Tacitus (Germania)

Germania , written by Tacitus , is hailed as one of the great ethnographic works on the Germanic Tribes that were located just outside of the boundaries of the Roman Empires . It provides a perspective on the different practices and cultures of these so-called barbarians while at the same time providing a comparison with the more civilized ' Romans of the same time period . In the same tradition as the works of Herodotus and Julius Caesar , this piece of classical literature is one of the many pieces that Tacitus has written on the of foreign

cultures the earlier work being the discussion on the tribes of Britannia in the work entitled Agricola

Germania is essentially broken down into several chapters . The first twenty-seven (27 ) of these chapters deals with the perspective that Tacitus had gained with regard to the lands , laws and customs of the Germanic People . It takes into account the differences that these had with the Roman counterparts . The other chapters dwell upon the s of the individual tribes that existed in the area beginning from those that resided nearest to the Roman lands and ending with the tribes located on the shores of the Baltic (These included the Aesti the Fenni and other unknown tribes

Given the limitations that Tacitus had as an armchair anthropologist ' Germania contains many verses that implicitly compare the different values and practices of the Germanic tribes with the Roman counterparts . While there is no direct comparison in the text , such can be implied by the tone and the historical fact that Tacitus had neither been able to visit many of these locations nor deal directly with many of the Germanic Tribes

It is pointed out by several historians who have studied the text extensively that the characterization that Tacitus provides with regard to the Germanic tribes is often times favorable to his opinion of the Romans of that time . In Chapter Eighteen of the Book , there is mention of the praise-worthy practices such as monogamy and chastity were held in high regard by Tacitus who considered the rampant immorality of Roman Society during this time to be much to his disliking

Other traits which Tacitus makes mention of are the hospitality simplicity and bravery of the Germanic Tribes . While the Romans thought that they too possessed these qualities , Tacitus shows that these traits were mere idealized Roman virtues . The Germanic Tribes had concretized these virtues which the Romans had longer aspired for . That , in the opinion of Tacitus , made the Germanic tribes ideal to a certain extent

In Chapter Seven (7 ) of his work , Tacitus mentions that the government of these Germanic tribes was merit-based and egalitarian a far cry from the Roman government but certainly effective enough for these tribes Furthermore , Tacitus shows his admiration for the Germanic women and the increased role that they played in Germanic Society . In Chapter Eight (8 , Tacitus discusses the weight of the opinion of the women and later on in Chapter nineteen (19 ) he also shows...