What did the ancient Germans and their religions do. Ancient Germans

For many centuries, the main stories about how the ancient Germans lived and what they did were the works of Roman historians and politicians: Strabo, Pliny the Elder, Julius Caesar, Tacitus, as well as some church writers. Along with reliable information, these books and notes contained conjectures and exaggerations. In addition, ancient authors did not always delve into the politics, history and culture of the barbarian tribes. They fixed mainly what “lay on the surface”, or what made the strongest impression on them. Of course, all these works give a pretty good idea of the life of the Germanic tribes at the turn of the era. However, in the course of later studies, it was found that the ancient authors, describing the beliefs and life of the ancient Germans, missed a lot. That, however, does not detract from their merits.

Origin and distribution of the Germanic tribes

The first mention of the Germans

The ancient world learned about warlike tribes in the middle of the 4th century BC. e. from the notes of the navigator Pythia, who ventured to travel to the shores of the North (German) Sea. Then the Germans loudly declared themselves at the end of the 2nd century BC. e .: the tribes of the Teutons and Cimbri, who left Jutland, fell upon Gaul and reached the Alpine Italy.

Gaius Marius managed to stop them, but from that moment on, the empire began to vigilantly monitor the activity of dangerous neighbors. In turn, the Germanic tribes began to unite in order to increase their military power. In the middle of the 1st century BC. e. Julius Caesar defeated the Suebi during the Gallic War. The Romans reached the Elbe, and a little later - to the Weser. It was at this time that scientific works began to appear describing the life and religion of rebellious tribes. In them (with the light hand of Caesar) the term "Germans" began to be used. By the way, this is by no means a self-name. The origin of the word is Celtic. "German" is "a close living neighbor". The ancient tribe of the Germans, or rather its name - "Teutons", was also used by scientists as a synonym.

Germans and their neighbors

In the west and south, the Celts coexisted with the Germans. Their material culture was higher. Outwardly, the representatives of these nationalities were similar. The Romans often confused them, and sometimes even considered them to be one people. However, the Celts and Germans are not related. The similarity of their culture is determined by close proximity, mixed marriages, and trade.

In the east, the Germans bordered on the Slavs, the Baltic tribes and the Finns. Of course, all these peoples influenced each other. It can be traced in the language, customs, ways of doing business. Modern Germans are the descendants of the Slavs and Celts, assimilated by the Germans. The Romans noted the high growth of the Slavs and Germans, as well as blond or light red hair and blue (or gray) eyes. In addition, representatives of these peoples had a similar shape of the skull, which was discovered during archaeological excavations.

The Slavs and the ancient Germans amazed the Roman explorers not only with their beauty of physique and facial features, but also with their endurance. True, the former have always been considered more peaceful, while the latter are aggressive and reckless.

Appearance

As already mentioned, the Germans seemed to the pampered Romans mighty and tall. Free men wore long hair and did not shave their beards. In some tribes, it was customary to tie the hair at the back of the head. But in any case, they had to be long, since cropped hair is a sure sign of a slave. The clothes of the Germans were mostly simple, at first rather rough. They preferred leather tunics, woolen capes. Both men and women were hardy: even in the cold they wore shirts with short sleeves. The ancient German reasonably believed that excess clothing hinders movement. For this reason, the warriors did not even have armor. Helmets, however, were, although not all.

Unmarried German women walked with their hair loose, married women covered their hair with a woolen net. This headdress was purely symbolic. Shoes for men and women were the same: leather sandals or boots, woolen windings. The clothes were decorated with brooches and buckles.

ancient Germans

The socio-political institutions of the Germans were not complex. At the turn of the century, these tribes had a tribal system. It is also called primitive communal. In this system, it is not the individual who matters, but the race. It is formed by blood relatives who live in the same village, cultivate the land together and take an oath of blood feud to each other. Several genera make up a tribe. The ancient Germans made all important decisions by collecting the Thing. That was the name of the people's assembly of the tribe. Important decisions were made at the Thing: they redistributed communal lands between clans, judged criminals, resolved disputes, concluded peace treaties, declared wars and gathered militia. Here, young men were initiated into warriors and military leaders, dukes, were elected as needed. Only free men were allowed to the ting, but not every one of them had the right to make speeches (this was allowed only to the elders and the most respected members of the clan / tribe). The Germans had patriarchal slavery. The not free had certain rights, had property, lived in the owner's house. They could not be killed with impunity.

military organization

The history of the ancient Germans is full of conflicts. Men devoted a lot of time to military affairs. Even before the start of systematic campaigns on Roman lands, the Germans formed a tribal elite - the Edelings. Edelings were people who distinguished themselves in battle. It cannot be said that they had any special rights, but they had authority.

At first, the Germans chose ("raised on the shield") the dukes only in case of a military threat. But at the beginning of the Great Migration of Nations, they began to elect kings (kings) from the edelings for life. The kings were at the head of the tribes. They acquired permanent squads and endowed them with everything necessary (as a rule, at the end of a successful campaign). Loyalty to the leader was exceptional. The ancient German considered it dishonorable to return from the battle in which the king fell. In this situation, the only way out was suicide.

In the army of the Germans there was a tribal principle. This meant that relatives always fought shoulder to shoulder. Perhaps it is this feature that determines the ferocity and fearlessness of warriors.

The Germans fought on foot. The cavalry appeared late, the Romans had a low opinion of it. The main weapon of a warrior was a spear (framea). The famous knife of the ancient German - Saxon was widely used. Then came the throwing ax and spatha, a double-edged Celtic sword.

economy

Ancient historians often described the Germans as nomadic pastoralists. Moreover, there was an opinion that men were engaged exclusively in war. Archaeological research in the 19th and 20th centuries showed that things were somewhat different. Firstly, they led a settled way of life, engaged in cattle breeding and agriculture. The community of ancient Germans owned meadows, pastures and fields. True, the latter were not numerous, since most of the territories subject to the Germans were occupied by forests. Nevertheless, the Germans grew oats, rye and barley. But breeding cows and sheep was a priority. The Germans had no money, their wealth was measured by the number of heads of cattle. Of course, the Germans were excellent at processing leather and actively traded in them. They also made fabrics from wool and linen.

