GERMANIA (Los Suevos) - Documental
En el 585 el reino suevo dejó de existir al ser conquistado por el rey visigodo Leovigildo y su territorio fue incorporado al reino visigodo de Toledo.
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00:00October of 1935, some archaeologists are inspecting a grave on the Danish island of Funen.
00:15It dates from the first century BC, the time of the Germanic tribes.
00:22In the course of the excavation they make a sensational discovery.
00:27It is the tomb of a Germanic priestess.
00:32The burial objects make it clear.
00:35Seeds of plants, fossilized sea urchins and saucer rods, which presumably served a magical function.
00:43It is not known who the deceased woman was, since we have not yet received testimonies about the life of Germanic women of that time.
00:50But the Roman historians who lived in that time left evidence of the great influence that the Germanic priestesses exerted on their citizens.
00:59Ancient sources and modern science currently allow a reconstruction of the life that a Germanic priestess could lead.
01:06Let's call it the basin, this could be its history.
01:09Our tribe was in danger.
01:11The Romans threatened to declare war on us.
01:15I asked the oracle, should we fight?
01:18What will the signs indicate?
01:21The rods of a sacred saucer will prophesy the future.
01:27The future of the eggs, my tribe, is in the hands of the gods.
01:31What advice will they give me?
01:34I saw a sign.
01:37We must not fight before the death of the moon.
01:40Our weapons must rest until the new moon has passed.
01:45The prince of the eggs was Ariovistus.
01:49He should not like the prophecy of the priestess, since the eggs were feared for their combativeness.
02:01But everyone must take into account the words of the gods.
02:06It is the year 58 BC.
02:09The eggs believed that the priestesses could predict the future.
02:13For this reason, they occupied an important position in their community.
02:17This is told to us by the Roman historian Tafito,
02:20the most important of the ancient authors who wrote about the Nordic tribes.
02:26There is a certain halo of holiness in women.
02:28In the Germanic peoples, their advice is never underestimated, nor are their prophecies ignored.
02:34The eggs were originally established in the plain of northern Germany.
02:38Their seasoned warriors were sent to Gaul as mercenaries.
02:44They liked the rich and fertile land.
02:47They formed their own empire in present-day Alsace.
02:51But in the year 58 BC, the Roman military commander Julius Caesar invaded the land of the eggs.
03:02Following the advice of the gods, Ariovistus agreed to negotiate with the Romans.
03:07Caesar ordered us to leave our land.
03:14Ariovistus was not intimidated by Caesar.
03:16The eggs had been living in Gaul for 17 years.
03:22But they had not yet come across the military power of Rome.
03:29When Caesar threatened them with his legions,
03:31the prince of the eggs replied that he had arrived in Gaul before the Romans and Caesar entered his territory.
03:39The Swedish warriors were determined.
03:41They would never leave their land.
03:46When the determination of the Germanic warriors to enter the battle was proven,
03:50Caesar decided to withdraw them.
03:54For the moment, it was his first confrontation with the fearsome tribes of the north.
03:59The few representations we have of the Germanic tribes of ancient times are Roman.
04:04They describe us as they imagined the peoples of the north were.
04:07Rough, strong in complexion and long beard.
04:10According to Caesar's own words,
04:12the Germanic are incredibly tall and incredibly valiant and righteous with their weapons.
04:16Even their ferocious gaze is unbearable.
04:19The hair of the eggs appears represented in a Roman bronze cauldron.
04:23Caesar wrote the following about it.
04:25It is the most warrior of the Germanic tribes.
04:27They put their hair aside and tie it in a knot.
04:35The discovery of a skull shows us what Caesar described.
04:38It is a skull of a man with a skull of a woman.
04:41It is a skull of a man with a skull of a woman.
04:44It is a skull of a man with a skull of a woman.
04:47The skull shows us what Caesar described.
04:49An egg knot that survived for more than 2000 years in a cell.
04:53The hair in the skull was not an expression of vanity but it was designed to intimidate as Tacitus said.
04:59They think that raising the hair in this way must cause fear to the enemy.
05:06Caesar said that tactic gave many successes to the warriors.
05:10His warriors had such a terrible appearance that everyone who saw them filled with panic.
