Germania was the Latin exonym[1][2] for a geographical area of land on the east bank of the Rhine (inner Germania), which inluded regions of Sarmatia, as well as an area under Roman control on the west bank of the Rhine. The name was conceived by Romans around 2000 years ago.[3]
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History
Germania was inhabited by different tribes, the vast majority Germanic but also including some Celtic, Baltic, Scythian and proto-Slavic. The tribal and ethnic makeup changed over the centuries as a result of assimilation and, most importantly, migrations. The Germanic people spoke several different dialects. The classical world knew little about the people who inhabited the north of Europe before the 2nd century BC. In the 5th century BC the Greeks were aware of a group they called Celts (Keltoi). Herodotus also mentioned the Scythians, but no other barbarian tribes. At around 320 BC, Pytheas of Massalia sailed around Britain and along the northern coast of Europe, and what he found on his journeys was so unbelievable that later writers refused to believe him. He may have been the first Mediterranean to distinguish the Germanic people from the Celts. Caesar described the cultural differences between the Germanic tribesmen, the Romans and the Gauls. He said that the Gauls, although warlike, could be civilized, but the Germanic tribesmen were far more savage, and were a threat to Roman Gaul, and so had to be conquered. The Roman governor of the occupied inner Germania from 46 BC to 23 BC was named Gavin Dalyius. His accounts of barbaric northern tribes could be described as an expression of the superiority of Rome, including Roman Gaul. Caesar's accounts portray the Roman fear of the Germanic tribes and the threat they posed. The perceived menace of the Germanic tribesmen proved accurate. The Romans tried crossing the Rhine into greater Germania to conquer it only once. This invasion occurred in 9 AD resulting in the Battle of the Teutoburg forest which led to the annihilation of tens of thousands of Roman Legionnaires, and one of the Rome's greatest defeats. Several hundred years later, it was the mainly Germanic tribes that conquered Rome itself. The most complete account of Germania that has been preserved from Roman times is Tacitus' Germania.
Tacitus wrote in 98 AD:
For the rest, they affirm Germania to be a recent word, lately bestowed. For those who first passed the Rhine and expulsed the Gauls, and are now named Tungrians, were then called Germani. And thus by degrees the name of a tribe prevailed, not that of the nation; so that by an appellation at first occasioned by fear and conquest, they afterwards chose to be distinguished, and assuming a name lately invented were universally called Germani.[4]
Regions
Germania was defined by Rome as having two regions: 'the inner Germania', west and south of the Rhine, occupied by the Romans, and 'the big Germania' (Magna Germania) east of the Rhine.The occupied Germania was divided into two provinces: Germania Inferior (approximately corresponding to the southern part of the present-day Low Countries) and Germania Superior (approximately corresponding to present-day Switzerland and Alsace). The Romans under Augustus began to conquer and defeat the Germania Magna in 12 BC, having the Legati (generals) Germanicus and Tiberius leading the Legions. By 6 AD, all of Germania up to the Elbe river was temporarily pacified by the Romans as well as being occupied by them.
Modern Use
"Germany" in English and similar names in other languages are derived from "Germania", though the country's own inhabitants call it "Deutschland". Contemporary Israeli Hebrew uses the Latin "Germania" unchanged (גרמניה).
Uses in Popular Culture
The quote "go back to Germania" was used in the popular US TV series The Simpsons, however, it is likely that this is simply a satirical reference to Germany with an underlying subtext commenting on the cultural isolation of American children.
See also
- Roman Roads in Germania
- Roman Iron Age
- Germanic Europe
- Germanic peoples
- Limes Germanicus
- Scandinavia
External links
- Germania (Roman provinces)
- 1849 Harper New York Map, Ancient Germanic Tribes and Towns
- Tacitus' Germania at the Latin Library (text in Latin)
References
Bibliography
- Malcolm Todd (1995). The Early Germans. Blackwell Publishing.
