CHAPTER II

  III.

THE 'FREE' GERMANI OF THE CONTINENT

 

In his account of these “free” Germanic tribes in the west he begins with the Chatti living in what is now Hessen, whom he describes in considerable detail and extols for their military virtues. The Tencteri and the Usipetes on the right bank of the Rhine, who are paid to have been skilled horsemen, receive similar praise. After a short mention of some other tribes, come the Frisii. These people, who inhabited the coast-lands between the Rhine and the Ems, had joined the Romans at the same time as the Batavi and did them great service during the campaigns of Drusus and Germanicus. By a revolt in AD 28, provoked by the severity of the tax-collectors, they made themselves independent, were again subdued in 46—47, but joined the revolt of the Batavi in 69-70 and regained their freedom. Tacitus has not much to say about the Frisii, but a good deal can be discovered from archaeological evidence. The finds which can be referred to them practically all come from remains of the artificial mounds on which they built their villages (Terpen). The oldest go back to the La Tene period, while several of the later ones contain a considerable quantity of both native and imported (Roman) pottery from the early Empire. To a smaller extent, also, metal objects are met with, among them Roman bronze vessels. These Roman wares in Terpen may be regarded as the earliest evidence for the Frisii as traders. The transportation of cattle up the Rhine by the Frisii is attested in literature from the end of the third century. As has been seen, there was considerable export of provincial Roman wares from the mouth of the Rhine at the end of the second century, and it must be assumed that this was chiefly in Frisian ships. The Terpen finds attest connections between this people and the Romans as early as the first century, and it maybe assumed that this trade began at the time when their waters were directly connected with the Rhine by the canal built by Drusus in 12 BC.

After the Frisii a brief reference is made to their neighbors on the east, the Chauci at the estuary of the Weser—now traced in archaeological material—and on the south the Cherusci, Arminius' renowned tribe, who, however, by the time of Tacitus had lost much of their power to their more warlike neighbors, the Chatti. Next come the Cimbri, whose name evokes gloomy reflections on what the Romans had to endure from the Germani. The position of their home-country is not precisely stated, but their name is found in the present Danish place-name Himmerland, the district south of Limfjorden. The home of the Teutones, their comrades in arms (who are not mentioned by Tacitus), is also definitely known now. It is to be found in Thy, north-west of Limfjorden. Archaeological evidence of these two peoples has now been found in traces of extensive abandoned agricultural areas, obviously deserted in prehistoric times, and a fortified place in the moor at Borre.

Great interest attaches to the account of the Suebi, the collective name for a number of tribes—indeed, according to Tacitus, all except those dealt with above. This is a single use of the name; Pliny and Tacitus himself elsewhere give to it a more restricted meaning. The Suebi are generally made to include the tribes in Mecklenburg, Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia. Their habitation is traced in the name Schwaben. The fact that Suebi are placed also on the Eider indicates, perhaps, that they, like many other peoples, were invaders from Scandinavia. The next chapter, that about the Semnones round the Havel and the Spree, who consider themselves the leading tribe among the Suebi, gives clear information as to the nature of this tribal alliance. In a sacred grove in the territory of the Semnones representatives of all the Suebi assemble at fixed times for collective religious observances which include human sacrifices. The Langobardi, so renowned later, also belong to the Suebi, living north-west of the Semnones, in what is now Lüneburg, at the beginning of the century and probably also in the time of Tacitus. According to their own traditions, they migrated from Scandinavia. It has been assumed that they came from the Swedish provinces Skane or Halland but spent a short time in Gotland before they landed in Germany, a theory which receives some support from the fact that the Gotland archaeological material from the pre-Roman Iron Age is strongly influenced from North-West Germany. North-German burial places of a certain type are unanimously ascribed to the Lango­bardi: the men's burial places with weapons (Nienbüttel, Rieste, Körchow, etc.), and the women's without weapons (Darzau). These burial customs are interpreted as indicating Woden-cult and their connection with the Suebi has been disputed.

