04-08-2006, 08:00 PM
I would not make too much of it. Ammianus used much 'archaizing' language, going back on names (even military units! Odd for a soldier) and poetic concepts. One of these was that Germanics were always taller, wilder and scarier. It's something you see with ancient authors. It's like eastern armies always having elephants who are always scary and smelly, but apart from that the authors really don't know what they look like for real.
But consider that the Roman forces had by the late 4th c. been swelled with many Germanic volunteers and even Germanic Roman citizens. While, on the other hand, Germanic armies had become much more like Roman armies.
So why would the 'wild' Germanics be taller than the 'civilized' ones? Because it fits the poet, that's why. It would be prepostrous to even assume that Germanics shrunk upon becoming civilized..
D
But consider that the Roman forces had by the late 4th c. been swelled with many Germanic volunteers and even Germanic Roman citizens. While, on the other hand, Germanic armies had become much more like Roman armies.
So why would the 'wild' Germanics be taller than the 'civilized' ones? Because it fits the poet, that's why. It would be prepostrous to even assume that Germanics shrunk upon becoming civilized..
D
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
