Tacitus's "Germania"

Paper Summary:

The paper explains that Tacitus, instead of adopting a colonialist's attitude to the vanquished in the expansion of the Roman Empire, uses scientific means to study them. The author points out that Tacitus's major complaint is that, in the mad drive to the expansion of the Roman Empire to be established as the major superpower, the Romans lost their identity. The paper reports that Tacitus, in "Germania", gives a general description of various cultural facets of ancient and pre-medieval Germany: ethnology, climate and resources, war, government women and religion, administration, justice and education, habits and institutions, marriage laws, feuds and hospitality and drink, gambling, slavery, and tillage.

From the Paper:

"The Roman civilization was considered a beacon to the rest of the world. Along with the Greeks, the Romans created bastions of higher learning, philosophy and thought. But, decadence eventually set in. The economy became static. The emperors eventually resorted to taking the minds of the people by resorting to gladiator-games at the Coliseum. A social hierarchy needed to be maintained unlike the Germans who did not recognize such classes. In addition, the Gauls, Franks and Goths were constantly attacking Roman settlements. The costs of maintaining an army provided too much on the Roman economy. Anarchy arose. The tenant's farmers could not produce enough to sustain a population. To top it all, corruption and internal wrangling resulted in twenty-six different emperors in five decades. This was coupled by the rise and spread of Christianity. And no amount of persecution could help."

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