Germānia

Germānia (‘Germany’), the name commonly given to a monograph by Tacitus on the origin, geography, institutions, and tribes of the Germans, published in AD 98. It describes the various tribes north of the Rhine and the Danube, their appearance, political and social customs, and dress; the organization of their army; their religion and land tenure; their sloth alternating with warlike activity; their intemperance and gambling; the exemplary morality of their family life (sarcastically contrasted with the laxity prevailing at Rome). Tacitus then passes on to the geography of the area and the particular characteristics of the several Germanic tribes (including the Swedes and ending with the Finns). As an ethnological work it is somewhat incoherent and some of the material was out of date when Tacitus wrote it, but there seem to be other motives underlying its composition—a desire to point out the corruption of Rome by contrast with the purer morals of the barbarian, and to emphasize the threat Germany posed to Rome's security: ‘Germany has afforded more triumphs than victories to Rome’.