The Ancient Germans And Their Country
(330 B. C.--70 B. C.)
The Aryan Race and its Migrations. --Earliest Inhabitants of Europe.
--Lake Dwellings. --Celtic and Germanic Migrations. --Europe in the
Fourth Century B. C. --The Name "German." --Voyage of Pytheas.
--Invasions of the Cimbrians and Teutons, B. C. 113. --Victories of
Marius. --Boundary between the Gauls and the Germans.
--Geographical Location of the various Germa
ic Tribes. --Their
Mode of Life, Vices, Virtues, Laws, and Religion.
The Germans form one of the most important branches of the Indo-Germanic
or Aryan race--a division of the human family which also includes the
Hindoos, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Celts, and the Slavonic tribes. The
near relationship of all these, which have become so separated in their
habits of life, forms of government and religious faith, in the course
of many centuries, has been established by the evidence of common
tradition, language, and physiological structure. The original home of
the Aryan race appears to have been somewhere among the mountains and
lofty table-lands of Central Asia. The word "Arya," meaning the high
or the excellent, indicates their superiority over the neighboring
races long before the beginning of history.
When and under what circumstances the Aryans left their home, can never
be ascertained. Most scholars suppose that there were different
migrations, and that each movement westward was accomplished slowly,
centuries intervening between their departure from Central Asia and
their permanent settlement in Europe. The earliest migration was
probably that of the tribes who took possession of Greece and Italy;
who first acquired, and for more than a thousand years maintained, their
ascendency over all other branches of their common family; who, in fact,
laid the basis for the civilization of the world.
[Sidenote: 330 B. C.]
Before this migration took place, Europe was inhabited by a race of
primitive savages, who were not greatly superior to the wild beasts in
the vast forests which then covered the continent. They were
exterminated at so early a period that all traditions of their existence
were lost. Within the last fifty years, however, various relics of this
race have been brought to light. Fragments of skulls and skeletons, with
knives and arrow-heads of flint, have been found, at a considerable
depth, in the gravel-beds of Northern France, or in caves in Germany,
together with the bones of animals now extinct, upon which they fed. In
the lakes of Switzerland, they built dwellings upon piles, at a little
distance from the shore, in order to be more secure against the attacks
of wild beasts or hostile tribes. Many remains of these lake-dwellings,
with flint implements and fragments of pottery, have recently been
discovered. The skulls of the race indicate that they were savages of
the lowest type, and different in character from any which now exist on
the earth.
The second migration of the Aryan race is supposed to have been that of
the Celtic tribes, who took a more northerly course, by way of the
steppes of the Volga and the Don, and gradually obtained possession of
all Central and Western Europe, including the British Isles. Their
advance was only stopped by the ocean, and the tribe which first appears
in history, the Gauls, was at that time beginning to move eastward
again, in search of new fields of plunder. It is impossible to ascertain
whether the German tribes immediately followed the Celts, and took
possession of the territory which they vacated in pushing westward, or
whether they formed a third migration, at a later date. We only know the
order in which they were settled when our first historical knowledge of
them begins.
In the fourth century before the Christian Era, all Europe west of the
Rhine, and as far south as the Po, was Celtic; between the Rhine and the
Vistula, including Denmark and southern Sweden, the tribes were
Germanic; while the Slavonic branch seems to have already made its
appearance in what is now Southern Russia. Each of these three branches
of the Aryan race was divided into many smaller tribes, some of which,
left behind in the march from Asia, or separated by internal wars,
formed little communities, like islands, in the midst of territory
belonging to other branches of the race. The boundaries, also, were
never very distinctly drawn: the tribes were restless and nomadic, not
yet attached to the soil, and many of them moved through or across each
other, so that some were constantly disappearing, and others forming
under new names.
[Sidenote: 113 B. C. THE CIMBRIANS AND TEUTONS.]
The Romans first heard the name "Germans" from the Celtic Gauls, in
whose language it meant simply neighbors. The first notice of a
Germanic tribe was given to the world by the Greek navigator Pytheas,
who made a voyage to the Baltic in the year 330 B. C. Beyond the
amber-coast, eastward of the mouth of the Vistula, he found the Goths,
of whom we hear nothing more until they appear, several centuries later,
on the northern shore of the Black Sea. For more than two hundred years
there is no further mention of the Germanic races; then, most
unexpectedly, the Romans were called upon to make their personal
acquaintance.
In the year 113 B. C. a tremendous horde of strangers forced its way
through the Tyrolese Alps and invaded the Roman territory. They numbered
several hundred thousand, and brought with them their wives, children
and all their movable property. They were composed of two great tribes,
the Cimbrians and Teutons, accompanied by some minor allies, Celtic as
well as Germanic. Their statement was that they were driven from their
homes on the northern ocean by the inroads of the waves, and they
demanded territory for settlement, or, at least, the right to pass the
Roman frontier. The Consul, Papirius Carbo, collected an army and
endeavored to resist their advance; but he was defeated by them in a
battle fought near Noreia, between the Adriatic and the Alps.
The terror occasioned by this defeat reached even Rome. The
"barbarians," as they were called, were men of large stature, of
astonishing bodily strength, with yellow hair and fierce blue eyes. They
wore breastplates of iron and helmets crowned with the heads of wild
beasts, and carried white shields which shone in the sunshine. They
first hurled double-headed spears in battle, but at close quarters
fought with short and heavy swords. The women encouraged them with cries
and war-songs, and seemed no less fierce and courageous than the men.
They had also priestesses, clad in white linen, who delivered prophecies
and slaughtered human victims upon the altars of their gods.
[Sidenote: 102 B. C.]
Instead of moving towards Rome, the Cimbrians and Teutons marched
westward along the foot of the Alps, crossed into Gaul, devastated the
country between the Rhone and the Pyrenees, and even obtained temporary
possession of part of Spain. Having thus plundered at will for ten
years, they retraced their steps and prepared to invade Italy a second
time. The celebrated Consul, Marius, who was sent against them, found
their forces divided, in order to cross the Alps by two different roads.
He first attacked the Teutons, two hundred thousand in number, at Aix,
in southern France, and almost exterminated them in the year 102 B. C.
Transferring his army across the Alps, in the following year he met the
Cimbrians at Vercelli, in Piedmont (not far from the field of Magenta).
They were drawn up in a square, the sides of which were nearly three
miles long: in the centre their wagons, collected together, formed a
fortress for the women and children. But the Roman legions broke the
Cimbrian square, and obtained a complete victory. The women, seeing that
all was lost, slew their children, and then themselves; but a few
thousand prisoners were made--among them Teutoboch, the prince of the
Teutons, who had escaped from the slaughter at Aix,--to figure in the
triumph accorded to Marius by the Roman Senate. This was the only
appearance of the German tribes in Italy, until the decline of the
Empire, five hundred years later.
The Roman conquests, which now began to extend northwards into the heart
of Europe, soon brought the two races into collision again, but upon
German or Celtic soil. From the earliest reports, as well as the later
movements of the tribes, we are able to ascertain the probable order of
their settlement, though not the exact boundaries of each. The territory
which they occupied was almost the same as that which now belongs to the
German States. The Rhine divided them from the Gauls, except towards its
mouth, where the Germanic tribes occupied part of Belgium. A line drawn
from the Vistula southward to the Danube nearly represents their eastern
boundary, while, up to this time, they do not appear to have crossed the
Danube on the south. The district between that river and the Alps, now
Bavaria and Styria, was occupied by Celtic tribes. Northwards they had
made some advance into Sweden, and probably also into Norway. They thus
occupied nearly all of Central Europe, north of the Alpine chain.
[Sidenote: 100 B. C. THE GERMAN TRIBES.]
At the time of their first contact with the Romans, these Germanic
tribes had lost even the tradition of their Asiatic origin. They
supposed themselves to have originated upon the soil where they dwelt,
sprung either from the earth, or descended from their gods. According to
the most popular legend, the war-god Tuisko, or Tiu, had a son, Mannus
(whence the word man is derived), who was the first human parent of
the German race. Many centuries must have elapsed since their first
settlement in Europe, or they could not have so completely changed the
forms of their religion and their traditional history.
Two or three small tribes are represented, in the earliest Roman
accounts, as having crossed the Rhine and settled between the Vosges and
that river, from Strasburg to Mayence. From the latter point to Cologne
none are mentioned, whence it is conjectured that the western bank of
the Rhine was here a debatable ground, possessed sometimes by the Celts
and sometimes by the Germans. The greater part of Belgium was occupied
by the Eburones and Condrusii, Germanic tribes, to whom were afterwards
added the Aduatuci, formed out of the fragments of the Cimbrians and
Teutons who escaped the slaughters of Marius. At the mouth of the Rhine
dwelt the Batavi, the forefathers of the Dutch, and, like them, reported
to be strong, phlegmatic and stubborn, in the time of Caesar. A little
eastward, on the shore of the North Sea, dwelt the Frisii, where they
still dwell, in the province of Friesland; and beyond them, about the
mouth of the Weser, the Chauci, a kindred tribe.
What is now Westphalia was inhabited by the Sicambrians, a brave and
warlike people: the Marsi and Ampsivarii were beyond them, towards the
Hartz, and south of the latter the Ubii, once a powerful tribe, but in
Caesar's time weak and submissive. From the Weser to the Elbe, in the
north, was the land of the Cherusci; south of them the equally fierce
and indomitable Chatti, the ancestors of the modern Hessians; and still
further south, along the head-waters of the river Main, the Marcomanni.
A part of what is now Saxony was in the possession of the Hermunduri,
who together with their kindred, the Chatti, were called Suevi by the
Romans. Northward, towards the mouth of the Elbe, dwelt the Longobardi
(Lombards); beyond them, in Holstein, the Saxons; and north of the
latter, in Schleswig, the Angles.
East of the Elbe were the Semnones, who were guardians of a certain holy
place,--a grove of the Druids--where various related tribes came for
their religious festivals. North of the Semnones dwelt the Vandals, and
along the Baltic coast the Rugii, who have left their name in the island
of Ruegen. Between these and the Vistula were the Burgundiones, with a
few smaller tribes. In the extreme north-east, between the Vistula and
the point where the city of Koenigsberg now stands, was the home of the
Goths, south of whom were settled the Slavonic Sarmatians,--the same who
founded, long afterwards, the kingdom of Poland.
Bohemia was first settled by the Celtic tribe of the Boii, whence its
name--Boiheim, the home of the Boii--is derived. In Caesar's day,
however, this tribe had been driven out by the Germanic Marcomanni,
whose neighbors, the Quadi, on the Danube, were also German. Beyond the
Danube all was Celtic; the defeated Boii occupied Austria; the
Vindelici, Bavaria; while the Noric and Rhaetian Celts took possession of
the Tyrolese Alps. Switzerland was inhabited by the Helvetii, a Celtic
tribe which had been driven out of Germany; but the mountainous district
between the Rhine, the Lake of Constance and the Danube, now called the
Black Forest, seems to have had no permanent owners.
The greater part of Germany was thus in possession of Germanic tribes,
bound to each other by blood, by their common religion and their habits
of life. At this early period, their virtues and their vices were
strongly marked. They were not savages, for they knew the first
necessary arts of civilized life, and they had a fixed social and
political organization. The greater part of the territory which they
inhabited was still a wilderness. The mountain chain which extends
through Central Germany from the Main to the Elbe was called by the
Romans the Hercynian Forest. It was then a wild, savage region, the home
of the aurox (a race of wild cattle), the bear and the elk. The lower
lands to the northward of this forest were also thickly wooded and
marshy, with open pastures here and there, where the tribes settled in
small communities, kept their cattle, and cultivated the soil only
enough to supply the needs of life. They made rough roads of
communication, which could be traversed by their wagons, and the
frontiers of each tribe were usually marked by guard-houses, where all
strangers were detained until they received permission to enter the
territory.
[Sidenote: HABITS OF THE GERMANS.]
At this early period, the Germans had no cities, or even villages. Their
places of worship, which were either groves of venerable oak-trees or
the tops of mountains, were often fortified; and when attacked in the
open country, they made a temporary defence of their wagons. They lived
in log-houses, which were surrounded by stockades spacious enough to
contain the cattle and horses belonging to the family. A few fields of
rye and barley furnished each homestead with bread and beer, but hunting
and fishing were their chief dependence. The women cultivated flax, from
which they made a coarse, strong linen: the men clothed themselves with
furs or leather. They were acquainted with the smelting and working of
iron, but valued gold and silver only for the sake of ornament. They
were fond of bright colors, of poetry and song, and were in the highest
degree hospitable.
The three principal vices of the Germans were indolence, drunkenness and
love of gaming. Although always ready for the toils and dangers of war,
they disliked to work at home. When the men assembled at night, and the
great ox-horns, filled with mead or beer, were passed from one to the
other, they rarely ceased drinking until all were intoxicated; and when
the passion for gaming came upon them, they would often stake their
dearest possessions, even their own freedom, on a throw of the dice. The
women were never present on these occasions: they ruled and regulated
their households with undisputed sway. They were considered the equals
of the men, and exhibited no less energy and courage. They were supposed
to possess the gift of prophecy, and always accompanied the men to
battle, where they took care of the wounded, and stimulated the warriors
by their shouts and songs.
They honored the institution of marriage to an extent beyond that
exhibited by any other people of the ancient world. The ceremony
consisted in the man giving a horse, or a yoke of oxen, to the woman,
who gave him arms or armor in return. Those who proved unfaithful to the
marriage vow were punished with death. The children of freemen and
slaves grew up together until the former were old enough to carry arms,
when they were separated. The slaves were divided into two classes:
those who lived under the protection of a freeman and were obliged to
perform for him a certain amount of labor, and those who were wholly
"chattels," bought and sold at will.
Each family had its own strictly regulated laws, which were sufficient
for the government of its free members, its retainers and slaves. A
number of these families formed "a district," which was generally laid
out according to natural boundaries, such as streams or hills. In some
tribes, however, the families were united in "hundreds," instead of
districts. Each of these managed its own affairs, as a little republic,
wherein each freeman had an equal voice; yet to each belonged a leader,
who was called "count" or "duke." All the districts of a tribe met
together in a "General Assembly of the People," which was always held at
the time of new or full moon. The chief priest of the tribe presided,
and each man present had the right to vote. Here questions of peace or
war, violations of right or disputes between the districts were decided,
criminals were tried, young men acknowledged as freemen and warriors,
and, in case of approaching war, a leader chosen by the people.
Alliances between the tribes, for the sake of mutual defence or
invasion, were not common, at first; but the necessity of them was soon
forced upon the Germans by the encroachments of Rome.
The gods which they worshipped represented the powers of Nature. Their
mythology was the same originally which the Scandinavians preserved, in
a slightly different form, until the tenth century of our era. The chief
deity was named Wodan, or Odin, the god of the sky, whose worship was
really that of the sun. His son, Donar, or Thunder, with his fiery beard
and huge hammer, is the Thor of the Scandinavians. The god of war, Tiu
or Tyr, was supposed to have been born from the Earth, and thus became
the ancestor of the Germanic tribes. There was also a goddess of the
earth, Hertha, who was worshipped with secret and mysterious rites. The
people had their religious festivals, at stated seasons, when
sacrifices, sometimes of human beings, were laid upon the altars of the
gods, in the sacred groves. Even after they became Christians, in the
eighth century, they retained their habit of celebrating some of these
festivals, but changed them into the Christian anniversaries of
Christmas, Easter and Whitsuntide.
[Sidenote: OPEN TO CIVILIZATION.]
Thus, from all we can learn respecting them, we may say that the
Germans, during the first century before Christ, were fully prepared, by
their habits, laws, and their moral development, for a higher
civilization. They were still restless, after so many centuries of
wandering; they were fierce and fond of war, as a natural consequence of
their struggles with the neighboring races; but they had already
acquired a love for the wild land where they dwelt, they had begun to
cultivate the soil, they had purified and hallowed the family relation,
which is the basis of all good government, and finally, although slavery
existed among them, they had established equal rights for free men.
If the object of Rome had been civilization, instead of conquest and
plunder, the development of the Germans might have commenced much
earlier and produced very different results.