Germania

Cornelius TacitusProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.4

Word count: 64K words
Chapters: 7

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971, and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today. Germania by Cornelius Tacitus. Author: Tacitus, Cornelius, 56–117. Language: Finnish. Class: PA: Language and Literatures: Classical Languages and Literature. Release Date: Oct 12, 2016

Editor's review

Tacitus's Germania is one of the most representative works of ancient Roman ethnographic writing, recording in a concise, austere style the geography, customs, social organization, and military life of the Germanic tribes east of the Rhine. It is both an important source for the study of early Germanic history and a classic text for understanding how the Romans viewed the "northern other." This edition is a Finnish translation released as an eBook by Project Gutenberg and is suitable for use as a free electronic resource. Two points are worth noting while reading: first, Tacitus's narrative has a clear moral-contrast intent, often using the simplicity of the Germanic peoples to set off the corruption of Roman society, so it should not be taken as purely objective ethnography; second, the text is not long, but it involves a great many tribal and place names, so it needs to be read alongside a map or notes. Suitable for enthusiasts of classics and ancient European history, as well as readers interested in the tradition of ethnographic writing.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Enthusiasts of classics and ancient Roman history who want to understand Tacitus's ethnographic writing
Researchers of ancient European history who need primary-source clues about Germanic tribes
Humanities readers interested in ethnography and the tradition of writing about the "other"
Readers who know Finnish and want free public-domain electronic editions of classical texts

Not a good fit for

Readers with no Finnish at all who are unwilling to use a parallel translation or auxiliary tools
Beginners expecting a systematic general history rather than fragmentary tribal records
General casual readers who only want to read a Chinese translation

Reading tips

Read an introduction or a brief biography of Tacitus first to understand his background and moral intent.
Read the tribal and geographical sections alongside a map, marking place names and tribal names as you go.
Compare with the account of the Germans in Caesar's Gallic War to observe differences in narration.
After each section, make brief notes distinguishing factual record from the author's evaluation.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What language is this edition in?

According to the Project Gutenberg page, this eBook is a Finnish translation, not the Chinese or Latin original. Readers need Finnish proficiency or a parallel translation in another language to assist comprehension.

Is Germania an objective historical record?

Not entirely. While recording the customs of the Germanic tribes, Tacitus often uses them as a contrast to the decadence of Roman society, with a clear intent of moral criticism. Readers should treat the text as a literary ethnography with the author's stance rather than neutral social investigation.

Can I read it without a background in classics?

You can try, but it is advisable to read a concise background introduction first and to use maps and notes. The text itself is not long; the real difficulty lies in tribal names, place names, and implicit Roman cultural allusions.

Why is it recommended to read it alongside other ancient texts?

Roman authors such as Caesar also recorded the Germanic peoples, but with different perspectives and selections. Reading them side by side makes Tacitus's narrative choices and rhetorical strategies clearer and prevents taking a single text as the whole picture.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Cornelius Tacitus Author · Roman

Tacitus (Tacitus, Cornelius, 56-117) was a Roman historian, statesman and orator who served as consul and as governor of the province of Asia. His surviving works include the Histories, the Annals, the Agricola and the Germania, and this library holds thirteen of his works. His writing centres on imperial politics and the judgment of character, in a concise and incisive style that reveals the tensions between power and morality. The Histories cover the Roman political struggles of the late first century, the Annals trace the inner workings of early imperial rule, and the Agricola and the Germania present frontier life and foreign peoples in the forms of biography and ethnography, exerting a lasting influence on later European historiography and political thought.