Germanic peoples
Roman bronze statuette representing a Germanic man with
his hair in a Suebian knot. Dating to the late 1st century - early 2nd century A.D.
The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Northwestern and Central
Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they
have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and early medieval Germanic languages and are
thus equated at least approximately with Germanic-speaking peoples , although different academic
disciplines have their own definitions of what makes someone or something
"Germanic".[1] The Romans named the area belonging to North-Central Europe in which Germanic
peoples lived Germania , stretching East to West between the Vistula and Rhine rivers and north to south
from Southern Scandinavia to the upper Danube.[2] In discussions of the Roman period, the Germanic
peoples are sometimes referred to as Germani or ancient Germans , although many scholars consider
the second term problematic since it suggests identity with present-day Germans. The very concept of
"Germanic peoples" has become the subject of controversy among contemporary scholars.[3] Some
scholars call for its total abandonment as a modern construct since lumping "Germanic peoples"
together implies a common group identity for which there is little evidence.[3] Other scholars have
defended the term's continued use and argue that a common Germanic language allows one to speak of
"Germanic peoples", regardless of whether these ancient and medieval peoples saw themselves as
having a common identity.[4]
Scholars generally agree that it is possible to refer to Germanic-speaking peoples after 500
BCE.[5] Archaeologists usually connect the early Germanic peoples with the Jastorf culture of the Pre-
Roman Iron Age, which is found in Denmark (southern Scandinavia) and northern Germany from the 6th
to 1st centuries BCE, around the same time that the First Germanic Consonant Shift is theorized to have
occurred; this sound change led to recognizably Germanic languages.[6][a] From northern Germany and
southern Scandinavia, the Germanic peoples expanded south, east, and west, coming into contact with
the Celtic, Iranic, Baltic, and Slavic peoples. Roman authors first described Germanic peoples near the
Rhine in the 1st century BCE, while the Roman Empire was establishing its dominance in that region.
Under Emperor Augustus (27 BCE–14CE), the Romans attempted to conquer a large area of Germania,
but they withdrew after a major Roman defeat at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 CE. The
Romans continued to control the Germanic frontier closely by meddling in its politics, and they