Another kind of cult-association of a similar nature to that of the Suebi is mentioned as existing north of the Langobardi, and more detailed information about the nature and object of the cult is given. The goddess Nerthus identified by Tacitus with terra mater, is carried round in procession at certain times of the year in a covered waggon drawn by cows, and worshipped by the people with festive joy and with the laying aside of weapons. Here we have obviously the female representative in the twin deity of fertility, which is known to us from the Mediterranean countries and the Orient, whence this cult spread over the world. The old German form of the name Nerthus corresponds to the Icelandic-Swedish Njord, which is, however, the name of the male deity. The Nerthus-worshipping tribes are identified with the Ingaevones mentioned by Tacitus, but it may be ob­served that Nerthus also was worshipped in Scandinavia, to judge from several place-names, e.g. Nartuna in Uppland. Among the seven peoples enumerated by Tacitus are to be noted the Angli, with their original tribal centre on the peninsula Angel in East Slesvig, and their neighbors on the south-west, the Reudigni who occupied the territory of the Chauci by the lower Elbe towards the end of the second century, and who are probably identical with the Saxons. On Ptolemy's map (AD 150) the Saxons are placed on the right bank of the lower Elbe, in the Lauenburg. The types of remains, characteristic of both these peoples, which are to be met with in England and mark the Anglo-Saxon invasion, belong however to a later period than the one dealt with here. A considerable West-Germanic tribe in this region whose name does not appear in Tacitus is that of the Franks. This name is therefore assumed to have arisen later to designate a tribal association inhabiting the district between the Rhine and the Ems and composed of the Bructeri, Ampsivarii and others. It is thought that this group appears in Tacitus as the Istaevones.

After the diversion to the north which the description of the Nerthus people implies, Tacitus turns southward and goes now from west to east. The first people dealt with are the Hermunduri, who lived south of the Chatti. Philologists associate their name with the first element of the name Thuringerwald, the mountain country forming part of their tribal territory. The name of this tribe has also been connected with that of the Herminones, and it has been assumed that we must seek in these districts the third of the tribal confederations mentioned by Tacitus. This is confirmed by the fact that, according to Pliny, the Herminones inhabit the interior of Germania and consist, inter alia, of Suebi, Hermunduri, Chatti and Cherusci. That the territory of the Hermunduri, or the tribes allied to them, extended far southward is indicated by what Tacitus says about their trade with the Roman province of Raetia, a trade which was not confined only to the neighboring river, the Danube, but penetrated far into the Roman Empire. The privileged position enjoyed by the Hermunduri in this respect was the reward for their conduct during the critical period in the first century AD. They had taken no part in the war against Rome led by Arminius and the Cherusci.

While only vague glimpses of the Hermunduri are caught both in literature and archaeological material we are, on the other hand, well informed about the Marcomanni and the Quadi. The first references to the Marcomanni are found in Caesar, where they are mentioned as forming part of Ariovistus' army. It is assumed that at that time they lived between the Main and the Danube in the  territory evacuated  by  the  Helvetii.  When  the  Romans occupied the country west of the Rhine and were obviously preparing to cross the river and subdue the Germani, the Marcomanni found their position insecure, and under the leadership of their king, Maroboduus, they marched eastward into Bohemia, large parts of which they conquered in the last decade BC. Maroboduus, who seems to have been possessed of some statesmanship, obtained great influence in Central Germany during the next two decades, and became leader of a tribal alliance which is said to have extended from the Elbe to the Vistula. His power was broken by a defeat at the hands of the Cherusci under Arminius in AD 17, and after the Goths, under the leadership of the exiled Marcomannic nobleman Catualda, invaded Bohemia in AD 19, Maroboduus’ empire collapsed, and he himself ended his days in exile in Ravenna AD 35.

The Germania gives only vague indications of the relations between the Marcomanni and the Romans. But in the Annals Tacitus makes a statement which, short as it is, is illuminating, and affords an explanation of one of the most important factors in the Germanic culture of the Earlier Empire. When Catualda conquered Maroboduus' capital, he found there sutlers and merchants from the Roman provinces who had immigrated thither “from greed of gain”. It is clearly possible that there was some sort of commercial agreement, as Tacitus suggests, which Entitled Roman merchants and other traders to settle and do business within the boundaries of the Marcomannic kingdom. The leading cultural role of Bohemia within the Germanic world at this time is explained in this way. As a transit country for Italian exports to Northern Europe it had been of importance as early as the beginning of the Bronze Age. Further, as the Romans gained control of Carnuntum, first as a summer camp and later as a fortress, the town became a staple place for trade with Northern Europe. It is of still greater importance that Bohemia now became the centre of a particularly vigorous culture built up of Germanic, West-Celtic, Boian, provincial-Roman and purely Italian elements. It was this culture, characterized by certain fibulae, buckles, mounts for drinking-horns, etc., which sets its stamp on the whole of the archaeological material of Northern Europe during the beginning of the first century. In view of the dominating importance of this culture of the Marcomanni, its bearers—the last people in the West-Germanic group dealt with by Tacitus—must also be given a prominent position during the Earlier Empire which can only be compared to that of the Goths during the Later.