05:17The legions refused to fight against Ariovistus
05:21But Caesar warned that the Swedes were a danger not only for Gaul, but for the entire Roman Empire
05:28And they were only the advance of a powerful people
05:31He gave them a name, the Germanic peoples
05:38Caesar's propaganda coup was successful
05:41In Rome, his words spread like a shower of gunpowder
05:44Rumors spoke of a powerful and hostile tribe that lived in the north of the empire
05:50Julius Caesar is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating personalities in history
05:55He was at war with the Gauls for many years while he organized his army
06:00And he made sure that Rome provided him with the necessary means
06:03So he was always under pressure to justify his actions
06:07One of the consequences of this pressure was the invention of the Germanic tribes
06:11Which for many decades and centuries had not occupied the minds of the Romans
06:15On the one hand, he needed them to end the campaign in the Rhine
06:18And on the other hand, he described the Germanic peoples as a great block, something they were by no means
06:24They were perfectly differentiated
06:27The tribes of southern Scandinavia, the Rhine and the Vistula were completely different
06:33And anything but a homogeneous block
06:37The Germanic tribes were originally a single tribe among many others
06:43Like the Frisians, the Lombards or the Swedes
06:46But to make the threat against Rome seem more serious than it really was
06:52Caesar agglutinated all the tribes under one name, the Germanic people
06:56And the region that inhabited the east of the Rhine was called Germania
07:01Instigated by his commander, Caesar's legions entered the war
07:06With the Germanic threat real enough, they were finally disposed to attack the Swedes
07:12But the Swedes followed the advice of the oracle
07:15Five days later, Caesar's troops reached the vicinity of the defensive fence
07:19There, Caesar tried to provoke the Germanic warriors to enter the battle
07:26On the sixth day, when I saw the Romans again in the vicinity of our camp
07:32I suspected that Ariovistus would no longer be able to resist the challenge
07:39But the new moon had not yet arrived
07:42Caesar's legions wanted an open battle in which they would have been superior
07:48On the sixth day, the head of the Swedes did them a favor
07:51The Roman historian Dio Cassio wrote
08:03Ariovistus finally ignored the prophecy of the priestess
08:07And when the Romans marched in combat formation, he also deployed his army
08:16The troops met face to face in present-day Alsace
08:20Ariovistus launched his warriors against the Romans, forming seven cunhas
08:24To that fearsome formation, the Germanics called it the head of a pig
08:29Its objective was to use it as a fence to cross enemy lines and defeat the Romans
08:37In cunha formation, the Germanic warriors fought against the Roman cohorts
08:42This is what Dio Cassio wrote about the battle in Gaul
08:46They fought more with their bodies than with their weapons
08:50In one-on-one combat, the Germanic warriors were superior to their adversaries
08:56But every time a Roman fell, two took their place
08:59The Germanic attack was stalled
09:08The Romans used their reserves
09:10They caught the Germanic warriors by surprise, attacking them from the flanks
09:14And they broke their cunha formation
09:17Then the Germanic warriors turned around
09:20And they did not stop fleeing until they stumbled upon the Rhine
09:24This is what Caesar wrote about the outcome of the battle in Alsace
09:30The Roman commander rose with victory
09:33Among the Swabian soldiers there were barely any survivors
09:36The Roman discipline was imposed on the Germanic audacity
09:47The Romans also took our defensive fence by assault
09:51Why did Ariovistus disobey the oracle?
09:54No one can avoid the judgment of the oracle
10:06Ariovistus did not want to bow to Caesar
10:09His warriors fought for our freedom
10:12But the result was terrible
10:18The Romans did not spare the lives of any of our men
10:22Neither the elderly nor the young
10:26Our tribe was totally annihilated
10:31Caesar chased the fugitives to the Rhine
10:34Who could escape the carnage of the battlefield and the massacre of the siege
10:38Now the Romans controlled the left bank
10:48I wanted to stay away from the Romans as much as possible
10:52It was so much the damage and death that they had inflicted on us
10:56That my only wish was to return to the other side of the river
10:59To the land of my tribe
11:02I was alone
11:08The victory over Ariovistus was only the first act in the war of the Gauls
11:13After numerous battles, Caesar conquered all the territory of the Gauls in the course of seven years
11:19Since then, the northern border of the empire was determined by a river, the Rhine
11:29Originally the Rhine connected the people who lived on both sides of the river
11:34Caesar was the first to turn it into a barrier between Roman civilization and barbaric Germania
11:44For a long time I lived hidden in the forests of the north
11:49My clan was defenseless
11:52The Gauls were hated by many tribes because they stole and fought against their neighbors
12:01Winter had come and I would not be able to survive on my own
12:07I had no choice, I had to leave my refuge and ask unknown people to welcome me
12:13Finally I arrived at a small Cheruscan settlement
12:17How would they receive me there?