They mastered the extraction of copper, silver and iron, but few owned blacksmithing. Over time, the Germans learned to smelt and make swords of very high quality. However, the Sax, the combat knife of the ancient German, has not gone out of use.

Beliefs

Information about the religious beliefs of the barbarians, which Roman historians managed to obtain, is very scarce, contradictory and vague. Tacitus writes that the Germans deified the forces of nature, especially the sun. Over time natural phenomena began to be personified. This is how, for example, the cult of Donar (Thor), the god of thunder, appeared.

The Germans greatly revered Tivaz, the patron saint of warriors. According to Tacitus, they performed human sacrifices in his honor. In addition, the weapons and armor of the slain enemies were dedicated to him. In addition to the "general" gods (Donar, Wodan, Tivaz, Fro), each tribe praised "personal", lesser-known deities. The Germans did not build temples: it was customary to pray in the forests (sacred groves) or in the mountains. It must be said that the traditional religion of the ancient Germans ( those who lived on the mainland) was relatively quickly supplanted by Christianity. The Germans learned about Christ in the 3rd century thanks to the Romans. But on the Scandinavian Peninsula, paganism lasted a long time. It was reflected in folklore works that were recorded during the Middle Ages ("Elder Edda" and "Younger Edda").

Culture and art

The Germans treated priests and soothsayers with reverence and respect. The priests accompanied the troops on campaigns. They were charged with the duty to conduct religious rituals (sacrifices), turn to the gods, punish criminals and cowards. Soothsayers were engaged in fortune-telling: by the entrails of sacred animals and defeated enemies, by flowing blood and the neighing of horses.

The ancient Germans willingly made metal jewelry in the "animal style", borrowed, presumably, from the Celts, but they did not have a tradition of depicting gods. Very crude, conditional statues of deities found in peat bogs had exclusively ritual significance. They have no artistic value. Nevertheless, the furniture and household items were skillfully decorated by the Germans.

According to historians, the ancient Germans loved music, which was an indispensable attribute of feasts. They played flutes and lyres and sang songs.

The Germans used runic writing. Of course, it was not intended for long connected texts. The runes had a sacred meaning. With their help, people turned to the gods, tried to predict the future, cast spells. Short runic inscriptions are found on stones, household items, weapons and shields. Without a doubt, the religion of the ancient Germans was reflected in the runic writing. Among the Scandinavians, runes existed until the 16th century.

Interaction with and trade

Germania Magna, or Greater Germany, was never a Roman province. At the turn of the era, as already mentioned, the Romans conquered the tribes living east of the Rhine River. But in 9 A.D. e. under the command of the Cherusca Arminius (German) were defeated in the Teutoburg Forest, and the Imperials remembered this lesson for a long time.

The border between enlightened Rome and wild Europe began to run along the Rhine, Danube and Limes. Here the Romans quartered troops, built fortifications and founded cities that exist to this day (for example, Mainz - Mogontsiakum, and Vindobona (Vienna)).

The ancient Germans did not always fight each other. Until the middle of the 3rd century AD. e. peoples coexisted relatively peacefully. At this time, trade, or rather exchange, developed. The Germans supplied the Romans with dressed leather, furs, slaves, amber, and received luxury items and weapons in return. Little by little they even got used to using money. Individual tribes had privileges: for example, the right to trade on Roman soil. Many men became mercenaries for the Roman emperors.

However, the invasion of the Huns (nomads from the east), which began in the 4th century A.D. e., "moved" the Germans from their homes, and they again rushed to the imperial territories.

Ancient Germans and the Roman Empire: Finale

By the time the Great Migration of Nations began, powerful German kings began to unite the tribes: at first in order to protect themselves from the Romans, and then in order to capture and plunder their provinces. In the 5th century, the entire Western Empire was invaded. Barbarian kingdoms of Ostrogoths, Franks, Anglo-Saxons were erected on its ruins. The Eternal City itself was besieged and sacked several times during this turbulent century. The Vandal tribes were especially distinguished. In 476 a.d. e. the last Roman emperor, was forced to abdicate under pressure from the mercenary Odoacer.

The social system of the ancient Germans finally changed. The barbarians moved from the communal way of life to the feudal one. The Middle Ages have arrived.

We can learn the ancient Germans from the writings of Roman authors, primarily from the work of Gaius Julius Caesar "Notes on the Gallic War" and the work of the historian of the 1st century. n. e. Gaius Cornelius Tacitus "On the origin, settlement and customs of the peoples of Germany", as well as from folklore and archaeological data.

Based on these, by the way, very contradictory data, scientists have established that at the beginning of our era, the Germans lived in a territory bounded from the north by the Scandinavian Peninsula, from the south by the Alps, from the west by the Rhine, from the east by the Elbe. However, gradually the Germans began to settle in different directions: the German tribe is ready from the shores of the Baltic even reached the Northern Black Sea region. Using the "treaties of federation", some Germanic tribes settled in the territory of the Roman Empire.

Despite the significant role of hunting and cattle breeding, agriculture was still the main occupation of most Germanic tribes. In the 1st century n. e. they already actively used iron, including using it for the manufacture of agricultural implements.

The religious beliefs of the Germans were pagan. They worshiped various forces of nature and made sacrifices to them.

