Tacitus on Germany

Cornelius Tacitus's De origine et situ Germanorum, commonly referred to as Germany or Germania, is an ethnographic treatise composed around 98 CE that offers a rare and intricate portrayal of the Germanic tribes located beyond the Roman Empire's Rhine frontier. More than a simple geographic or cultural sketch, Tacitus's Germany is a richly layered and ideologically potent work that simultaneously advances Roman imperial self-reflection and serves as a political and moral commentary on Roman...