12:24I felt tension among its inhabitants
12:27A woman was in labor
12:30But my help was not enough
12:33I was not part of his clan
12:38When the man saw the objects he was carrying with me, he understood that I was a priestess
12:43And that I could really help him
12:48He took me home with his wife
12:56How did the Germanic peoples live?
12:59In East Frisia, archaeologists examine the remains of a Germanic settlement
13:03Unlike the Romans who built with stone, the Germanic peoples built with perishable materials such as wood and clay
13:10How do archaeologists gather information about the houses?
13:16The only clues are the dark discoloration in the ground
13:19caused by burials and holes that were dug 2,000 years ago
13:24For the archaeologist Rolf Barenzenga, these remains have an invaluable value
13:29because they allow them to reconstruct the floor plan of a Germanic house
13:33Here we can see the entrance area, on the south side of the old house
13:38The strip of the wall that starts on the west side ends here
13:43Here is a hole one meter long
13:47And then it continues to the west
13:50And here is where the continuation of the south wall was
13:56The post holes are typical signs of the simple Germanic architecture
14:00In these holes made on the ground were placed the wooden posts that supported the loading walls
14:05But only the meticulous work of archaeologists can provide us with more precise information
14:11The discoveries made on the ground even allow them to explain how the Germanic peoples
14:16were able to build solid buildings using the simplest means
14:20Here we can see a typical post hole that reveals its cylindrical shape
14:25The interesting thing is that this post hole represents a clear contrast
14:29compared to the other holes, which are much more superficial
14:33This could be due to the fact that the building was built on the ground
14:38and the wind exerted more force on the house on this side, where the eagles were
14:42And to fulfill that task, the post hole became deeper
14:46So what we wonder now is how the Germanic peoples managed to dig such a deep hole in such a narrow space
14:52Because unlike us, they did not have steel peaks
14:56Our hypothesis is that they had to soften the ground previously
15:00and then plowed it with wooden peaks
15:04In this way, the Germanic peoples erected an imposing building, the communal house
15:09The wooden posts formed the frame of the roof
15:13The exterior walls of the houses were made of straw and sealed with mud
15:17The roof was made of straw or cane
15:21People and animals lived together in the communal houses
15:25Tacitus described a typical settlement that usually did not house more than 20 houses
15:30They did not build their towns as we do, with one building attached to another
15:34All the houses were surrounded by open space
15:41Archaeologists also found utensils made of wood
15:45The discoveries of seeds and remains of plants provide information about the food of the Germanic peoples
15:50They made gachas with barley or millet, ate berries, mushrooms and nuts
15:54Rarely did they eat meat or fish
15:58Food was served at a small table, as Tacitus tells us
16:06Each one sits down to eat in his seat and table apart
16:10The elaborately carved utensils also entail a certain mystery
16:14Did this stylized container carved in the shape of a bird have a religious meaning?
16:20The animals performed a particular ritual
16:24The help of the gods was required to prevent evil
16:28Complications during childbirth could cause the death of the mother and the child
16:32But the wise women of the Germanic tribes were also experts in the art of life
16:36They knew how to make the best wine
16:40They knew how to make the best wine
16:44They knew how to make the best wine
16:48They knew how to make the best wine
16:52The wise women of the Germanic tribes were also experts in the art of healing
16:56The midwife enjoyed an excellent position, and not least for her knowledge of medicinal herbs
17:00The art of mass, for example, was venerated by the Germanic peoples for its healing properties
17:04The art of mass, for example, was venerated by the Germanic peoples for its healing properties
17:08This healing plant, also known as agenjo comun, relieves and relaxes during childbirth
17:12This healing plant, also known as agenjo comun, relieves and relaxes during childbirth
17:16It was believed to provide protection against evil spirits
17:20Due to the Germanic tradition, many women were found to be lived, or even goddesses
17:24Due to the Germanic tradition, many women were found to be lived, or even goddesses
17:28An observation by Tacitus proves the scientific rigor of this examination
17:32Discoveries like the funeral of the woman in Fúnen with its singular funeral objects
17:36are a stroke of luck
17:40From such discoveries one can obtain conclusions about the status that the deceased boasted in her community
17:44From such discoveries one can obtain conclusions about the status that the deceased boasted in her community
17:48of Odense, the archaeologist Jorgen Jakobsen tries to answer the following question.
17:54Who was the woman of Funen?
17:56It had all kinds of exotic personal effects, strange objects and various articles of Roman luxury.
18:04Fossilized oysters and sea urchins, which probably served as amulets of good luck.
18:09But the woman of Funen seems to have also collected antiques in life,
18:13since she herself had an axe of the stone age.
18:18All these objects once had a kind of magical meaning.
