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| Who were the Germani and where did they come from? | <table of contents> <previous page> <next page> page 6 of 7 |
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| Thus the Germanic tribes were never primordial. On the contrary, they were innovations. Against this, Tacitus reports an old myth which is supposed to explain the origin of the Germani: There was once a god named Tuisto, who bore three sons. Each son gave his name to one of the original large tribes. This story is very old and is told over large areas of Europe and Asia. However, this myth says nothing about the early time, the time of the early tribes to which the myth refers. Perhaps the three groups refer to three different cults whose leaders gathered at a common ceremony. Later the Germani near the North See were given the name Ingavoni, those to the south who settled in the area around the Rhine and the Weser were the Istavoni, and the third group, occupying an area near the Elbe, were the Herminoni. We must add the Germani to the east around the Oder and the Weichsel and those to the north in Scandinavia, to complete the picture of the Germanic world. |
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