The Germani and the German Provinces of Rome
This chapter focuses on the Germani and the German provinces of the Roman Empire. It first considers the so-called ‘ethnic interpretation’ of the archaeological data in the lands between Danube, Rhine, and Elbe before discussing Germanic settlement and building structures among the German populations of the borderlands in the immediate contact zone of the limes. It then examines the significance of Roman imports into Germanic Barbaricum, along with the rise of Germanic elites under the influence of, in conjunction with, and sometimes dependent on Rome. It also considers the development of the military within western Germanic Barbaricum, with emphasis on patterns in the Germanic context as a driving force of military development up to the Late Roman period; and the exchange of goods as the basis of economic interaction between Rome and Germany. Finally, the chapter describes the militarization of Germanic society and the transition from asymmetric to symmetric warfare.