evidence suggests that the existing population was gradually Germanized rather than displaced by the Germanic peoples arriving from the north.

Solid historical information begins about 50bc whenJulius Caesar’sGallic Wars brought theRomans into contact with Germanic as well as Celtic peoples. Caesar did cross the Rhine in 55 and 53bc, but the river formed the eastern boundary of the province ofGaul, which he created, and most Germanic tribes lived beyond it. Direct Roman attacks on Germanic tribes began again underNero Claudius Drusus Germanicus, who pushed across the Rhine in 12–9bc, while other Roman forces assaulted Germanic tribes along the middle Danube (in modernAustria and Hungary). Fierce fighting in both areas, and the famous victory of the Germanic leaderArminius in theTeutoburg Forest inad 9 (when three Romanlegions were massacred), showed that conquering these tribes would require too much effort. The Romanfrontier thus stabilized on theRhine andDanube rivers, although sporadic campaigns (notably under Domitian inad 83 and 88) extended control overFrisia in the north and some lands between the Rhine and the upper Danube.

Both archaeology and Caesar’s own account of his wars show that Germanic tribes then lived on both sides of the Rhine. In fact, broadly similar archaeological cultures from this period stretch across centralEurope from the Rhine to theVistula River (in modern Poland), and Germanic peoples probably dominated all these areas. Germanic cultures extended from Scandinavia to as far south as the Carpathians. These Germans led a largely settled agricultural existence. They practiced mixed farming, lived in wooden houses, did not have the potter’s wheel, were nonliterate, and did not use money. The marshy lowlands of northern Europe have preserved otherwise perishable wooden objects, leather goods, and clothing and shed much light on the Germanic way of life. These bogs were also used forritual sacrifice and execution, and some 700 “bog people” have been recovered. Their remains are so well preserved that even dietary patterns can be established; the staple was a gruel made of many kinds of seeds and weeds.

Clear evidence ofsocial differentiation appears in these cultures. Richly furnished burials (containing jewelry and sometimes weapons) have been uncovered in many areas, showing that a wealthy warrior elite was developing. Powerfulchiefs became a standard feature of Germanic society, and archaeologists have uncovered the halls where they feasted their retainers, an activity described in the Anglo-Saxon poemBeowulf. This warrior elite followed the cult of a war god, such asTyr (Tiu) orOdin (Wodan). The Roman historianTacitus relates in theGermania that inad 59 theHermunduri, in fulfillment of their vows, sacrificed defeatedChatti to one of these gods. This elite was also the basis of political organization. The Germanic peoplescomprised numerous tribes that were also united in leagues centerd on the worship of particular cults. These cults were probably created by one locally dominant tribe and changed over time. Tribes belonging to such leagues came together for an annual festival, when weapons were laid aside. Apart from worship, these were also times for economic activity, social interaction, and settling disputes.