In the II century. n. e. among the Germans, as before, the people's assembly was considered the supreme authority, but the council of elders, who prepared decisions for the people's assembly, as well as the rexes or dukes (leaders) who led the tribe during hostilities, played an increasingly important role. The power of the dukes gradually begins to be inherited, the squad becomes the backbone of this power - a professional army that ceases to engage in agriculture and lives only on war and offerings (at first voluntary, and then obligatory) of their fellow tribesmen.

Thus, the Germans begin to form a property stratification, to know, as well as a special personal relationship between the duke and the squad: the warriors served the successful leader, and he encouraged their valor with generous distributions of material values and plentiful feasts. Therefore, we can say that the Germans by the III-IV centuries. not only did the prerequisites for the formation of states arise, but the foundations were laid for those specific relations between power and subjects that would be characteristic of the era of Western European feudalism.

At this very time, the Germanic tribes were involved in a process called the Great Migration of Nations. material from the site

community relations

For a long time, the opinion prevailed in historical science that the community as a form of association of people, characterized by joint ownership of land and self-government, was characteristic of all primitive societies, including the Germanic tribes of the era of the Great Migration. However, archaeological excavations carried out in the second half of the 20th century led historians to the conclusion that the Germans had no communal relations, since they did not have any redistribution of land, no striping (alternating plots of different owners), nor any - some other features characteristic of the community. Thus, the myth about the universality of the community, that is, about its prevalence in all pre-state

The Germans are the ancient tribes of the Indo-European language group, who lived by the 1st century. BC e. between the North and Baltic Seas, the Rhine, Danube and Vistula and in Southern Scandinavia. In the 4th-6th centuries. the Germans played a major role in the great migration of peoples, captured most of the Western Roman Empire, forming a number of kingdoms - the Visigoths, Vandals, Ostrogoths, Burgundians, Franks, Lombards.

Nature

The lands of the Germans were endless forests interspersed with rivers, lakes and swamps.

Lessons

The main occupations of the ancient Germans were agriculture and cattle breeding. They also engaged in hunting, fishing and gathering. Their occupation was both war and the booty associated with it.

Means of transport

The Germans had horses, but in small numbers and in their training, the Germans did not achieve noticeable success. They also had carts. Some Germanic tribes had a fleet - small ships.

Architecture

The ancient Germans, who had just switched to settled life, did not create significant architectural structures, they did not even have cities. The Germans did not even have temples - religious rites were carried out in sacred groves. The dwellings of the Germans were made of raw wood and covered with clay, underground pantries were dug out for supplies.

Warfare

The Germans mostly fought on foot. The cavalry was in small numbers. Their weapons were short spears (frames) and darts. Wooden shields were used for protection. Only the nobility had swords, armor and helmets.

Sport

The Germans played dice, considering it a serious occupation, and so enthusiastically that they often lost everything to their opponent, up to their own freedom at stake, in case of a loss, such a player became the slave of the winner. It is also known about one ritual - the young men, in front of the audience, jumped among the swords and spears dug into the ground, showing their own strength and dexterity. The Germans also had something like gladiator fights - a captured enemy fought one on one with a German. However, this spectacle was basically a fortune-telling - the victory of one or another opponent was seen as an omen of the outcome of the war.

Art and literature

Writing was unknown to the Germans. Therefore, they had literature in oral form. Art was applied. The religion of the Germans forbade giving the gods a human appearance, so such areas as sculpture and painting were undeveloped among them.

The science

Science among the ancient Germans was not developed and was of an applied nature. The household calendar of the Germans divided the year into only two seasons - winter and summer. More accurate astronomical knowledge was possessed by the priests, who used it to calculate the time of the holidays. Because of the predilection for military affairs, the ancient Germans probably had quite developed medicine - however, not at the level of theory, but exclusively in terms of practice.

Religion

The religion of the ancient Germans was of a polytheistic nature, in addition, each Germanic tribe, apparently, had its own cults. Religious rites were performed by priests in sacred groves. Divination was widely used, especially rune divination. There were sacrifices, including human ones.

They were a powerful and terrible force on the edge of the civilized world, bloodthirsty warriors who challenged the Roman legions and terrorized the population of Europe. They were BARBARS! And today this word is synonymous with cruelty, horror and chaos... The harsh nature, the exhausting struggle for survival have created a barbarian out of man. The first reports of barbarian peoples in the far north of Europe began to reach the Mediterranean at the end of the 6th and 5th centuries. BC e. At the same time, separate references to peoples that were later recognized as Germanic begin to occur.

How the people of the Germans began to be distinguished in the 1st century. BC e. from Indo-European tribes settled in Jutland, the lower Elbe and southern Scandinavia. They occupied the territory from the Rhine to the Vistula, the Baltic and North Seas to the Danube, the current: Germany, northern Austria, Poland, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Denmark and southern Sweden. The homeland of the ancient Germans, from whom some peoples of Europe trace their origins, was gloomy and inhospitable. Beyond the Rhine and Danube stretched sparsely populated lands, overgrown with dense, impenetrable forests with impassable swamps. Huge dense forests stretched for hundreds of miles: the Hercynian forest began from the Rhine and spread to the east. It was possible to graze cattle and sow barley, millet or oats only in coastal meadows.

The ancient Germans were savages at that time. Living from time immemorial among forests and swamps, they hunted, grazed tamed animals and collected fruits. wild plants, and only in the second half of the 1st century BC. e. started farming. Its development was hampered by forests and swamps, which surrounded the fields on all sides, and the lack of iron, without which it was impossible to cut down the forest and make tools for better tillage. The land was cultivated with wooden tools, since iron was only used to make weapons. The wooden plow barely lifted the top layer of the earth. To begin with, they burned the forest and received fertilizer from the ashes. Sowed mainly only spring grain, oats and barley; later came rye. When the soil was depleted, everyone had to leave their homes, move to a new place. Entire tribes were constantly withdrawing from their places: those who had risen crowded their neighbors, exterminated them, seized their supplies, turned the weaker ones into their serfs. Tacitus wrote: They consider it shameful to acquire later what can be won with blood!. Wagons covered with animal skins served them for housing and for transporting women, children and meager household utensils; they also brought livestock with them. The men, armed and in battle order, were ready to overcome all resistance and defend themselves against attacks; a military campaign during the day, at night a military camp in a fortification built from wagons. The Germans were nomadic farmers and a wandering army.

