Origins+and+mythology

Origins of the German People
At about 2000 BC, several major tribes or peoples were scattered across Europe. The Germanic Tribes were located mostly in Northern Europe and Scandinavia; the Celts were situated throughout Central Europe, while the Slavs were at home in Eastern Europe. Around 1000 BC, the Germanic peoples began to move from their area of habitation in Northern Europe and pushed into Central and Eastern Europe. West Germanic tribes began to settle in Central Europe (i.e., what is today Germany and the Slavic nations bordering it), slowly pushing the Celts southward and westward. The East Germanic tribes moved into the Eastern areas and eventually all the way to the Baltic States and Southeast Russia, thereby displacing the Slavic peoples. Finally, the North Germanic tribes remained in Scandinavia. In the first century of the common era, we find three major Germanic tribes located in Central Europe. The High Germans (//Alemanni//) had settled in Southern Germany and Alps region, the Saxons were to be found in Franconia and Thuringia, and the Franks were located along the Lower Rhine. These three groups form the basis for what would later develop into German and French culture. [|Return to Top]

First Roman-German Contacts
Little is known in detail about the culture, way of life, beliefs, and so forth, of the Germanic tribes of this period. What is known derives from outside, mostly Roman, sources. The first contacts between the Romans and some Germanic tribes had already taken place around 113 BC, when the Cimbers and Teutonic tribes went south and intruded the Alpine Region, then already occupied by the Romans. They were defeated by Gaius Marius around 100 BC. Several decades later, in 55 BC, Gaius Julius Caesar again confronted Germanic tribes during his war in Gaul and pushed them back from the Rhine area eastward. The major battle between a large army of unified Germanic tribes (led by Arminius, the Cheruskan) and the Romans (commanded by General Varus) took place in AD 9 in the Teutoberg Forest. The battle was a military catastrophe for the Romans, who lost three legions, which equals about 20,000 men. (Varus himself committed suicide rather than facing the Roman Emperor Augustus back home. Arminius, too, was later killed by rival factions within the Germanic tribes or even relatives. He was only 19 or 21 years old). As a result of this battle, the eastern part of German territory remained free from Roman occupation. Toward the end of the first century, the Romans erected a fortification line separating the territory of the Roman Empire in Gaul (approximately the territory of present-day France) from the free Germanic lands across the Rhine and further East (approximately present-day Germany). The Limes (AD 83–260), as it was called, originally consisted mostly of fences and ditches, but was later fortified with towers and some stone walls (although not the entire length). Behind the Limes, the Romans built a street system and started some of the first Roman-German cities, among them Cologne, Trier, Mainz, Bonn, Koblenz, Worms, Regensburg, Passau. The Limes prohibited further expansion of the Germans but allowed peaceful cooperation and trade between both peoples. [|Return to Top]

Ancient Germanic Culture
Caesar, Tacitus, and later Christian missionaries (the three major sources of knowledge about the Germanic tribes) all had their own personal reasons and specific interests for the way they described the Germans. Caesar, for instance, clearly sought to increase his own glory and influence in Rome when he described the ferociousness and vigor of the Germanic people in his //De Bello Gallico//. The Roman historian Tacitus, on the other hand, highlighted the alleged purity and unspoiled nature of the Germans in order to critique what he considered to be signs of Roman decadence and decay at home. Finally, the Christian missionaries, hoping to convert the Germans to Christianity, highlighted above all the "pagan" rituals and beliefs of the Germanic people. Thus the following reports provided by these sources might best be taken with a grain of salt. According to Tacitus, the Germanic peoples were mostly hunters, shepherds, and then later (already to some extent in the time of Caesar) peasants and farmers. They were strong, robust, with reddish-blond hair and fair skin—a perfect example of nature and health, strength, and beauty in Tacitus' eyes. They had only simple needs and knew nothing of gold or Roman currency (and thus, Tacitus implies, were immune to greed and fraud). Coins held no particular value for them, and livestock was the standard for barter. The man was the head of a strong family, and when not engaged in battle or entertaining guests, the Germanic warrior lounged around and let the women, older men, and slaves do the menial work. Excessive gambling and drinking were frequent—sleeping, dreaming, particularly in the long winter's nights, alternated with violent battle. More important than life itself was the warrior's sense of loyalty to the chieftain and honor gained by remaining loyal. This personal loyalty to the chief trumped any other sense of commitment to country or tribe, even though the immediate family was honored and held to vigorously as well. //Sippe//, or clan, was the unit of grouped families to which the German remained loyal, and Tacitus praised the Germanic sense of family in comparison to that of the Romans. [|Return to Top]

Glorification of the Teutons in Modern Germany
Although there can be no doubt that Tacitus romanticized the original Germanic tribes for political reasons (namely, as a wake-up call for the "weak" and "decadent" aristocracy in Rome), his reports regarding the Germanic warrior mentality and strong sense of loyalty remained a strong point of reference for later Germans in their quest for national and cultural identity. **Figure 1.1.** Monument of Arminius the Cheruscan (also known as Hermann), who united the Germanic tribes in war and defeated the Romans in AD 9 in a famous battle in the Teutoburg forest. Tacitus' romanticized interpretation of the Germanic peoples was eventually used in the late 18th century, as a new nationalism began to develop in Germany. In his 1992 book //Old Dreams of a New Reich//, literary critic Jost Hermand describes how nationalists were able to draw on Tacitus' depiction of a community-focused Germania, a people with a trustworthy and courageous nature. This emboldened the nationalist call for a reinvigorated sense of liberty. In his //Lectures on World History// during the 1820s and in response to a growing nationalist tendency to glorify the liberty and values of the old Germanic tribes, the famous idealist philosopher Georg F. W. Hegel opposes praise of original Germanness (//Ursprünglichkeit//). While Herder and Romantic thinkers were stressing the pure, untainted ways of the early Germanic tribes, Hegel sees their historical importance in the role as bearers of Christian culture into middle and northern Europe. In his //Lectures on World History//, he warns against using Tacitus to praise the moral values of the early Germans, citing their pagan religion as evidence for an amoral, barbaric existence. A person without morals cannot truly be free, Hegel argues, despite the sense of liberty that Tacitus conveys when describing these early Germanic people. Hegel, in fact, compares them to the Native Americans—"noble savages" he calls "wild" but without the morals necessary to embody true liberty. In searching to understand the Germanic people and their culture, it is often insightful not only to read what their contemporaries thought, but also to examine the oral history passed down within the culture. The Germanic people have a rich history of storytelling, which is evident in their mythology. [|Return to Top]

Basics
The mythology of northern and eastern Europe is essentially that of two main groups, peoples of Germanic and Slavic descent. Today the former group includes Germans, Dutch, Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, Icelanders, English, and any of their extraction. The overwhelming bulk of Germanic mythology, however, stems from present-day Scandinavia and Iceland. In the Balkans the Slavs not only encountered Orthodox Christianity but were later, for a time, also under Islamic rule. Both of these factors contributed significantly to the loss of the oral myths from the East. Hardly anything remains of Baltic mythology except for what was written down at some later point. Celtic mythology was preserved by Christian monks in Ireland, who recorded the ancient sagas in their writings. Still, much of Germanic mythology, including that of Northern Europe, would not have survived without the support of the Icelandic scholar and statesman Snorri Sturluson. Around 1200, Sturluson composed a handbook for other writers in which he discussed the world of the Germanic gods at length. He also provided numerous examples and explanations of the old myths, in particular those of the Viking era, approximately 750–1050, when a vigorous tradition still untouched by Christianity formed around the heroic deeds of their gods Odin, Thor, and Freyr.

Odin and Thor
The one-eyed Odin was a warrior god, revered as "father of the slain"—the supreme leader of all those warriors who rushed into battle without fear for their own life. In this sense, Odin personifies the most essential virtues of the old Germanic warrior ethos. Toward the end of the first millennium, however, Odin's son Thor replaced Odin as the most revered god in North Europe. Less bloodthirsty and more civil than his father, Thor was a favorite among people less interested in eternal warfare, such as traders or farmers. Because he was portrayed as a straightforward and honest person, Thor was also embraced by those Icelandic colonists who left southern Norway (and its war-oriented way of life) to settle farther south on the continent. Many typical Scandinavian names still used today, such as Thorsten or Thorwald, betray the enormous influence of Thor in ancient and medieval times. **Figures 1.2–1.3.** Odin, pictured at left, is also known as Woden or Wotan. He was the chief god of Germanic mythology, the son of Bor and grandson of Buri. He was particularly favored by the Vikings and rose to prominence in the 8th and 9th centuries. Seafarers and raiders were attracted by Odin's love of battle as "father of the slain," for in Valhalla, an immense hall in the divine fortress of Asgard, the one-eyed god was said to preside over the Einherjar ("glorious dead"). Odin's name means something akin to "fury" or "madness." That Odin became the foremost god shows how important warfare always was in Germanic tradition. Odin's son Thor, at right, is often depicted with his thunder hammer Mjollnir, a magic instrument with powers of destruction, fertility, and resurrection.