Tacitus' description of the East Germanic and non-Germanic peoples together occupies only about half the space devoted to the West Germani. This indicates that the information he could obtain about these tribes, which were farthest away from the Roman boundaries, was somewhat scanty. Herein probably lies also the explanation—which will be dealt with in more detail later—why the author's own speculations about these peoples were given freer scope than before. In spite of their paucity and other shortcomings these notes are of great importance, since they comprise the oldest extant historical detail about several peoples. It is therefore assumed that Tacitus had access to some now lost written source, or, more probably, to verbal information from some traveler. In this connection the Roman knight who visited the amber coast has been suggested. After having mentioned by way of introduction four little known tribes, one of which (the Osi) is generally considered to be Illyrian, he discusses in somewhat more detail the Lugian group who are said to occupy the largest area. The tribes enumerated here are also practically unknown to history. Of ethnographical interest are the particulars about the Harii—possibly identical with the Hirri mentioned by Pliny—that they have black shields, blacken their bodies and choose dark nights for their battles. The information about the Naharvali—that in their territory they had a sacred grove where ancient rites were performed—suggests that within their tribal group they played the same part as the Semnones among the West Germani, and that thus these Lugii also were associated in a common cult. Beyond the Lugii dwell the Gotones (Goths), and in the coast regions (of the Baltic) the Rugii and the Lemovii, all of whom are curtly described as distinguished by their round shields, short swords and obedience to their kings. With regard to the shields, however, it is to be observed that over the whole of the Germanic territory, besides the predominant round shape, other types of shields, both oval and many-sided, for example hexagonal, are also met with. On the other hand, the statement that the short (one-edged) sword is specially characteristic of the East Germani at that time is correct. But the contrast to which Tacitus alludes between the West-Germanic long and the East-Germanic short swords belongs to the end of the pre-Roman epoch. In Tacitus' time also the West Germani used short swords, but only two-edged of Roman gladius type although with certain native features. As the Burgundians and Vandals do not appear among the tribes enumerated here, though the latter are mentioned elsewhere, it has been assumed that they are included in the Lugii. Of the Germanic people on the continent (i.e. not in Scandinavia) mention is also made of the Veneti and Peucini or Bastarnae. Their nationality is stated with a certain hesitation as they are said to resemble the Sarmatae.

In the description of the continental Germanic tribes, the statements about the Bastarnae deserve special interest, as they are the Germanic tribe with whom the classical peoples had come into contact previously, and who thereby first made their appearance in history. As early as the end of the third century BC they are said to have appeared in the company of the Sciri at the estuary of the Danube, where during the following centuries they were allies of Rome's enemies, until they suffered a decisive defeat at the hands of M. Crassus in 29 BC. Earlier Roman sources regard them as Celts or Scythians, and their Celtic nationality has also been maintained by modern scholars, but their Germanic origin may be regarded as established. The reliefs of them which can be studied on Trajan's Column show Germanic types with the characteristic knot of hair. This detail, as well as their grave-culture, has caused surprise, since these features are looked upon as particularly West-Germanic. The explanation lies perhaps in the fact that the Bastarnae were a continental Germanic tribe, whereas the specific East-Germanic culture was created by people who immigrated from Scandinavia. The Bastarnae may be considered to have been the first Germanic people to have moved down towards the Black Sea from the Baltic, and their road thither is indicated by the name for the Carpathians, Alpes Bastarnicae, known from classical sources. It has been assumed that theirs was the peculiar culture which, at the beginning of the Iron Age, had spread over Pommerellen, and is characterized by stone cist-graves filled with pottery—sometimes as many as thirty vessels, many of them face-urns. This culture has been declared to be a direct continuation of the Grossendorfkultur in the same district from the Later Bronze Age. The cause of the departure of the Bastarnae from the shores of the Baltic has been sought in the immigrations from Scandinavia in the closing centuries of the pre-Christian era.