The Germans settled in glades, forest edges, near rivers, streams in small tribes. The fields, forests and meadows adjoining the village belonged to the whole community. Scattered in a bizarre disorder, the huts of the Germans were their settlements, each of which had only two or three households, consisting of longhouses. At one end of such a house - a hearth and housing, at the other - livestock and supplies. Germany “cattle is plentiful, but for the most part it is small; even draft animals are not imposing and lack horns.” The Germans like to have plenty of cattle: this is the only and most pleasant kind of wealth for them. Families of relatives lived in each house.

The houses were huts with logs, the roof was covered with straw, the floor was clay or earthen. They also lived in dugouts, which were covered with manure from above for warmth, this is a simple dwelling set over a shallow hole dug in the ground. The superstructure may have consisted of sloped beams tied to a ridge beam that formed a gabled roof. The roof was supported by a series of stakes or branches leaning towards the edge of the pit. On this basis, walls were erected from boards or a mud hut was built.

Such huts were often used as forges, pottery or weaving workshops, bakeries and the like, but at the same time they could also serve as dwellings for the winter and for storing food supplies. Sometimes they built miserable huts, which were so light that they could be carried along. In Sweden and Jutland, due to the lack of wood, stone and peat were more often used in construction, the roof consisted of a layer of thin rods covered with straw, which, in turn, was covered with a layer of heather and peat.

Household utensils and utensils for cooking and storing food were made of ceramics, bronze, iron and wood. Huge variety of dishes, cups, trays. spoons speaks of how important the material in the German house was wood.

Grain played the main role in nutrition, especially barley and wheat, as well as various other cereals. In addition to cultivated cereals, they collected and ate wild cereals, apparently from the same fields. The meal consisted mainly of barley, flaxseed, and knotweed porridge boiled in water, along with the seeds of other weeds that usually grow in the fields. Meat was also part of the diet of the ancient Germans, the presence of iron skewers in some settlements suggests that the meat was baked or fried, often eaten raw, because it was difficult to make a fire in the forest. They ate game, eggs wild birds, the milk of their flocks. The presence of cheese is evidenced by the cheese presses found in the settlements. In Dalschee, seals were hunted - apparently, both for the sake of meat and fat, and for the sake of seal skin. Fishing was widespread both on the islands of Scandinavia and on the mainland. Germany's wild fruits include apples, plums, pears, and possibly cherries. Berries and nuts were found in abundance.

Like other peoples of ancient Europe, the Germans highly valued salt, especially because it helped preserve meat. Because of the salt springs, they usually had a fierce struggle. Salt was mined in the crudest way: tree trunks were placed obliquely over the fire and salt water was poured onto them: the salt that settled on the tree was scraped off with coal and ash and mixed into food. People who lived on or near the sea coast often obtained salt by evaporating sea water in ceramic vessels.

The favorite drink of the Germans was beer. Beer was brewed from barley and possibly flavored with aromatic herbs. Bronze vessels have been found with traces of a drink fermented on wild berries of several kinds. Apparently, it was something like a strong fruit and berry wine.

The closest ties in the society of the ancient Germans were related ties. The safety of an individual depended on his kind. Farming, hunting and protecting livestock from wild beasts were beyond the power of a single family, and even a whole family. Families united in a tribe. All people in the tribe were equal. Those who were in trouble, the whole family helped, who hunted well, had to share the prey with relatives. Property equality, the absence of rich and poor create an extraordinary cohesion of all members of the Germanic tribe.

Elders were at the head of the family. Every spring, the elders divided the fields newly occupied by the tribe among large clans, and each of the clans worked together on the land allotted to him and equally divided the harvest between relatives. The elders ruled the court and discussed economic issues.

The most important issues were decided at public meetings. The popular assembly, in which all armed free members of the tribe participated, was the highest authority. It met from time to time and resolved the most significant issues: the election of the leader of the tribe, the analysis of complex intra-tribal conflicts, initiation into warriors, declaring war and making peace. The issue of resettlement of the tribe to new places was also decided at the meeting of the tribes. The Germans collected it on the full moon and on the new moon, because. believed that it happy Days. The meeting usually took place at midnight. On the edge of the forest, illuminated by moonlight, the members of the tribe were seated in a wide circle. Glare of moonlight reflected on the tips of the spears, with which the Germans did not part. In the middle of the circle formed by those gathered, the "first people" were grouped. The opinion of the council of the nobility and the people's assembly had more weight than the authority of the leader.

Hunting and military exercises were the main occupation of men, all the Germans were distinguished by exceptional strength and courage. But the main occupation remained military affairs. A special place in ancient German society was occupied by military squads. The ancient Germans had no classes, no state. Only in times of danger, when small, disunited tribes were threatened with conquest, or when they themselves were preparing to raid foreign lands, was a common leader elected to lead the fighting forces of the united tribes. But, as soon as the war ended, the elected leader voluntarily left his post. The temporal connection between the tribes immediately fell apart. Other tribes had a custom to choose leaders for life: they were kings, kings. As a rule, the most brave and intelligent from a certain family, which became famous for its exploits, was chosen as king at a popular meeting.

Due to the fact that each district annually sends out a thousand soldiers to war, while the rest remain, farming and “feeding themselves and them”, a year later these latter in turn go to war, and they remain at home, not a single agricultural work is interrupted. , nor military affairs.