Valhalla and the Valkyries
**Figure 1.4.** //"Ride of the Valkyrs,"// illustration by Hélène Adeline Guerber, circa 1909. The Valkyries were originally dark spirits that soared over the battlefields. Acting in Odin's name, they decided upon the fate of the brave warriors fighting below. The Valkyries also accompanied the fallen heroes during their ascent to Valhalla, the heavenly abode of Odin and the place where all fallen warriors gathered and prepared for their final battle (see Ragnarok below). Valhalla was a giant hall with more than 500 doors, wide enough to allow hundreds and hundreds of men to march through its doors all at once. Protected by strong outside walls, the inside of Valhalla featured precious metals and gems. The interior walls were supported by spears, and the ceilings were made up of shields. All heroes who were chosen by Odin to join Valhalla miraculously recovered from their battle wounds and were free to join the other heroes and gods for food, drinks, and other festivities. In later Norse myth, the Valkyries were increasingly romanticized as Odin's shield-maidens and were portrayed as virgins with golden hair who served the heroes everlasting mead and meat in the great hall of Valhalla. These later Valkyries looked significantly different than their more brazed ancestors. On the battlefield, they soared into the sky as lovely swan-maidens or splendid mounted Amazons. This embellished portrayal of the Valkyries strongly influenced the later Volsung Saga and the Niebelungenlied during the Middle Ages. The heroine of the Nibelungenlied, for example, was a beautiful, fallen Valkyrie named Brynhild or Brunhild, and she had little in common with the more vicious and fierce Valkyries of old.

Ragnarok
Ragnarok was the Germanic name for the preordained apocalypse that would destroy gods and warriors alike. According to Nordic mythology, the universe was inherently fragile and had been fraught with evil forces from the very beginning. Ragnarok named the final battle between gods, heroes, and the forces of evil that would bring the entire world to an end. Although cosmic apocalypse is a common theme in other mythologies and religions as well, the Nordic version is more sinister and more radical than most, particularly since it includes the doom of the gods and end of the world at large. It is true, however, that some versions of this myth include a more optimistic outcome: here, at least some gods survive and the earth emerges refreshed and rejuvenated after the final battle is over. But, in general, Ragnarok must be understood as a total apocalypse whose major purpose is to emphasize the heroism of gods and humans one final time. Ragnarok was also the major reason why Valhalla was created in the first place. The reason why Odin first supported the heroes in battle only to let them die in the end was his need of battle-proven warriors to prepare for Ragnarok, the final catastrophe in which both gods and heroes would die fighting the forces of evil. In other words, the gathering of the 'heroic dead' in Valhalla helped the gods prepare to face their own fate, even though this attempt would ultimately prove to be in vain, since their doom was preordained. But the crucial point was that Odin's heroes would at least be able to wreak havoc and destruction upon the enemy, if only for a brief time. Ragnarok held a great appeal for the Vikings, who regarded every single one of their battles as a kind of rehearsal for the final battle they would have to face at the end of time. Although the North Germanic people increasingly came into contact with Christianity after AD 1000, their preoccupation with catastrophe and ultimate destruction left a strong imprint on other Germanic tribes as well. In the great medieval epic //The Nibelungenlied//, for example, the Burgundian warriors journey resolutely to their death and destruction at the court of Attila, even though their fate there had been preordained. And the folk memory of Ragnarok played at least some role in the Nazi's resolve to fight on in World War II even after defeat was inevitable.

Reference: http://cdis.missouri.edu/exec/data/courses/2304/public/lesson01/lesson01.aspx