Raised Tensions Between Germanic Tribes and Romans

Since the rise of the Roman Empire, there have been tensions between the Romans and the people they have conquered, along with the people they have attempted to conquer. The perceptions of the cultures of each other have also varied, and changed over time. Naturally, the cultures thought that they were the conquerors, and never the conquered, however, over time many of the peoples began to accept the other’s cultures.

At the beginning of the first century, the Roman Historian Tacitus wrote a short piece commenting on the Germanic Tribes. He wrote about how the Germans had a very strong emphasis on loyalty to their chief, along with how the Germanic people did not normally work the land for their food, instead, they would fight for land and area, and use the bounty to pay for goods and food. Around 250 A.D., the opinion of the Germanic peoples had not changed much, if anything, it had decreased. A battle scene was depicted on a sarcophagus, showing Roman soldiers standing victorious over the ‘barbarians’, or the Germanic Tribes. This shows that at this time, the Romans thought themselves to be far above the Germanic people, to the point of stomping over them. The Romans were also quite biased towards the Huns, describing them as ugly, and squat. In the late 4th century, the Roman historian Ammianus Marcellus wrote a scathing document about how barbaric the Huns were, giving examples of their cruel treatment of their children, along with their brutally effective battle tactics. Ammianus is most likely prejudice against the Huns because he is a Roman citizen, and his opinion of them is probably not very high. Ammianus may also not fully understand the Hun culture, and therefore have a biased point of view. By the fourth century, opinions of the Germanic tribes had turned to downright violent. A Roman patriot, Synesius wrote about how the Germanic people were, in his opinion, taking over the Roman country. He also writes about how the Germanic people will eventually plan to take over Rome, adding that the menace must be stopped, and by Roman people no less. Synesius is a strong Roman patriot, and is probably very biased to the Roman cause. His biased is probably strong in favor of anything that would help Rome and make it stronger.

By the late 5th century, the Roman opinion had changed, they went from being confidant in their superiority to somewhat downtrodden. And exert from St. Augustine’s The City of God states “The City of God abideth forever, though the greatest city of the world has fallen in ruin.” The ‘greatest city’ that he refers to is Rome, saying that the city of Rome is falling, or has already fallen. St. Augustine does have a biased point of view, in writing this, he was trying to encourage people to keep believing in the Christian faith instead of reverting back to their pagan religion because Rome fell. During the 5th century, much of what was previously the Roman Empire became occupied by Goths, the Visgoths and other Germanic Tribes. This change of power lead to people that could spear out against the Roman Empire, as Salvien, a 5th century French monk did. When describing the fallen Romans, he depicts castaways, orphans, and widows, stating that Roman citizenship, something that had been highly prized, became not only worthless, but also something to be scorned. Salvien probably had a very strong prejudice against the Romans, being French meant that he had most likely seen his homeland trashed and destroyed by the Romans. His opinion of the Romans was not very high, and he was, at the time he wrote this document, able to voice his opinion about how dreadful the previously Roman citizens were.

The Germanic opinion of the Romans changes over time. In the late 5th century, coins were found, with the image of King Theodoric on the face. He was dressed in Roman clothes, with a very civilized look, this German had obviously adopted Roman thought and dress. By the late 7th century, a Germanic king’s mother wrote him a letter, telling him that the only way for him to accomplish anything would be to destroy anything else that others had built, and rebuild everything. This mother was giving advice that would further her son, and his position. She probably wanted him to succeed, so she gave the most useful and challenging advice that she could.

The most useful documents that could be used in comparing the change of opinion over time, would probably be documents from the Huns, about the Romans. This would show the Huns point of view so that it could be compared with the Romans. Another document that could be helpful could be a record of Germanic oral traditions. A map showing the times that different tribes occupied the different areas could also be helpful in determining people’s point of view.