Unlike the tribal militia, in which squads were formed on the basis of tribal affiliation, any free German who had the abilities of a military leader, a penchant for risk and profit with the aim of robbery raids, robberies and military raids in neighboring lands could create a squad. The strongest and youngest sought food by war and robbery. The leader surrounded himself with a squad of the best armed warriors, fed his warriors at his table, gave them weapons and war horses, allocated a share in military booty. The law of life of the squad was unquestioning obedience and devotion to the leader. It was believed that "to get out alive from the battle in which the leader fell is dishonor and shame for life." And when the leader led his detachment to war, the combatants fought as a separate unit - separately from their clans and other squads of the same tribe. They obeyed only their leader, and not the elected leader of the entire tribe. Thus, in wartime, the growth of squads undermined public order, since warriors from the same clan could serve in several different squads: the clan lost its most energetic sons. Companions of the leader, of which the squad consisted, began to turn into a special class - a military aristocracy, the position of which was guaranteed by military prowess.

Gradually, the squad became a separate, elite element of society, a privileged stratum, nobility ancient Germanic tribe, uniting the most courageous people from many tribes. The squad becomes regular. “Military prowess” and “nobility” act as integral qualities of warriors.

The ancient German and his weapons are one. The German's weapon is part of him

personality. Swords and pikes are small in size, since they do not have an abundance of iron. They had spears with them, or, as they themselves call them, frames, with narrow and short tips, so sharp and convenient in battle that, depending on the circumstances, they fight with them both in hand-to-hand combat and throw darts, which everyone has. several, and they throw them amazingly far.

The strength of the Germans is greater in the infantry, their horses are not distinguished by either beauty or agility, and therefore they fight mixed up: the footmen, whom they select from the entire army for this and put in front of the battle formation, are so swift and mobile that they are not inferior in speed to the horsemen and act join them in horseback combat. The number of these footmen has also been established: from each district, one hundred people, with this word they call them among themselves a hundred . The Germans could with great ease, without observing external order, in disorderly crowds or completely scattered, quickly advance or retreat through forests and rocks. The unity of the tactical unit was preserved among them thanks to internal cohesion, mutual trust and simultaneous stops, which were made either instinctively or at the call of the leaders. They build their battle formation with wedges. Leaning back, in order to then again rush at the enemy, is considered by them to be military sharpness, and not a consequence of fear. They carry the bodies of the dead from the battlefield with them. The greatest shame is to leave the shield; he who dishonors himself by such an act is not allowed to be present at the sacrifice, nor attend meetings, and there are many who, having survived the war, put an end to their dishonor with a noose.

They fight completely naked or covered only with skins or a light cloak. Only a few warriors had a shell and a helmet, the main protective weapon was a large shield made of wood or wicker and upholstered in leather, while the head was protected by leather or fur. The rider is content with a shield painted with bright paint and a frame. During the battle, they usually issued a war cry that terrified the enemy.

“A special incentive for their courage is the fact that they do not have a random gathering of people in a squadron or wedge, but their families and relatives.” In addition, their loved ones are next to them, so that they can hear the cries of women and the cry of babies, and for each these witnesses are the most sacred thing that he has, and their praise is more precious than any other. They carry their wounds to their mothers, to their wives, and they are not afraid to count and examine them, and they also deliver them, fighting with the enemy, food and encouragement.

Women not only inspired the soldiers before the battles, but it also happened more than once that they did not allow their already trembling and confused army to disperse, relentlessly following them and begging not to doom them to captivity. And during the battles they could influence their outcome by going towards the fleeing men and thereby stopping them and inciting them to fight to victory. The Germans believe that there is something sacred in women and that they have a prophetic gift, and they do not ignore their advice and do not neglect their divination. The reverence with which the despotic Germans treated women is quite rare among other peoples, both barbarian and civilized. Although it is clear from later Germanic sources that in some areas of Germany in the earlier period, wives were not treated well. They were bought like slaves, and were not even allowed to sit at the same table with their "masters". Marriage by purchase is recorded among the Burgundians, Lombards, and Saxons, and there are survivals of this custom in Frankish law.

They are almost the only barbarians who are content with one wife. Polygamy was among the people of the upper class, among some German leaders in the early period, and later among the Scandinavians and the inhabitants of the Baltic coast. Polygamy has always been a costly affair. The Germans are a "treacherous, but chaste people", distinguished not only by "ferocious cruelty, but also by amazing purity." Marriage, as noted by all ancient writers, was sacred to the Germans. Adultery was considered a disgrace. Men were not punished for this in any way, but there was no mercy for unfaithful wives. The husband shaved off such a woman's hair, undressed her and drove her out of the house and out of the village. A husband could leave his wife in three cases: for treason, witchcraft and desecration of the grave, otherwise the marriage was not terminated. But a wife who abandoned her husband and thereby offended his honor was punished very severely; she was drowned alive in the mud. According to the basics of German law, every wife could enter into only one marriage, since she has "one body and one soul." The laws against violence and debauchery were also strict.

The bridegroom or husband of the seduced could kill the seducer with impunity; the relatives of the offended had the right to enslave him. The tribes inhabiting Germany have never been mixed through marriages with any foreigners, therefore they have retained their original purity. Outwardly, the Germans looked very impressive: they are large in stature, of a dense physique, most of them had Brown hair and bright eyes.

By the beginning of the new era, the Germans had a plow and a harrow. The use of these simple tools and draft cattle made it possible for individual families to take up the cultivation of the land, which began to run their own independent economy. Arable land, as well as forests and meadows, remained the property of the entire community. However, the equality of fellow villagers-communes did not last long. The presence of land free from the forest allowed every community member to occupy an extra additional allotment. The cultivation of additional land required extra labor and extra livestock. Slaves appear in the German village, captured during a robbery raid.