18:22The woman of Funen must have played a special role.
18:27All the objects found in the grave suggest that the buried woman
18:34occupied an important position in society.
18:39Roman imported articles indicate their high rank,
18:44and all the objects in her collection of antiquities probably had a hidden meaning.
18:53Of her social status, and also of course the magical purpose of all these burial objects.
19:03We can conclude that it was undoubtedly a priestess.
19:13The father felt relieved when he saw that his wife had given him a healthy child.
19:19The Nors, the Parks, determined his future at the time of his birth.
19:28Would he be able to face the challenges that awaited him?
19:33Or would he be able to face his own fate?
19:44There are a multitude of imaginative legends about the rituals of the Germanic peoples.
19:49By not leaving written testimonies, everything we know about them
19:52has reached us through the Greeks and the Romans.
19:56The Gallic physicist describes a barbarous and overwhelming ritual.
20:03A newborn, still hot from the womb of his mother,
20:07is transferred to the river and sunk in cold water like a hot iron.
20:15Galenus considered that the purpose of that baptism in cold water
20:19was to strengthen the small body and prepare it for a life full of deprivations.
20:23But its purpose may also have been the protection against evil spirits,
20:27according to the Germanic beliefs.
20:34To what extent are the testimonies of the ancient chroniclers credible?
20:42The book Germania in particular, written by the Roman historian Tacitus,
20:46has had a lasting effect on our image of the northern tribes.
20:53But his written testimony almost 2,000 years ago,
20:56what value does it have in light of modern archaeological research?
21:01If we look at the archaeological sources about the life of the Germanic peoples
21:05during the first century of our era,
21:08I must say that we can draw a very precise image of their settlements,
21:12their sinumatory practices and their cults.
21:16One of the most fascinating branches of this research
21:19is the comparison with the written sources,
21:21and in that department Tacitus is of great help
21:24because with all certainty he must have the most extensive knowledge
21:27of the Germanic world at that time.
21:29In his Germania he described many things
21:31that today we can confirm through archaeological discoveries.
21:34Of course, he also did it to invite reflection to the Romans and Roman society.
21:39With his Germania he directly and also indirectly criticized
21:42the social conditions in Rome.
21:44But from our modern perspective,
21:46we must observe his testimony with a critical eye.
21:49Archaeologists can carry out a multitude of analysis,
21:51but many issues must be discussed exhaustively
21:54to determine whether they are possible.
21:56We cannot determine when it is a true story or a mere rumor.
22:04Not everything can be confirmed by archaeology.
22:09How was the domestic life of the Germanic tribes?
22:12Tacitus tells us that there was a clear division of labor.
22:17Women take care of the house, the farm and the fields.
22:23Since the successful birth, I have been allowed to live with the family.
22:27The housewife considered that she should no longer wear my old dress,
22:31which still showed the marks of the battle.
22:37I thanked her for her offer,
22:39because the memory of the battle against the Romans
22:41and the loss of my tribe did not leave me.
22:44So I was able to bury the past with my dress.
22:53Was the Germanic clothing so rough, vast and monotonous
22:57as the Romans tell us?
23:00The textile archaeologist Susanne Möller-Wiering
23:03examines fragments of Germanic clothing
23:05that have survived in the turbines.
23:07Under the microscope, some surprising facts come to light.
23:12The Germanic peoples wore clothes woven ornamentally of wool or canvas.
23:16The first weavers were even able to create designs in spigot.
23:21All materials found in the turbines are brown.
23:25Was this the predominant color in their clothing?
23:30From written documents and archaeological discoveries made here,
23:35we know that the Germanic people liked to wear clothes of vivid colors.
23:39It was part of playing with the natural colors of wool,
23:43combining white wool with black or brown,
23:46but we have also discovered some artificially dyed materials.
23:50Here we have an example.
23:52It can be seen that the wool was originally white and then dyed red.
23:58Textile investigations confirm, therefore, the words of Tacitus.
24:03Women wrap themselves in cloaks of canvas,
24:05dyed in different ways of carmese.
24:11To achieve this, the Germanic people used pigments extracted from the earth,
24:15plants and snails.
24:24My new cloak was much more than a simple coat.
24:28Through this gift, I was accepted into the community
24:31and now I was part of the tribe.
24:34I had found a new home.
24:39Apart from textile discoveries,
24:41excavations in the Turberas lead to other great discoveries.
24:45In acidic and anaerobic conditions,
24:47the soil of the Turberas is characterized,
24:50the organic matter is preserved as if it were wrapped in a time capsule.