Among the Scandinavian peoples who were the earliest to move to the south coast of the Baltic are numbered the Vandals, mentioned first by Pliny under the name of Vandili. Their name has been associated with the Danish place-name Vendsyssel, Jutland, north of Limfjorden, which area is supposed to have been their original home, an assumption which receives some support from the fact that one of the Vandal tribes bore the name Silingae, a name probably connected with Saelund, the old form of Sjaelland (Seeland). That in the time of Tacitus Jutland at any rate had connections with East Germany appears from the ornamentation of the Jutland pottery (meander or meander-like patterns with continuous lines), which agrees with what is found on the pottery in that area, whereas in the adjacent West-German territory these patterns consist of dotted lines made with a little toothed wheel. In Silesia, which obtained its name from the Silingae, and where both the latter and other Vandalic tribes thus lived, pottery has been found from as early as the first century BC, closely corresponding to that in Denmark and Sweden. The researches of recent years have succeeded in tracing with fair certainty from the archaeological material (house-foundations, burial customs, pottery) the movement of the Vandals to the continent during the second century BC. The name of the Vandals used to be associated with the face-urn culture, but that does not square with the results of most recent research, as we have seen above, and their line of immigration was not the Vistula but the Oder.

A closer study of burial culture and types of remains has made possible more definite conclusions with reference to the other East-German peoples enumerated by Tacitus. In western Further Pomerania and round the bend of the river Vistula a group of burial grounds can be distinguished, characterized by Brandgrubengraber with girdle-hook and an abundance of weapons, among them ornamented spearheads. Rondsen, lying within the area last mentioned, is typical of these burial grounds. As the same burial practice obtained in Bornholm in the centuries immediately preceding the birth of Christ, the burial grounds of this type on the mainland have been associated with the Burgundiones also mentioned by Pliny, who are assumed to have migrated from Bornholm (Borghundarholmr) in the second century BC. East and north of the Burgundian territory referred to, in Pomerania, burial grounds with Brandschuttungsgraber and several skeleton graves appear towards the end of the pre-Roman period. The Rugii ('rye-eaters') first mentioned by Tacitus are placed here, and this is supported by a statement in Jordanes, according to whom the Goths after their landing on German soil—this is nowadays placed in the first century BC—first attacked the Ulmerugi (i.e, the Rugii on the island), which probably refers to that section of the Rugii who had settled in the delta of the Vistula. The name of the island of Rügen has also been correctly associated with that of the Rugii. Some of the Rugii are assumed to have been settled at the estuary of the Oder. There is agreement among Scandinavian scholars that the Rugii come from Rogaland in south-west Norway. In view of the fact that a find in Rogaland (the Avalds-nesgrave) from about AD 300 contains a remarkable number of Roman imported goods and that similar goods are also found in abundance in connection with skeleton-graves in the estuary of the Oder and on the Danish islands, it has been suggested that the Rugii migrated from their native country to the mouth of the Oder and Vistula with the Danish isles as an intermediate station. Thus the appearance of Roman imported goods in Scandinavia was largely due to the Rugii's trade with their kinsmen in Denmark and West Norway. After the successful invasion of the Goths (see above) their allies the Gepidae settled down at the delta of the Vistula as neighbors to the Rugii; east and south of them lived the Goths. The Gothic-Gepidae area is characterized by burial places with both skeleton and cremation graves, a form of burial well known from South Sweden—especially Ostergotland and Vastergotland—during this period. This has been interpreted as a proof that the Goths came from Gotaland, part of the mainland of Sweden, not as had been previously supposed from Gotland. Their name has been interpreted as the people on the Gutalven (the Gota River). South of the region occupied by the Burgundians, Rugii and Goths a culture-group with urn-graves, and weapons is still to be found under the Empire—during this period weapons cease to be found in the northern area—in Silesia, Poland and West Russia. This widely spread culture is considered to have been that of the Vandals and a little area in Silesia with skeleton-graves is referred to the Silingae.

In this outline of the distribution of peoples, which refers to the conditions immediately before and after the birth of Christ, certain changes may be traced as we pass to the second century AD. At that time a vigorous expansion of Gothic culture in various directions may be observed. The lower reaches of the Passarge had formed the eastern limit of the spread of the Goths in the main area of East Prussia. In Samland, the peninsula between the Frisches Haff and the Kurisches Haff, and also in Natangen at the base of this peninsula, burial places now appear which indicate Gothic immigration, although the native culture—ascribed to the Aestii of Tacitus—is still prevalent. Towards the middle of the second century the Rondsen type of burial place is no longer found at the bend of the Vistula and is replaced by a mixed grave-culture—that of the Goths, marking their advance southwards as they drive out the Burgundians, whose burial places now appear farther towards the south-west.

 

IV. 

SCANDINAVIA AND THE EAST BALTIC