How Is Tacitus Unrecognizable To German

Tacitus was a Roman historian who sought to understand and convey the social customs, governance structure, and war like nature of the Germanic tribes. The Germanic tribes, otherwise referred to as “Germany” by Tacitus, sat beyond the territories of Rome further into the north. It is important to note that Tacitus described Germans during this time as being very isolated from other civilizations. He explains that “they are indigenous and very little foreign blood has been introduced...” (Tacitus, 101). Due to this, various aspects of the way of life for the Germans come across as unrecognizable to Tacitus and at times bizarre or unsophisticated. This paper will seek to illustrate how the German religion, intertwined with its isolated nature and

One might note that, Isis was known traditionally as an Egyptian goddess, forcing the question of how the Germans could have come across her existence. Tacitus himself seems to be unaware of why or how these Germans started worshipping Isis, saying, “I do not know the origin or explanation of the this foreign cult...” (Tacitus, 108). Using the words “foreign cult” suggests that Tacitus may not fully agree with the worshipping of Isis and in fact may think of the Germans as barbaric for doing so. There is no doubt that the German culture is in many ways a melting pot of beliefs based on the visitors they have encountered. Being such an isolated civilization means that any foreigners they come in contact with, although rare, must have a lasting effect. Worshipping gods, such as Tuisto, Mercury, and Isis, that may be seemingly unrelated to each other, is evidence of this. Additionally, it helps to explain why Tacitus perceives them as being barbaric in some ways. Tacitus explains how the Germans use feasts to discuss social matters due to the fact, that when they are drinking everyone is most honest and can speak