The history of humanity and its development
The history of humanity and its development over the years creates an understanding of the culture, religion, and way of life. Humans today by getting a perfect understanding of the past will live today and create a perfect tomorrow for the next generation to embrace. Looking into undocumented past thousands of years before the adoption of writing can be a hard task for any scholar to determine the kind of life people lived. [1] Tacitus was a man whose ability, skill, precision, fairness, and richness brought knowledge of the past to the present through his work and style. In his account on the early German nation, Tacitus has brought an overall insight into the religion, marriage and the social classes that pre-existed in the German culture. The society today values the works of Tacitus since its one of the most detailed piece of work and concrete history of German society. Tacitus in his work focused a lot on family interactions, the gender roles, and the societal interactions and their importance. This paper will look into the aspects portrayed by Tacitus on Germania society and the functions that the knowledge serves in the society today.
In his writing, Tacitus depicts the Germanic people as a pure race uncontaminated by the external nations around them.[2] Tacitus portrays the Germans as independent, unique and resembling none other nation of the world. They never intermarried with other nations ultimately preserving their cultures within the confines of their jurisdictions. The Germans believed heroes lived in their land Hercules, for example, a hero sang by the Germans as they advanced in war. This historical knowledge instilled in the people of Germany by Tacitus has greatly influenced the thinking of German people. Through this documented history by Tacitus, the Germans started viewing themselves as superior and a pure race with a unique religion even though other reigns and societies like the Romans. Though Romans believe were influenced by other nations their approach to worship was rather different. Unlike the Romans and the Sumerians who believed that their gods ought to be confined in temples, Germans believed that nature and wildlife are where their gods belonged. The German’s pattern of worship was duplicated to the Suevians for example who had their god ISIS as the overall being and mostly worshiped.
Just like the approach the Germans have with respect to their gods, the same has been depicted in the social setting where individuals will never live together in clustered houses in the cities and rather they will erect antagonistic homesteads with spaces in between them. The poor and the rich are always divided by a social class and the slaves on the lower rank of the social bureaucracy.
The slaves in this society are held with high regard and respected just like any other member of the family. As Tacitus puts it slaves in Germania have their own houses and a family to look after and hardly will any master chain their slaves and their treatment is of high regard. Slaves in Germania, unlike other societies, live like tenants in the lands of their masters. The work of the slaves is limited and their value is high just like normal family members. The rich in German society according to Tacitus, will be known by the manner in which they dress. They will wear vests that will show proportions of their ribs though not as large as those worn by the rich in Samaritan.
Unlike the “spoilt child” the other societies like Rome, German society is a good child whose traits are never affected by the sexual immorality and pleasures of the world. In scenes where women are caught in the act of adultery, they are punished and the man found altering with her punished as well. [3] The German society allows no slave to raise the children for their masters. This responsibility is left for the wives who pass the family bond and strong ties to society. Unlike other societies Egyptians and the Romans where the slaves were never valued and all activities left to their attendance in Germania things were different, a haven to be precise according to Tacitus.
In Germania, the woman was not just for bearing and raising kids. The women were a strong pillar in the family and stood next to the man and were allowed to make their decisions. During wars and conquests, the women were left to run the families and were entitled to every activity that runs in the family. They managed the lands, slaves as well as took care of the kids. Unlike in the Greece society where women were never allowed to make their personal decisions on private maters without notifying their husbands Germania allowed women to be strong alone.
Egyptians viewed slaves and literally treated them like animals. They had no rights and did all kinds of work. They had no family ties and were never allowed to make decisions without their master’s commands. In Germania on the central slaves were treated as employees and formed part of the family. Due to the fact that Tacitus was a roman citizen the information he wrote about Germania was greatly accepted.
In battle, Tacitus tries to compare the Romans and the Germans. He says that’s the preparedness of the Germans for war has no comparison. The warriors, the horses, and the skill applied is of admiration. He describes the speed of the horses and the footmen as well as the perfect choosing of the soldiers from the society and the honor they received after a triumph. To Tacitus, German society had no comparison.
Through the examples given above Germania is seen as a perfect society where the humans lived without conflict and every one treating the other with the respect they deserved. The society is said to be an example to the rest. The society of Germania respects the poor, slaves and women the perfect society the world would ever wish for today. This historical view by Tacitus allows each social setting to review whatever makes meaning in their lives and live to appreciate one another.
Tacitus who lived and left a legacy as a very important historian wrote a book among his writings by the name Germania that described the Germans at the end of the first century CE. It is through this that he was able to comment on the Rome that lived during his time and also the existing Germans as well. His book Germania contributes to the moral understanding of the scholars and this is evident in the fact that the book describes fully the morals of the Germans and the punishments they would receive in case one violated the set laws. In essence, the book describes in bold the particular instances that were commendable and were worth following and also rebukes actions such as immorality and adultery among the people.