In the spring, when new fields were marked out and allotments were distributed, the victors who took possession of slaves and excess cattle during a raid on a neighboring tribe could receive, in addition to the usual, also an additional allotment. Slaves were prisoners of war. A free member of the clan could also become a slave by losing himself in dice or in another game of chance. Slaves had their own houses, separate from those of their masters. They were obliged from time to time to give their master a certain amount of grain, textiles or livestock. Slaves were engaged in peasant labor.

A strong warrior lay lazily all day on a bearskin, women, old men, slaves worked on the field. The life of the inhabitants of the German settlements was simple and rude. They did not sell bread and other products. Everything that the land gave was intended only for its own subsistence, so there was no need to demand from the slave either extra labor or extra products. Perhaps there were so few slaves precisely because there was no place for them within the German economic order. There was no large-scale industry in which slave labor could be put to good use. Although slaves could contribute to the economy of the rural community, they were still extra mouths. A slave could be sold and killed with impunity.
Many Germans laid down their heads in battles, and their families, having lost their breadwinners, were not able to cultivate their land allotments on their own. Needing seeds, livestock, food, the poor fell into debt bondage and, losing part of their former allotments, which passed into the hands of richer and nobler fellow tribesmen, turned into dependent peasants, into serfs.

Intertribal wars, predatory seizure of booty and its appropriation by military leaders contributed to the enrichment and promotion of individuals, the “first people” of the tribe began to stand out - representatives of the emerging ancient German nobility, who had a large number of slaves, land, and cattle. The German nobility rallied around their leaders, who led powerful tribal unions, which were the beginnings of states.

These alliances played a large role in the overthrow of the Western Roman Empire and in the creation of new "barbarian kingdoms" on its ruins. But even in these "barbarian kingdoms" the role of the nobility continued to grow, seizing the best lands. This nobility subjugated the common people of the tribe, turning them into dependent and serfs.
The ancient equality of fellow tribesmen was destroyed, property differences appeared, a material difference was created between the emerging nobility, on the one hand, and slaves and impoverished members of the community, on the other.

Etymology of the ethnonym Germani

“The word Germany is new and has recently come into use, for those who were the first to cross the Rhine and drive out the Gauls, now known as the Tungros, were then called Germans. Thus, the name of the tribe gradually prevailed and spread to the whole people; at first, out of fear, everyone designated him by the name of the winners, and then, after this name took root, he himself began to call himself Germans.

For the first time the term Germans was used, according to known data, by Posidonius in the 1st half of the 1st century. BC e. for the name of the people who had the custom of drinking fried meat with a mixture of milk and undiluted wine. Modern historians suggest that the use of the word in earlier times was the result of later interpolations. Greek authors, who were little interested in the ethnic and linguistic differences of the "barbarians", did not separate the Germans from the Celts. So, Diodorus Siculus, who wrote his work in the middle of the 1st century. BC e. , refers to the Celts tribes, which already in his time the Romans (Julius Caesar, Sallust) called Germanic.

Truly ethnonym " Germans» came into circulation in the 2nd half of the 1st century. BC e. after the Gallic wars of Julius Caesar to refer to the peoples who lived east of the Rhine to the Oder, that is, for the Romans it was not only an ethnic, but also a geographical concept.

Origin of the Germans

Indo-Europeans. 4-2 thousand BC e.

According to modern ideas, 5-6 thousand years ago, in the strip from Central Europe and the Northern Balkans to the northern Black Sea region, there was a single ethno-linguistic formation - the tribes of Indo-Europeans who spoke a single or at least close dialects of the language, which was called the Indo-European language-base, from which all then developed modern languages of the Indo-European family. According to another hypothesis, the Indo-European proto-language originated in the Middle East and was spread across Europe by migrations of kindred tribes.

Archaeologists distinguish several early cultures at the turn of the Stone and Bronze Ages associated with the spread of the Indo-Europeans and with which different anthropological types of Caucasoids are associated:

By the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. from the ethno-linguistic community of the Indo-Europeans, the Anatolian tribes (the peoples of Asia Minor), the Aryans of India, Iranians, Armenians, Greeks, Thracians and the most eastern branch, the Tocharians, stood out and developed independently. To the north of the Alps in central Europe, an ethno-linguistic community of ancient Europeans continued to exist, which corresponds to the archaeological culture of barrow burials (XV-XIII centuries BC), which passed into the culture of burial urn fields (XIII-VII centuries BC) .

Separation of ethnic groups from the ancient European community is chronologically traced by the development of individual archaeological cultures.

The south of Scandinavia represents a region where, unlike other parts of Europe, there is a unity of toponyms belonging only to the Germanic language. However, it is here that a gap in archaeological development is found between the relatively prosperous culture of the Bronze Age and the more primitive culture of the Iron Age that replaced it, which does not allow us to make an unambiguous conclusion about the origin of the Germanic ethnos in this region.

Jastorf culture. 1st millennium BC e.

The direction of the migration of the Germanic tribes (750 BC - I century AD)

In the 2nd half of the 1st millennium BC. e. throughout the coastal zone between the mouths of the Rhine and the Elbe, and especially in Friesland and Lower Saxony (traditionally referred to as primordially Germanic lands), a single culture was spread, which differed both from the one-time La Tène (Celts) and from the Jastforian (Germans). The ethnicity of its Indo-European population, which became Germanic in our era, cannot be classified:

“The language of the local population, judging by toponymy, was neither Celtic nor German. Archaeological finds and toponymy testify that the Rhine before the arrival of the Romans was not any tribal border, and related tribes lived on both sides.