24:54And frequently, among these sensational discoveries,
24:57human remains are included, bodies buried in the swamp.
25:01In Europe, several hundreds have been found
25:03dating back to the time of the Germanic peoples.
25:06One of them is the man of Grauwele.
25:08There are several reasons why people could end up in a hacienda.
25:11Accidents, crimes, punishments or funerals.
25:16Tacitus, along with other authors of antiquity,
25:18usually quotes human sacrifices carried out by the Germanic people
25:21to appease the gods.
25:24Are these reports credible
25:26or are they simple examples of Roman propaganda?
25:30Tacitus wrote that the Germanic tribes
25:32had sacrificed human beings in barbaric and repugnant ceremonies.
25:39He also described the location
25:41where these ceremonies were supposed to take place.
25:44In an island in the ocean there is a sacred little forest
25:47and inside a divine chariot.
25:49When the goddess Nertu is shown,
25:51she is transported across the earth.
25:53Then she is bathed in a remote lake.
25:55She is helped in these monasteries by some slaves,
25:58to whom immediately afterwards the lake swallows.
26:01Hence the origin of an arcane terror towards the goddess,
26:04which can only be seen by those condemned to perish.
26:08The lake Hertha, on the Norwegian island of Regen,
26:11perfectly coincides with this description.
26:13This is probably the place where the sacrifices were carried out
26:16in honour of the goddess of fertility.
26:18Was the man of Graupale one of these human sacrifices?
26:22Few of the bodies found in the turrets
26:24that date from the time of the Germanic peoples
26:26have also been preserved.
26:28The man was killed in three phases.
26:30First, his skull and tibias were crushed.
26:34Then he was beheaded and finally he was submerged in the swamp.
26:42The swamp is a mysterious place.
26:44It is neither land nor water.
26:46It is something in between, like a muddy land.
26:48Mystical creatures surround it.
26:50There is fog. It is a dangerous place.
26:52The water can swallow you.
26:54The swamps have been places very sought after by man
26:56for thousands of years.
26:58In them, goods were left as a sacrifice,
27:00offerings for the highest powers, the gods.
27:03People prayed asking for strength to reach the following year,
27:06fertility and many other things.
27:08With posterity, towards the year 440 BC,
27:12people began to offer their gods the greatest sacrifice of all,
27:15human beings, like the man of Graupale.
27:26But human sacrifices remained an exception.
27:29Food and animal sacrifices were the most common offerings.
27:33They were held in places considered sacred.
27:36Tacitus writes,
27:37The Germanic peoples consecrate forests and shrubs
27:40and give divine names to these mysterious places
27:43that they look at only with veneration.
27:45All in common worship Nertus, which means Mother Earth,
27:49which they think intervenes in the affairs of men.
28:00Winter was long and hard,
28:04and our provisions were exhausted.
28:07I went to ask Nertus for his blessing for the following year,
28:12offering him as a sacrifice what little we had left.
28:29Please, accept these offerings for the past year.
28:33Be benevolent and bless us with a fertile time.
28:40The Germanic peoples believed that the gods were omnipresent in nature
28:44and that they determined the fate of human beings.
28:51Life 2,000 years ago was a constant struggle.
28:54Cold, hunger and drought,
28:56but also frequent wars between tribes,
28:58threatened their survival.
29:00The divine powers, on the contrary, offered them help and protection.
29:09Unlike the Romans, the Germanic peoples did not raise temples to their gods.
29:14Tacitus writes,
29:15They consider it incompatible with divine dignity
29:18to lock their gods between four walls.
29:22In Oberdorla, central Germany,
29:24a sacrifice center has been confirmed and rebuilt archaeologically.
29:28It is the only one of its kind in Central Europe.
29:31In this place of worship, the Germanic peoples offered sacrifices to their gods
29:35for more than a thousand years.
29:39In Oberdorla, historian Rudolf Schimeck
29:42has discovered relevant information about the ritual practices of the Germanic peoples.
29:46But what did they sacrifice?
29:50More than 300 bones and skulls have been found in this place of worship,
29:54especially dogs, cattle and horses.
29:59The finding of cattle skulls
30:01or horse skulls in these places of sacrifice,
30:05of the Cienagas,
30:07always points to a public sacrifice.
30:10That means that the community killed these large animals in a group
30:14and consumed them in a ritual banquet.
30:17It is the case that we have found cattle skulls and limbs
30:21in our archaeological discoveries.
30:24It seems that these were the parts sacrificed to the gods,
30:27while the rest, the community consumed it in a ritual banquet.
30:32In the center of the cult of Oberdorla,
30:34archaeologists have also found large figures of wood in human form.