Taking a deep look at the book, it has given the Germans an identity that is articulated by the fact that it describes how the tribes in Germany institutions as well as the country lived and formed themselves into groups to hold their culture. Citizens from Germany can derive an understanding of their values, behaviours as well as the collective values that guide them in their endeavors to ensure that they do not go against the originally set rules. All this is made easier because of the availability of Germania a book that was produced when the most common way of preserving information was through audio. The book Germania acts as a source of their heritage as it also has details of the arrangement of their towns as described in Chapter XVI.
According to the book Germania, anyone that was found culpable of any offense or capital crime was supposed to be prosecuted. Also, the penalty was to be assigned to a particular offense. For instance, any traitor caught in the society would be hanged on a tree while cowards that could not get into the war would be plunged into the mire and a hurdle put over him. Every offense had its punishment which was determined by the set councils. It is through such work that historians get information about the need to ensure justice prevails. Readers are advised and influenced by the analysis of how offenses were handled during the time and this forms a basis of making sure that values are held in the society. It also acts as a benchmark to help determine the best solution or the degree of punishment one should receive after being caught in an offense.
In Tacitus treatment of the German tribes, is Tacitus engaged in a distinct project of offering criticism of the roman state and its morals?
Tacitus work in Germania analyzed the German tribes and liked their way of conducting their lives which made him praise them while on the other hand critic the Romans way of live. In his book Germania, he endorsed the right ethics that were portrayed by the Germans and this would be a source of guidance in terms of morals as well as guide the way of life. However, his general view of the German tribes was wrong because not all the Germans behaved the same way.
In Tacitus work Germania, he portrays his understanding of the tribes of Germany in which more narratives and stories are added onto the work by people who experienced themselves. Germania is an ethnographic work which is a recognized primary source of data for that particular historic moments. It is in this book that teaches about the features of the Germanic people and their way of lives and all this entails the descriptions of their leadership and type of government, the description of Germans in terms of their physical features, and the level of regard of women in the German tribes. The narrative encourages and makes it look right to compare the values portrayed by the German tribes with those portrayed by the Romans. Tacitus praises the German tribes for a couple of reasons which form the discussion below. These traits that Tacitus praise include: monogamy in marriage, their strict rules on discouraging idleness, their courage like warriors, hatred of drunkenness and barbarisms. Among the tribes in Germany included: Batavians who were depicted as most brave, Gauls were said to be puissant and formidable, Chatti who were located in the Hercynian forest which had less of marshy plains. Others were Usipiaans and Tencterians, Bruterians, Angrivanians and Chamavians and lastly Cherusians.
Tacitus in his work presented the threat that was posed by the Germans in a detailed and full description of the German tribes which portrayed war and as such, they posed a great threat to the empire frontier of the Romans. The text provides a primary source and that it describes the people who lived at a similar time as Tacitus Rome. [4]It is worthwhile noting that Germania also offers a concrete and easy to understand the perspective of the people comprising the German population and their perspectives which in this case covers a myriad of features of the culture of the Germans. Besides, there are great weaknesses that were brought about by different generalizations which could be quite difficult and unrealistic especially for any modern scholar. An example is the fact that Tacitus assumes that all the Germans have the same features which include blue eyes, being unable to work for a very long time and also red hair. Furthermore, these generalizations are in one way or another false mainly because, when Tacitus described them, the accounting could not have incorporated every German.
Tacitus Germania’s book also narrates about marriages and their rules and how he describes them makes it more interesting because this virtue serves as a way to portray moral behavior for the Romans at large. In his work, he describes the Germans’ traditions and ways of addressing marriage as the best and one that should be emulated as it is an ethical example to show Romans how to conduct theirs as well. This is because the marriage code is very strict and the manners practiced are ones that should be praised.
Besides, marriage was Tacitus’ best form of practicing traditions as he regarded it with a lot of seriousness and that it was worth more praises than any other form of expressing culture. In Tacitus work, he described the level of strictness portrayed by the Germans to mahogany though this was exceptional only when “not because of lust on account of their distinction, (they) are solicited with numerous matches.” He continues to mention on wives which is contrary to the Roman tradition that focuses on husbands, who receive dowry gifts from their future partner, with the suggestion that the women are valued more and due to this, men should portray how eligible they are through their level of wealth. Moreover, it was an obligation of the bride to share the labors and dangers of their husbands and also to make sure they dare similar things war and also the same things in war. This suggests that both the wife and the man would share very deep bonds in the relationship entailing fellowship and trust. Tacitus further stresses the idea and insists that women from the German background are allowed to receive one husband which leaves her with no other thoughts beyond the husband, no desires that go past him, and this makes them not to love their husbands as entities but the marriage itself. All the stated above characteristics are those that were articulated by Tacitus as practiced by the Germanic tribes.
