Germanic Tribe Research Paper

Starting all the way back to 2000 BC the Germanic Tribes, who were mostly located in Northern Europe, began to scatter across the Central and Eastern areas of Europe. In these regions we find three significant Germanic tribes that formed German culture; the High Germans, the Saxons and the Franks. Because there was no written language of the Germanic Tribes, we utilize three Roman sources that encountered the Germans by war, traveling, and religion. Gaius Julius Caesar, Tacitus, and Christian Roman missionaries all had their own ways of describing the Germanic Tribes and their culture. Tacitus admired their sense of family, loyalty, heath, strength, and beauty. Caesar had different views do to the Germans trying to migrate to Roman land which resulted in war. Historians tend to be skeptical of the information we have gained from these Roman sources because of their different political and personal views. The Germanic Tribes were known to be mostly hunters, shepherds, and farmers with simple needs. Their form of currency was not gold like the Romans; livestock was their primary standard. One part of German culture is the importance of the beliefs and values of old …show more content…
The heroic ethos is known as a set of values and beliefs that were prioritized by the Germanic Tribes in and out of battle. The first and most important belief is loyalty. Loyalty to your family, leader, and tribe trumped everything. The German people believed that it was important to be willing to sacrifice yourself in battle to protect your leader and people. Loyalty to your shield was also extremely significant. If you are disloyal in battle you lose your shield; abandoning your shield in war was considered to be one of the biggest crimes. Customs were passed down and the Germanic people were taught to stay true to their origins. These values and beliefs are the foundation of German culture and are still being taught, followed, and built upon