30:38Each of them represented a deity.
30:44What do these images, known by archaeologists as columnar idols,
30:48about the Germanic beliefs of more than 2,000 years ago tell us?
30:54They tell us that in the Middle Ages,
30:57we have found columnar idols
30:59in a large number of towers
31:01and in other places of sacrifice throughout the Germanic area.
31:04It is evident that they were part of a group of gods,
31:07a polytheistic group of gods
31:09that the Germanic peoples of those times adored.
31:12But we cannot identify what god each idol represents,
31:15and we should not even try,
31:17since it is an ancient myth,
31:19and we should not even try,
31:21since it is an ancient myth,
31:23and we should not even try,
31:25since it is an ancient myth,
31:27and we should not even try,
31:29it is a time centuries away from any written document.
31:32The only thing we can say
31:34is that these figures,
31:36some of which are carved with greater detail than others,
31:39and others are simple stakes,
31:41were columnar idols associated with male and female deities
31:44because they were often differentiated as such.
31:50The figures served for certain cults of fertility.
31:53They have often been paired as a union of worship of the gods.
32:01The idols are vast and simple.
32:04The Germanic peoples deliberately represented their deities with simplicity,
32:08since they were sacred archetypes of the ancient past of the tribes.
32:14They believed that when the wood of the idols rotted, their divine power faded.
32:19Then, luckily for the researchers, they were buried in the ground.
32:24In 2005, near Greifswald, on the German coast of the Baltic,
32:28archaeologists found an idol of such characteristics.
32:32A rare and fortunate discovery.
32:35Does it really go back to the times of the Germanic tribes?
32:38A small sample of wood is enough to determine its antiquity.
32:42Radiocarbon dating is the method used to establish its antiquity.
32:45Carbon 14, a radioactive isotope of carbon, can be detected in dead tree wood.
32:52Before making the measurement, the idol's wood must be prepared.
32:57Then the carbon is isolated in a particle accelerator.
33:02The proportion between radioactive carbon and non-radioactive indicates the age of the wood.
33:08Because, unlike normal carbon, the radioactive isotope of carbon 14 disintegrates.
33:12Scientists can use its reactive period to measure the disintegration process in years.
33:21In the laboratory, the results of the columnar idol are evaluated.
33:26Our measurements indicate that the carbon 14 of the wood is 2,100 years old.
33:31If we transfer it to a calibration curve based on the rings of growth of a tree,
33:36the wood would go back to a period between the year 200 and the year 50 BC.
33:40So it is very possible that this figure could have been sculpted in the second half of the 1st century BC,
33:46as we expected.
33:48It is a very useful fact for archaeologists.
33:52After the Germanic tribes came into contact with the Romans in the 1st century BC,
33:58the world of their gods began to change.
34:01The male deities, gods of war, displaced the gods of fertility.
34:05Weapons became increasingly common, such as the funerary aguar.
34:08These findings have allowed archaeologists to conclude
34:12that the incursions and wars between the tribes have intensified.
34:16We meet in a sacred forest.
34:24As a priestess, my mission was to ask the god of war for his support.
34:32Hostile tribes threatened our homeland.
34:35Men had to rise up in arms.
34:38I'm coming!
34:45Would they be on our side in the battle?
34:52Tacitus tells us about the Germanic belligerence.
34:57It is not easy to persuade them to plough the land.
35:00They prefer to challenge the enemy, even at the risk of suffering mortal wounds.
35:05And they still find it lazy to acquire with sweat what can be achieved with blood.
35:15We were able to expel our enemies, but we also had to mourn our dead.
35:21The chief of our tribe perished in the battle.
35:25In his funeral, he will not miss any of the comforts corresponding to his rank.
35:29This is what Tacitus said about the Germanic funeral rites.
35:34They do not use any pump in their burials.
35:37They only burn the bodies of their illustrious men with certain types of firewood.
35:41Each warrior is buried with his weapons.
35:45They soon shed tears and weep.
35:48But the pain and sadness last.
35:51The moment when the thread of life must be broken is only in the hands of fate.
35:56However, for a warrior it is glorious to fall for his tribe in the battlefield.
36:03My spirit felt relieved, because I know that his name and legacy will live in our stories and in our songs.
36:12I will never forget this day.
36:14My spirit felt relieved, because I know that his name and legacy will live in our stories and in our songs.
36:33After cremation, the ashes were kept in urns.
36:36Whether it was a chief, a warrior, a farmer, a woman or a child,
36:40the remains of each member of the tribe rested in such containers.
