Were the Germans physically superior?

[Alanus]

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.

I have always felt that Tacitus was reliable and not a writer of unfounded rumor. He may not have actually visited Germania but his father-in-law did, and that's how Tacitus got his info. As for Polybius? :?: We can better look to Vegetius, "What could the short Roman soldier dare to do against the tall German." (Veg. Epitome, I,i) Or perhaps we can ask Caesar who knew the Germans first-hand and up close-- "... owing the nature of the food, the regular exercise, and the freedom of life, nurses their strength and makes men of immense bodily stature." (Caes. de Bello Gallico, IV, 2)

I don't think these Roman authors were forming stereotypes, but rather they knew-- by looking with their own eyes-- that Germans were physically larger than they were. Also, I'm sure that archaeological comparisons have been made, but my personal library has mostly "the really old guys."

But, like I said earlier, largeness is not necessarily "superior." You can have the shale boulder, but I'll take the little gold nugget. :wink: