Were the Germans physically superior?

[Sean Manning]

From my last post, Jose's post, and now yours above--

We are seeing a consensus that, yes, the Germans were bigger, taller, but not necessarily "physically superior" in what might be called the Long Run. Tacitus talks about endurance, or lack of it. And I recall that someone else said the same thing, maybe Polylbius.The issue is complicated by suseptibility to disease (from the "frong pond" to the south) and a generally short lifespan.

And where do we draw the line between the "Roman army" and the "barbarian hordes" they fought? We know that, early on, even before the Imperial era, that Germans were in the Roman army and that they tipped the balance into Roman favor. This is clearly illustrated by Caesar employing a Seubic cavalry to defeat Vercingetorix at Alesia. Whether we can call them "auxilliaries" or "mercenaries" is irrelevant. They were, for all practical purposes, IN the Roman army (even if only for a short time). :roll:

Well, I think there is a consensus that the Romans believed Germans were taller and stronger than them. But how would they know? Did they measure the height of 1000 random citizens off the last census, then march across the limes and round up 1000 random male Germani? People like forming stereotypes about groups, but they aren't always reliable. Unless someone digs up a study of the height of Iron-Age Germans based on bones, I don't think we can say anything definite about which population was taller.

I agree with your other points.