36:44The remains of each member of the tribe rested in such containers.
36:52The bones of the remains of the Germanic era are very valuable for science.
36:59To the anthropologist Birgit Grosskopf, from the University of Göttingen,
37:03the bones reveal a lot of information about the diet, diseases and life expectancy of the Germanic peoples.
37:09First, she examines the joints.
37:10Her size provides her with information about the gender,
37:13and her deterioration gives her clues about the age of the deceased.
37:16In this way, one can get an idea of what the living conditions were like among the Germanic peoples.
37:21There are different methods to diagnose age.
37:25Usually, when the bodies have been buried, we look at the cranial joints,
37:30which allow us to get closer to the vital trajectory of a person.
37:35This joint can indicate to us quite accurately the age of the individual.
37:40This is an important fact because, in turn,
37:43it enlightens us about the changes in life conditions
37:46or in the mortality rate that may have occurred.
37:49During the Bronze Age, infant mortality was significantly higher
37:54and the average life expectancy was lower.
37:57During the Iron Age, infant mortality rate fell,
38:00while the adult life expectancy increased.
38:10Even when the living conditions of the Germanic tribes were ostensibly better than those of their ancestors,
38:16their bones still witnessed a life full of deprivations.
38:19The symptoms of deficiency and diseases were very widespread,
38:24many of the times with fatal results.
38:31The Germanic peoples not only felt respect for the dead,
38:35they also feared them.
38:37They believed that the dead could return as spirits to harm the living.
38:42To avoid this risk, they incinerated the bodies.
38:45In this way, they could deposit the weapons next to the dead
38:49on their journey to the afterlife without having to worry.
38:55They even bent the swords to stab in the wounds.
38:59When the Germanic tribes met the Roman Empire at their doors,
39:03more and more weapons were added to their funeral arrangements.
39:07This explains the growing importance of war.
39:10Did the Germanic society experience a change?
39:13The archaeological sources around the time of the birth of Christ,
39:17as well as later periods,
39:19clearly show that the Germanic societies established between Scandinavia,
39:23the Rhine and the Bistula,
39:24were highly militarized.
39:26Spears and javelins were particularly common in the urns,
39:30they were long-range weapons.
39:32There were also swords of a single edge,
39:35not always of great quality and not always neatly forged,
39:39but there were also shields,
39:41which indicates that the warriors knew how to defend themselves
39:45and some of them mounted on horseback.
39:48So they even had mounted officers.
39:50That gives us a vivid image of some peoples
39:53who knew how to live together in society,
39:56but who were at the same time able to fight each other
40:00and achieve success in a possible military confrontation.
40:06The Germanic warriors also crossed the Rhine during their raids
40:10by entering the Roman Gaul.
40:13For Rome, that was equivalent to a declaration of war.
40:16Under the command of General Drusus the Great,
40:19the Romans trusted to put an end to that threat forever.
40:22In the first place, a series of camps were established
40:25for the legions between Maguncia and Nimea.
40:28From the year 12 BC, the coast began to be explored.
40:31Emperor Augustus boasted proudly.
40:34My fleet sailed at dawn from the mouth of the Rhine
40:37towards an ocean that no Roman had reached before.
40:40Summer after summer, the Romans launched military campaigns
40:43to the heart of Germany.
40:44A poem highlights Drusus' feats.
40:47He crushed the unnameable barbarians
40:50and extended the dominion of Rome over new territories.
40:54However, Drusus was not satisfied.
40:57He was only 26 years old when he began the conquest of Germany
41:00under the command of six legions.
41:03He increasingly penetrated the interior of these inhospitable
41:06wooded lands, as remembered by the philosopher Seneca.
41:09Drusus set the military standards of Rome
41:11in places where people did not even know
41:14the existence of the Romans.
41:17And another Roman historian, Paterculo, wrote
41:20Drusus conquered large territories of Germany
41:23and spilled a lot of blood of those people.
41:28Augustus chose an arc of triumph in Rome
41:31in honor of the conqueror of Germany.
41:34Since then, Drusus and his descendants
41:37have been allowed to use the honorary name of Germanicus.
41:42However, for the Romans, Germany was still
41:45a strange and sinister country
41:48where fantastic events took place.
41:57I lived among the Cherusci for almost 50 years
42:00until my past came in search of me.
42:05I saw again a Roman army and military banners.
42:08What did the Romans want?
42:11Why did they leave their country
42:14to come to our forests?
42:19In Gaul, when the legions of Caesar
42:22defeated the warriors of Ariovistus,
42:25the Romans revealed their true face.
