Germany in the Ancient World

Date: 3000 b.c.e.-700 c.e.

Locale: Southern Scandinavia, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland

Germany in the Ancient World

A jawbone discovered near Heidelberg reveals that humanlike creatures called Australophicines lived in the region of modern Germany. Remains of Neanderthals, early Homo sapiens who lived between 100,000 and 30,000 b.c.e., were first discovered in the Neander Valley in Germany. Archaeological findings reveal that human beings lived in Hamburg by 10,000 b.c.e. and in other parts of modern Germany by 8000 b.c.e.

By the third millennium b.c.e., Corded Ware culture dominated northern Germany. One millennium later, the Beaker people appeared in the Rhineland and in the upper Elbe River Valley, where they mixed with the Corded Ware people. By the second millennium b.c.e., both social inequality and social centralization appear in Germany. In Achsolshausen, Bavaria, one grave site dated 1250 b.c.e. included a four-wheeled vehicle. For protection, hill forts appeared. Skeletal types from sites in southern and central Germany reveal a short, stocky, round-headed individual, who differed from the meagerly muscled Neolithic people found in earlier graves.

Between 1200 and 800 b.c.e., the population increased, and people remained in settlements for a much longer time. However, most settlements, including Hascherkeller, Bavaria, had fewer than fifty people. Between the eighth and fifth centuries b.c.e., much of southern and central Germany shared Celtic Hallstatt culture and La Tène culture. The Celts who spread from central Europe to other parts of Europe dominated southern and central German culture between 600 and 200 b.c.e. However, between 200 b.c.e. and 500 c.e., Romans and Germanic invaders pushed the Celtic people to the peripheries of Europe.

Both Celts and Romans faced Germanic tribes who would occupy and transform all of Western Europe. The ancient Greeks named the people of western and central Europe Keloi (Celts), but they did not mention Germanic people. It was not until the second century c.e. that Roman writers described Germans as being different from Celts. In 98 c.e., Tacitus wrote a particularly detailed commentary on the lifestyle and behavior of the German tribes.

The Germans did not call themselves Germani but used tribal names such as Goths or Franks. They can be traced to the first millennium b.c.e. and located in the north German plain between the Rhine and Oder and in southern Scandinavia. Germanic Jastorf culture was contemporary with the Hallstatt and La Tène cultures in southern and western Germany. Beginning in 500 b.c.e., German tribes migrated south and east. Eastern Germans such as the Goths migrated to the northern regions of the Black Sea. Western German tribes moved to the borders of the Roman Empire, which ran along the Danube and Rhine rivers. By the second century b.c.e., Germans encroached on the Roman Empire, and in 9 c.e. at Teutoburg Forest, they stopped Roman expansion toward the Elbe River. The Allemanni moved into southwestern Germany in 213 c.e., but the Visigoths were the first to establish a Germanic kingdom on Roman soil. By the beginning of the sixth century c.e., all old Western Roman provinces had Germanic kingdoms.

For modern Germany, the most important Germanic people were the Franks, who originated along the North Sea and on the banks of the lower Rhine River before moving into Gaul (modern France). Like many Germans, the Franks fought as allies (foederati) of the Roman army. However, unlike other Germanic kingdoms, the Frankish kingdom established in Gaul in the late fifth century c.e. survived. Clovis and his sons defeated two important southern and central German tribes, the Allemanni and the Thuringians, and extended Frankish power to the east of the Rhine River.

The Franks also expanded their power in northern Germany over the Frisians in the sixth century c.e. The Saxons, the strongest force in northern Germany between the Weser and the Elbe Rivers, were not defeated until the eighth century by the Frankish ruler Charlemagne. The Bavarians in southern Germany also submitted to Charlemagne in the late eighth century. Not until 870 c.e. did the German medieval empire, composed of various Germanic regions from Saxony to Bavaria, emerge as separate entity from the Frankish realm.