According to Tacitus, Germanic people uphold high ethical standards which are carried into marriage. Germans protect their chastity in the matrimony and this makes sure that they remain uninterrupted by the banquets and celebrations from the public that may be very enticing and they also ignore the secrets that can be held by letters which is the main tool that increases the chances of adultery in the lives of the Romans. However, Germans exhibit very few cases of adultery and this could be as a result of lack of knowledge or a chance where one holds an unparalleled discipline. [5]Furthermore, this exemplary conduct of morals may be mainly because of the severe consequences that any woman that becomes adulterous is deemed tom face in case she is caught. It is worthwhile noting that such an instance the wife is expelled from their home by the husband, she is also stripped, she drives with a lash throughout the village, cut her hair short, and through this, they make sure that beauty, wealth or youth should not persuade them to fail to bring justice. As Tacitus closes his full description of the German ethics as they should be upheld in marriage, he affirms that good morals within Germany always have more strength than good laws in other places. In his closing remark, he rubberstamps the Tacitus ideas and suggestions carried on throughout the passage that how the Germans conduct themselves ethically, is due to an upright and character that comes from oneself that is possessed by the people.
Besides, Tacitus has very strong words that concern the Germanic ethics especially within the matrimonial law and marriage which seem to be too perfect and the question arises whether such a society that is so uncivilized and complicated according to most of the Romans be able to exhibit such strict values of marriage to the fullest until they become normal?[6] It is worthwhile noting that the testimony given by Tacitus about the tribes in Germany may be true. This makes it very clear that the whole description of Germanic marriage, as well as their matrimonial law, are ethical ideas which Tacitus wished that they could be practiced within the Roman society. Also, the Rome of Tacitus day would still reap the benefits of Pax Roma and thus there was a greater likelihood that he was aware and could have witnessed the corruption that was spread among the wealthy Romans.
According to Tacitus, the Germans themselves are probably indigenous and that they have very little blood that is foreign and this could have been introduced by invasion or any dealing that could be friendly and one that could be brought about by the neighbours. This is mainly because the emigrants could only use the ship mode of traveling rather than the land and during the time, the ocean that surrounded Germany was so hostile that no sail could dare enter the place. It is worthwhile noting that although they were powerful, they lost their energy to stand still and thus could not bear the pressure. [7]Due to the lack of weaponry especially due to the absence of precious metals like gold and silver, they had to hold discussions on how to behave in war and also how to restructure themselves which later brought about the governance structure. Tacitus praised the country mode of organizations by acknowledging the war songs that they could sing while getting prepared for a battle. The baritus was a tool meant to arouse their bravery and courage to get set for the conflict directed to them. There were different versions of sounds that played different roles in the war with other features like the altar that consecrated the warriors. This was not possible with the Romans who acted as an uncivilized society with no focus and thus could be easily attacked.
Lastly, Tacitus Germania, which is an ethnographic work on the tribes of Germany entailing antiquity, these functions act as a source of information about the Germans and also explains and reveals the feasibility that underlies by acting as a reference towards proper conduct in terms of morals. [8]Although there are generalizations and chances of inaccuracies in the material, this threatens the authenticity of the Germania as a representation of the people it describes as truthful. Despite the issues, it is worthwhile noting that Germania is a great feature that can be referred to about the kind of Romans like Tacitus, their beliefs and perspectives could have held concerning the particular uncivilized frontier tribes.
In conclusion, the remarks made by Tacitus that stated that German people used to keep off potential wrongdoings that could bring about high “public performances”, temptations of banquets” as well as “the secrets letters can hold” with the suggestion that most of the particular activities were the reasons that lead to moral corruption for the Romans that lived at the same time. About this perspective, it is quite feasible that Tacitus may have composed his work the Germania to endorse the proper ethics portrayed and improve it to have it as a recording of history.
[1] Christopher B. Krebs, A Most Dangerous Book: Tacitus’s Germania from the Roman Empire to the Third Reich (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2011),
2 Oxford University Press, Tacitus: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide (New York: Oxford University Press, USA, 2010).
[3] “Zum politischen Charakter der Germanen in der Germania des Tacitus,” Romano –
Germanica (n.d.)
[4] Michel Reddé, “Roman Germania? What Germania?,” The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Roman Germany, 2019,
[5] Danielle Buschinger, “Kulturtransfer zwischen Romania und Germania im Hoch- und Spätmittelalter,” 2019,
[6] “Warum in der Romania im Gegensatz zur Germania verneinte Quantoren nicht „schweben” und die Verneinung keine Skopusinversion aufweist,” Comparatio delectat II (n.d)
[7] “Zum politischen Charakter der Germanen in der Germania des Tacitus,” Romano – Germanica (n.d.),
[8] 1. Tacitus [. Tacitus], “4,” Clarendon Ancient History Series: Tacitus: Germania, 1999.