42:28If we did not submit to their dominion,
42:31they were implacable.
42:36I summoned the gods in search of help.
42:39And a strong storm forced Drusus
42:42and his legionaries to retreat.
42:54The historian Dion Cassius heard of the strange event.
42:57It seems that Drusus heard the voice of a woman
43:00in the Germanic forests.
43:03Where are you going, insatiable Drusus?
43:05Leave these places.
43:08The end of your life and your exploits is near.
43:17The historical sources tell us
43:20that he was seriously injured when he fell off his horse.
43:23And that the conqueror of Germany
43:26died because of the wounds.
43:29His brother Tiberius assumed command.
43:36Like Drusus,
43:39Tiberius was also the stepson of Emperor Augustus.
43:42And now he had to satisfy his father's wishes.
43:45The absolute submission of all of Germany.
43:52However, Tiberius used a different strategy
43:55than his brother's.
43:58He did not want to achieve his goal through war.
44:01Tiberius chose a more diplomatic route.
44:03He wanted the Germanic peoples
44:06to voluntarily submit to the yoke of Rome.
44:09He wanted to break the resistance of the barbarians
44:12through the cultural superiority of Rome.
44:20On the banks of the Rhine, in the current colony,
44:23he began his campaign.
44:26Following the Roman model, he built a city for the Ubi.
44:29A Germanic tribe that had been an ally of Rome for decades.
44:31Opidum Ubiorum
44:34became one of the most majestic cities of the empire.
44:37Theatres, temples and thermae
44:40were built to convince the Germanic peoples
44:43of the advantages of civilization.
44:47There are very few traces of the time of the foundation of Cologne.
44:50The oldest archaeological evidence
44:53is the monument of the Ubi.
44:56It is the foundations of a stone tower built in the year 4 AD.
45:01The Romans built it.
45:04The stone blocks witness it.
45:07They were carved to fit the Roman dimensions.
45:10The city was a gift from the emperor
45:13to the Germanic subjects of the empire.
45:16It is likely that the stone tower was part
45:19of the first walled city of Opidum Ubiorum.
45:24Rome had great plans for the city of the Ubi.
45:27This is where the temple of the new province of Germania
45:29was built.
45:32Once a year, all the subdued tribes had to meet
45:35to renew their vote of loyalty to Rome.
45:39The spacious Roman temple on the banks of the Rhine
45:42dominated the landscape.
45:45A Germanic priest officiated the ceremony on the altar
45:48in the Arach Germaniae.
45:51The building was symbolically oriented to the east,
45:54towards Germania, the territory that Rome aspired to dominate.
46:00Not only the Ubi,
46:03but also the tribes of the east bank of the Rhine
46:06were subdued one by one to the dominion of Rome.
46:09It was probably in the year 8 BC
46:12when the Cherusci finally surrendered.
46:15Like other tribes between the Rhine and the Elbe,
46:18the only way out was to flee,
46:21to start a battle lost in advance
46:24or to submit voluntarily.
46:26The Cherusci princes decided to sign peace with Rome.
46:29The Roman historian Paterculo wrote,
46:32Tiberius traveled all the territory of Germania
46:35as a winner, without losing a single man
46:38of the army he commanded.
46:41He conquered Germania in such an absolute way
46:44that he practically turned it into a province
46:47to which he was demanded to pay tributes.
46:50Rome was also interested in peace.
46:53Tiberius had to secure the newly conquered territory
46:56and needed allies worthy of trust
46:59among the defeated peoples.
47:02This policy of pacification had proven to be very effective.
47:05But the Cherusci had to pay a high price
47:08for peace and security.
47:11They had to renounce certain liberties,
47:14obey the orders of Rome, pay tributes
47:17and hand over their children to serve in the Roman army.
47:22Finally, the Romans demanded the surrender
47:24of the prince's son to ensure our loyalty.
47:27The Romans called him Arminius.
47:30He had to accompany the legionaries to Rome
47:33as a hostage.
47:36The prince gave in without any alternative.
47:39The fate of our tribe was in his hands
47:42and his responsibility was to ensure peace.
47:45Using children as hostages
47:48was not an unusual practice in ancient times.
47:50Far from his homeland, they served to ensure
47:53the loyalty of his tribe.
47:56But in general, Rome used to treat its hostages well.
47:59So Arminius was educated as a Roman
48:02in the capital of the empire.
48:13A faithful companion accompanied the prince's son
48:16to his new homeland.
48:19Would the Cherusci ever see the land of their tribe again?
48:22Arminius would return 20 years later
48:25and would give a turn to the history of Germany.
48:48To be continued...