tbf, Tacitus also did praise the Germanic tribes, but he did so as a means of contrast with his own ‘decadent’ Roman society which had gotten too used to ‘civilization’ and ‘poor people having rights’; while Tacitus imagined the ‘barbarians’ as being unsullied by such ’niceties’.
… in part, yes, because they lived in a frozen waste that no one would voluntarily go to, lmao.
In some ways, Tacitus made the blueprint for it, even. He relays a lot of ethnographic data impartially, but whenever he starts talking about values of the vague ‘barbarians’ in contrast to Rome, they conveniently are the mirror image of ‘decadent civilization’ and in agreement with all of Tacitus’s critiques of Roman society.
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tbf, Tacitus also did praise the Germanic tribes, but he did so as a means of contrast with his own ‘decadent’ Roman society which had gotten too used to ‘civilization’ and ‘poor people having rights’; while Tacitus imagined the ‘barbarians’ as being unsullied by such ’niceties’.
… in part, yes, because they lived in a frozen waste that no one would voluntarily go to, lmao.
The noble savage stereotype has had a long life, I see xD
In some ways, Tacitus made the blueprint for it, even. He relays a lot of ethnographic data impartially, but whenever he starts talking about values of the vague ‘barbarians’ in contrast to Rome, they conveniently are the mirror image of ‘decadent civilization’ and in agreement with all of Tacitus’s critiques of Roman society.
That is very funny!🤣