McLaughlin, Raoul Germania. The ancient Germans in Greek and Roman Sources

The ancient Germanic peoples inhabited territories stretching from the Rhine in the east to the Vistula and from the Danube in the north to Scandinavia. Their homelands formed the northern borders of the Roman Empire, but despite large-scale military and political efforts, the Romans never succeeded in conquering or completely subjugating the area they called Germania. Greek and Roman records provide extensive evidence of the Germanic peoples. These accounts explain the origins, culture, religious beliefs, trade relations and social practices of the Germanic peoples who lived within and beyond the northern borders. This book includes early Greek legends about the Odyssey, descriptions of Julius Caesar's campaigns, Tacitus' Germania, ethnographic details from the encyclopaedic work of Pliny the Elder, and much more. The barbaric customs, sacrificial rituals, and superstitions of the Germanic peoples are conveyed in these sources, along with the prejudices and fears of the Romans. The Romans first encountered the Germanic peoples in the second century BC, when tribes migrated south from the Jutland peninsula towards the Alps and threatened to overrun Italy. The legions defeated the Cimbri and Teutons, but the Germanic threat remained. In the 50s BC, Julius Caesar fought against the Germanic tribes during his conquest of Gaul and was the first Roman commander to cross the Rhine. His successor, Emperor Augustus, sent the legions to Germania to conquer and occupy territories as far as the Elbe. However, in 9 AD, the Germanic tribes rebelled under the leadership of the warlord Arminius and slaughtered three legions in the Teutoburg Forest. The Romans retreated to the Rhine and Danube rivers and established heavily militarised borders with the Germanic territories. Subsequent emperors waged campaigns against the northern tribes, but most of Germany remained unconquered. The Germanic tribes that broke this deadlock were the Goths, Vandals, Franks, Angles and Saxons. In late antiquity, they broke through the borders and established new homelands in former Roman territories.