War and weapons

Most Germanic soldiers in the second century b.c.e. were foot soldiers who carried lances and javelins. They had no body armor, although the chiefs wore helmets. Eastern Germans such as the Goths, however, had an impressive cavalry, and the aristocrats wore armor. The Comitatus, a sworn warrior band of young warriors who followed a leader, was organized for constant fighting.

Religion and ritual

Before the Germanic people migrated south, they usually cremated their dead, although inhumation was common among the Goths. With the exception of the Anglo-Saxons, the Germans in the Roman regions adopted inhumation by the fourth century c.e. Tacitus wrote that the Germans had sacred trees rather than temples. The Germanic people also sacrificed people in peat bogs. Originally the Germans had old Indo-European gods, but they adopted specific gods such as Tiu, Wodan, and Thor, who represented a variety of natural forces.

Only the Goths converted to Christianity in the early fourth century c.e. before they entered the Roman Empire. However, within one or two generations after coming into the Roman provinces, other German tribes also converted. The Franks were the only German tribe to convert to Roman Catholicism, and most other Eastern Germans accepted Arian Christianity, which was rejected by Rome. The conversion of Germans east of the Rhine took much longer. In the eighth century, Charlemagne forcibly converted the Saxons to Christianity, and Saint Boniface, an English monk, attempted to convert Saxons, Bavarians, and Frisians.

Daily life, customs, and traditions

Aside from warfare, much of daily life centered on the village. The Romans described the Germans’ addiction to heavy beer drinking and gambling. The Germans kept time by using solar years and lunar months until they adopted the week from the Mediterranean people. A six-foot-long (nearly two-meter-long) bronze S-shaped horn was used to create music.

Settlement and social structure

In northern Germany, German tribes built timber houses that were inhabited by both people and livestock. Unlike Germans in southern, Celtic regions, northern Germans generally did not built hill forts or fortified settlements.

Aside from the tribe, the key social organization was the clan of perhaps fifty households. The function of the tribe was to keep peace between clans. The English word “friend” is related to the German word for peace (Frieden). There was a social hierarchy in the tribes and clans, and Germans kept slaves.

Language and literature

Germanic languages belonged to the Indo-European language family. First century b.c.e. inscriptions on helmets with Runic letters adopted from a northern Italian alphabet reveal little about the German language. The first written German language was Gothic, because a fourth century c.e. Gothic bishop translated the Bible into Gothic. Most Germanic tribes that entered the Roman provinces in the West eventually adopted the local vulgar Latin language. Only the Germans between the Rhine Valley and the Oder retained their German dialects.

Government and law

Tribal councils were not legislative assemblies but rather pep rallies because decisions had already been made by the aristocrats. After entering the Roman Empire, Germanic kings governed by using personal power and the loyalty of dukes rather than Roman institutions. They also used German customary law to reduce violence by imposing fines (Wergild) or ordering trial by ordeal or combat to decide innocence or guilt.

Agriculture and animal husbandry

Agriculture and animal husbandry played a crucial role in German society. Cattle were the most important domesticated animals. Horses were not prominent among western Germans, although they were important to the eastern Germans. Barley, which was essential for brewing beer, was the most important crop, followed by wheat and flax.

Women’s life

Patriarchal Germanic society was dominated by male warriors. A woman’s infidelity was punished by banishment or death, while a man’s adultery resulted only in a fine. Kingship was traced through both male and female lines. However, there are more words for male than female relatives in Anglo-Saxon. Germans did have a female god concerned with love and marriage.

Current views

Historians have discarded the interpretation that the Germanic people lived in a democratic, classless society. Furthermore, no serious historian still adheres to theories about German racial and tribal homogeneity, which were popular long before the Third Reich. Instead of discussing a “Nordic race,” scholars stress how tribes intermingled with a variety of people. Long before the Germanic people penetrated the Western Roman Empire, they were influenced by both Celtic and Roman culture.

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