Linguists made an assumption about the separation of the Proto-Germanic language from the Proto-Indo-European at the very beginning of the Iron Age, that is, at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e., there are also versions about its formation much later, up to the beginning of our era:

“It was in the last decades, in the light of comprehending the new data that comes to the disposal of the researcher - the material of ancient German toponymy and onomastics, as well as runology, ancient German dialectology, ethnology and history - in a number of works it was clearly emphasized that the isolation of the Germanic linguistic community from the Western the area of the Indo-European languages took place at a relatively late time and that the formation of separate areas of the Germanic linguistic community refers only to the last centuries before and the first centuries after our era.

Thus, according to the versions of linguists and archaeologists, the formation of the Germanic ethnos on the basis of the Indo-European tribes dates back approximately to the period of the 6th-1st centuries. BC e. and occurred in areas adjacent to the lower Elbe, Jutland and southern Scandinavia. The formation of a specifically Germanic anthropological type began much earlier, in the early Bronze Age, and continued into the first centuries of our era as a result of the migrations of the Great Migration of Peoples and the assimilation of non-Germanic tribes related to the Germans within the framework of the ancient European community of the Bronze Age.

In the peat bogs of Denmark, well-preserved mummies of people are found, the appearance of which does not always coincide with the classical description of the tall race of Germans by ancient authors. See articles about a man from Tollund and a woman from Elling, who lived in Jutland in the 4th-3rd centuries. BC e.

Germanic genotype

Modern ethnic groups are characterized not so much by the predominance of one or another haplogroup (that is, a certain structure of mutation clusters in the male Y-chromosome), but by a certain proportion of the set of haplogroups among the population. Because of this, the presence of a haplogroup in a person does not determine his genetic belonging to a particular ethnic group, but indicates the degree of probability of such belonging, and the probability may be the same for completely different ethnic groups.

Although in the Germanic lands it is possible to classify weapons, brooches and other things as Germanic in style, according to archaeologists, they date back to the Celtic samples of the La Tène period.

Nevertheless, differences between the areas of settlement of the Germanic and Celtic tribes can be traced archaeologically, primarily in terms of a higher level of material culture of the Celts, the spread of oppidums (fortified Celtic settlements), and burial methods. The fact that the Celts and Germans were similar, but not related, peoples is confirmed by their different anthropological structure and genotype. In terms of anthropology, the Celts were characterized by a diverse build, from which it is difficult to choose a typical Celtic, while the ancient Germans were predominantly dolichocephalic in terms of the structure of the skull. The genotype of the Celts is clearly limited to the haplogroup R1b, and the genotype of the population in the area of origin of the Germanic ethnos (Jutland and southern Scandinavia) is represented mainly by the haplogroups I1a and R1a.

Classification of Germanic tribes

Separately, Pliny also mentions the Gillevions living in Scandinavia, and other Germanic tribes (Batavs, Kanninefats, Frisians, Frisiavons, Ubies, Sturii, Marsaks), without classifying them.

According to Tacitus the titles " ingevons, hermiones, istevons” came from the names of the sons of the god Mann, the progenitor of the Germanic tribes. After the 1st century, these names are not used, many names of the Germanic tribes disappear, but new ones appear.

History of the Germans

Ancient Germans until the 4th century.

The ancient world for a long time did not know anything about the Germans, separated from them by the Celtic and Scythian-Sarmatian tribes. For the first time, the Germanic tribes were mentioned by the Greek navigator Pytheas from Massalia (modern Marseille), who during the time of Alexander the Great (2nd half of the 4th century BC) traveled to the shores of the North Sea, and even presumably the Baltic.

The Romans clashed with the Germans during the formidable invasion of the Cimbri and Teutons (113-101 BC), who, during the resettlement from Jutland, devastated the Alpine Italy and Gaul. Contemporaries perceived these Germanic tribes as hordes of northern barbarians from unknown distant lands. In the description of their manners, made by later authors, it is difficult to separate fiction from reality.

The earliest ethnographic information about the Germans was reported by Julius Caesar, who conquered by the middle of the 1st century. BC e. Gaul, as a result of which he went to the Rhine and faced the Germans in battles. Roman legions towards the end of the 1st c. BC e. advanced to the Elbe, and in the 1st century, works appeared that described in detail the resettlement of the Germanic tribes, their social structure and customs.

The wars of the Roman Empire with the Germanic tribes began from their earliest contact and continued with varying intensity throughout the first centuries AD. e. The most famous battle was the battle in the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD, when the rebel tribes exterminated 3 Roman legions in central Germany. Rome failed to gain a foothold behind the Rhine, in the 2nd half of the 1st century the empire went on the defensive along the line of the Rhine and Danube rivers, repelling the raids of the Germans and making punitive campaigns in their lands. Raids were made along the entire border, but the Danube became the most threatening direction, where the Germans settled along its entire length on its left bank during their expansion to the south and east.

In the 250s-270s, the Roman-Germanic wars called into question the very existence of the empire. In 251, Emperor Decius died in a battle with the Goths, who settled in the northern Black Sea region, followed by their devastating land and sea raids into Greece, Thrace, and Asia Minor. In the 270s, the empire was forced to abandon Dacia (the only Roman province on the left bank of the Danube) due to the increased pressure of the Germanic and Sarmatian tribes. The empire held out, consistently repulsing the attacks of the barbarians, but in the 370s the Great Migration of Nations began, during which the Germanic tribes penetrated and gained a foothold in the lands of the Roman Empire.

Great Migration of Nations. 4th-6th centuries

The Germanic kingdoms in Gaul showed strength in the war against the Huns. Thanks to them, Attila was stopped on the Catalaunian fields in Gaul, and soon the Hunnic empire, which included a number of eastern Germanic tribes, collapsed. Emperors in Rome itself in 460-470. commanders from the Germans were appointed, first sev Ricimer, then Burgundian Gundobad. In fact, they ruled on behalf of their henchmen, overthrowing those if the emperors tried to act independently. In 476, the German mercenaries who made up the army of the Western Empire, led by Odoacer, deposed the last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustus. This event is formally considered the end of the Roman Empire.

