Tacitus on Germany

Before battle, German warriors press their shields to their mouths, making their voices boom as they chant for victory. Tacitus describes a people who read the battle’s sound as an omen—and for whom abandoning a shield is a disgrace that can outlast the fight.

Writing around 98 AD, the Roman historian looks beyond the Rhine and Danube at peoples living outside the Empire’s borders. Though he never saw Germania himself, Tacitus gathers accounts of its tribes, customs and laws, from their old songs about their divine ancestors to the fierce loyalty binding families in battle. Here, a king’s authority has limits, a warrior’s courage is measured by example, and the cries of loved ones can drive men forward—or haunt them. What did Rome’s observer see in these distant customs, and what might they reveal about the people who lived by them?

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