Tacitus: Germania

The Germania of Tacitus is the most extensive account of the ancient Germans written during the Roman period, but has been relatively neglected in the scholarship of the English-speaking world: the last commentary appeared in 1938, and only a handful of studies have appeared since that time. In recent decades, however, there have been important scholarly developments that significantly affect our understanding of it. Ongoing archaeological work in westernand central Europe has greatly increased our knowledge of the iron-age cultures in those regions, while new anthropological and literary approaches have called into question some of the traditional assumptionsthat shaped the use of this text as a historical source. This new commentary, together with the extensive introduction, provides a current and comprehensive guide to the relevant textual and archaeological evidence and also examines the methodological issues involved in the interpretation of this important work.

“The reader who comes to study the monograph without much background will learn a great deal. Rives is particularly good on the ethnographic tradition of which Tacitus was a part and on anthropology.”

Rives's edition will prove useful work to anyone interested in this fascinating ancient text, classicist or otherwise, and it will be a great help in raising the profile of this important text.'James T. ChlupOne area where the commentary is especially strong is Rives' discussions of Germani tribes and (usually Roman) historical persons (in this case the non-classicist reader of the monograph is given valuable and necesary help). He provides substantial and informative analyses of several of the larger tribes.'James T. Chlup`Rives's edition will disappoint few enthusiasts of this text.'James T. Chlup

Publius (or Gaius) Cornelius Tacitus (c. 56-c. 117) is one of the important historians of Roman Antiquity. James Rives is at York University, Toronto, Ontario.

The Germania of Tacitus is the most extensive account of the ancient Germans written during the Roman period, but has been relatively neglected in the scholarship of the English-speaking world: the last commentary appeared in 1938, and only a handful of studies have appeared since that time. In recent decades, however, there have been important scholarly developments that significantly affect our understanding of it. Ongoing archaeological work in western and central Europe has greatly increased our knowledge of the iron-age cultures in those regions, while new anthropological and literary approaches have called into question some of the traditional assumptions that shaped the use of this text as a historical source. This new commentary, together with the extensive introduction, provides a current and comprehensive guide to the relevant textual and archaeological evidence and also examines the methodological issues involved in the interpretation of this important work.

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