Were the Germans physically superior?

[Alanus]

Thanks for that.

Yes, this is a version of the "given impression" by various authors. But what about Caesar who was writing about the very men he was dealing with at the time, many of whom were recruited as his cavalry after he lost the Aedui horsemen.

I can't remember exactly offhand, but I think it was Ward-Perkins who mentioned that the Mediterranean stature was smaller due to malaria, a disease you didn't get in the Hyrcinian Forest. The Hotchdorf Prince was well over six feet. The Cherchen Man was six foot six. I realize these two examples are not Germanic, but they lived and died outside the "frog pond" fringe, and they were substantially larger than even modern Italians.

Help! hock: I can't be the only one who believes that Italo-Romans were smaller in stature than northern barbarians. Somewhere, someone has a done a study of skeletal measuements, just as was done for the Hotchdorf Prince and Cherchen Man. :wink: