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. (shrink)

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. (shrink)

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. (shrink)

Martin Heidegger’s 1934–1935 lectures on Friedrich Hölderlin’s hymns "Germania" and "The Rhine" are considered the most significant among Heidegger’s lectures on Hölderlin. Coming at a crucial time in his career, the text illustrates Heidegger’s turn toward language, art, and poetry while reflecting his despair at his failure to revolutionize the German university and his hope for a more profound revolution through the German language, guided by Hölderlin’s poetry. These lectures are important for understanding Heidegger’s changing relation to politics, his (...) turn toward Nietzsche, his thinking about the German language, and his breakthrough to a new kind of poetic thinking. First published in 1980 as volume 39 of Heidegger’s Complete Works, this graceful and rigorous English-language translation will be widely discussed in continental philosophy and literary theory. (shrink)

La lectura de la _Germania_ ha pasado por avatares diversos, procedentes tanto de las propias proyecciones del presente como de la naturaleza imprecisa del texto. Su ‘imperfecta’ etnografía provocó una minusvaloración que llevó a ignorar la intencionalidad política subyacente al discurso erudito. Sin embargo, presentar el texto como una mera descripción, o el divertimento académico de un estudioso, contradice la incuestionable implicación pública de su autor. Tácito es un genuino representante de una facción senatorial que, además de añorar el pasado, (...) pretende influir en la política imperial, promover un impulso expansionista que la lógica estratégica defensiva parecía ya desaconsejar. (shrink)

**A newly revised edition of two seminal works on Imperial Rome** Undeniably one of Rome’s most important historians, Tacitus was also one of its most gifted. *The Agricola* is both a portrait of Julius Agricola-the most famous governor of Roman Britain and Tacitus’s respected father-in-law-and the first known detailed portrayal of the British Isles. In the *Germania*, Tacitus focuses on the warlike German tribes beyond the Rhine, often comparing the behavior of "barbarian" peoples favorably with the decadence and corruption (...) of Imperial Rome. (shrink)

Ergo saepta pudicitia agunt, nuliis spectaculorum inlecebris, nullis conviviorum inritationibus corruptae. litterarum secreta viri pariter ac feminae ignorant, paucissima in tarn numerosa gente adulteria, quorum poena praesens et mantis permissa: adcisis crinibus nudatam coram propinquis expellit domo maritus ac per omnem vicum verbere agit. publicatae enim pudicitiae nulla venia: non forma, non aetate, non opibus maritum invenerit. nemo enim illic vitia ridet, nee corrumpere et corrumpi saeculum vocatur.

It is usual to read nomina , with which three interpretations are possible. The stronger arrogates to himself the titles of moderation and justice. So in the excellent Rumanian translation of 1871 by Gavrilu J. Munteanu: ‘Cându are sâ decida pumnulu, celu mai tare si atribue titlu de moderatu şi de onestu.’.

It is usual to read nomina, with which three interpretations are possible. The stronger arrogates to himself the titles of moderation and justice. So in the excellent Rumanian translation of 1871 by Gavrilu J. Munteanu: ‘Cându are sâ decida pumnulu, celu mai tare si atribue titlu de moderatu şi de onestu.’.

The meanings collected by Mr. Lee seem very hard to extract from the Latin, neither do they seem to reflect the author's meaning. Surely the sense of the chapter is: The Cherusci ruined themselves with a long peace … when it comes to a fight, moderation and justice are … For example, the Cherusci were once virtuous and just, but now are called idle and foolish, and the success of the Chatti who conquered them has become prudence.

The desperate straits to which commentators are driven in attempting to explain inter impotentis et ualidos falso quiescas: ubi manu agitur, modestia ac probitas nomina superioris sunt are illustrated by a recent contributor to this journal . In the decent obscurity of a review of Büchner's fourth volume of Studien zur römischen Literatur I hazarded a suggestion that has escaped notice. The crux may be removed by reading non superioris and supposing a confusion between N ═ non and Ñ ═ (...) nomine . In war legality is dumb, and amid the squabbles of competing tribes restraint and honesty are not the marks of the winner. The Chatti were proved wiser than the children of light, for they had fought and flourished: Chattis uictoribus fortuna in sapientiam cessit. (shrink)

Martin Heidegger’s 1934–1935 lectures on Friedrich Hölderlin’s hymns "Germania" and "The Rhine" are considered the most significant among Heidegger’s lectures on Hölderlin. Coming at a crucial time in his career, the text illustrates Heidegger’s turn toward language, art, and poetry while reflecting his despair at his failure to revolutionize the German university and his hope for a more profound revolution through the German language, guided by Hölderlin’s poetry. These lectures are important for understanding Heidegger’s changing relation to politics, his (...) turn toward Nietzsche, his thinking about the German language, and his breakthrough to a new kind of poetic thinking. First published in 1980 as volume 39 of Heidegger’s Complete Works, this graceful and rigorous English-language translation will be widely discussed in continental philosophy and literary theory. (shrink)

L’indipendenza politica dei giudici è un principio e una prassi ormai consolidata nella Germania federale. A costituire una questione ancora dibattuta è invece la critica di politicità mossa al Tribunale Costituzionale Federale. La tesi presentata in quest’articolo è che tale critica non sia comprovabile né plausibile. Non è comprovabile nel senso che non è stato possibile provare inconfutabilmente che i giudici costituzionali interpretino la Costituzione sulla base di orientamenti politici personali. Non è plausibile in quanto la nomina dei giudici (...) avviene in conformità con la proporzionale politica. La critica di politicità del Tribunale Costituzionale Federale è da attribuire piuttosto al disappunto delle parti in causa, di volta in volta deluse dalla bocciatura di una legge o dal rifiuto di un ricorso. (shrink)

El presente artículo analiza la recepción de la _Germania_ de Tácito como documento histórico fidedigno en la Alemania nazi, y las operaciones de lectura que el régimen nacionalsocialista realizó sobre la obra con el objetivo de instalarla como fuente de su ideología. De allí, se demostrará cómo se subvirtió la función primordial de la _Germania_, de ficción a historia mediante el recorte, la traducción sesgada, la cita apócrifa y la desvinculación con su contexto de producción inmediato. Esto produjo una interpretación (...) de la _Germania_ como espejo de la ideología oficial de conflicto racial en la Alemania de la década de 1930. (shrink)