The social structure of the ancient Germans

social order

According to ancient historians, ancient Germanic society consisted of the following social groups: military leaders, elders, priests, vigilante warriors, free members of the tribe, freedmen, slaves. The supreme power belonged to the people's assembly, which was attended by all the men of the tribe in combat weapons. In the first centuries A.D. e. the Germans had a tribal system at its late stage of development.

“When a tribe wages an offensive or defensive war, then officials, bearing the duties of military leaders and having the right to dispose of life and death [members of the tribe]... readiness for this - then rise those who approve of both the enterprise and the leader, and, being greeted by those assembled, promise him their help.

The leaders were supported by voluntary donations from members of the tribe. In the 1st century, the Germans appear kings, who differ from leaders only in the possibility of inheriting power, which is very limited in peacetime. As Tacitus observed: They choose kings from the most distinguished, leaders from the most valiant. But their kings do not have unlimited and undivided power.»

Economic relations

Language and writing

It is believed that these magical signs became the letters of the runic script. The name of the rune signs is derived from the word secret(Gothic runa: mystery), and the English verb read(read) derived from the word guess. Futhark alphabet, the so-called "elder runes", consisted of 24 characters, which were a combination of vertical and oblique lines, convenient for cutting. Each rune not only conveyed a separate sound, but was also a symbolic sign that carried a semantic meaning.

There is no single point of view on the origin of the Germanic runes. The most popular version is runologist Marstrander (1928), who suggested that the runes developed on the basis of an unidentified Northern Italic alphabet, which became known to the Germans through the Celts.

In total, about 150 items are known (details of weapons, amulets, tombstones) with early runic inscriptions of the 3rd-8th centuries. One of the earliest inscriptions raunijaz: "testing") on a spearhead from Norway dates back to c. 200 year. , an even earlier runic inscription is considered to be an inscription on a bone crest, preserved in a swamp on the Danish island of Funen. The inscription is translated as harja(name or epithet) and dates from the 2nd half of the 2nd century.

Most inscriptions consist of a single word, usually a name, which, in addition to the magical use of runes, makes about a third of the inscriptions indecipherable. The language of the oldest runic inscriptions is closest to the Proto-Germanic language and more archaic than Gothic, the earliest Germanic language recorded in written monuments.

Due to its predominantly cult purpose, runic writing fell out of use in continental Europe by the 9th century, displaced first by Latin, and then by writing based on the Latin alphabet. However, in Denmark and Scandinavia, runes were used until the 16th century.

Religion and beliefs

Notes

Strabo, 7.1.2
Tacitus, "On the origin of the Germans and the location of Germany"
Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, 1966
Posidonius (135-51 BC): his fragment (fr. 22) on the Germans from the book. 13 is known in a quotation from Athenaeus (Deipnosophists, 4.153).
Schlette F. Frühe Völker in Mitteleuropa. Archaeologische Kulturen und ethnische Gemeinschaften des I. Jahrtausends v.u.Z. // Frühe Völker m Mitteleuropa. - Berlin. - 1988.
Diodorus in the book. 5.2 mentions the Cimbri tribe, the tribes beyond the Rhine, the amber-collecting tribes. He refers them all to the Celts and to the Gauls.
V. N. Toporov. Indo-European languages. Linguistic encyclopedic dictionary. - M., 1990. - S. 186-189
T. I. Alekseeva, Slavs and Germans in the light of anthropological data. VI, 1974, No. 3; V. P. Alekseev, Yu. V. Bromley, On the question of the role of the autochthonous population in the ethnogenesis of the southern Slavs. VII International Congress of Slavists. Moscow, 1973
The theory of the ancient European linguistic community was formulated in the middle of the 20th century by the German linguist G. Krae based on the analysis of ancient European hydronyms (river names).
Pure toponomics characterizes both the autochthonous nature of the population in a given territory and the seizure of this territory by force, associated with the destruction or expulsion of the indigenous population.
A. L. Mongait. Archeology of Western Europe. Bronze and Iron Ages. Ch. Germans. Ed. "Science", 1974
Periodization of the early Iron Age in Germany based on materials from excavations in Lower Saxony: Beldorf, Wessenstedt (800-700 BC), Tremsbuttel (700-600 BC), Jastorf (600-300 BC AD), Ripdorf (300-150 BC), Seedorf (150-0 BC).
A. L. Mongait. Archeology of Western Europe. Bronze and Iron Ages. Ed. Science, 1974, p. 331
G. Schwantes. Die Jastorf-Zivilisation. - Reinecke-Festschnft. Mainz, 1950: the emergence of a linguistic community of the Germans dates back to the time no earlier than the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e.
A. L. Mongait. Archeology of Western Europe. Bronze and Iron Ages. Ed. Science, 1974, p. 325
Family Tree DNA R1a Project
Y chromosome Evidence for Anglo-Saxon Mass Migration" (2002) Michael E. Weale, Deborah A. Weiss, Rolf F. Jager, Neil Bradman and Mark G. Thomas. Molecular Biology and Evolution 19: 1008-1021
See tabular data and links in the article Gene pool of the Slavs
Strabo, 7.1.2
Suetonius. "The Lives of the Twelve Caesars". Caligula.
Gaius Sallust Crispus, bk. 3, fr. 96
For example, the Bastarnae are attributed by Pliny the Elder to the Germans, although the earlier Titus Livius called them Celts (Gauls); Tacitus found it difficult to express himself definitely on this matter.
Cassius Dio, Roman History, 52.12
H. J. Eggers, E. Will, R. Joffroy, W. Holmqvist. Les Celtes et les Germains à l "époque païenne. Paris, 1965, p. 7-12