Title: Interconnection Among Germanic Peoples in the Roman Late Republican and Early Imperial Eras: From Historical and Archaeological Sources

Program: History MA

Committee Chair: Kathrine Huntley

Committee: Kathrine Huntley, David Walker, Lisa Brady

Abstract: This thesis evaluates the cultural interactions between the Germanic peoples and neighboring societies during the Roman Late Republican and Early Imperial Eras. Roman authors traditionally portrayed the Germani as isolated barbarians and through ethnocentric and propagandistic writings, misrepresenting the Germanic people on a large scale. By combining an analysis of historical sources, such as Roman histories and ethnographies, the examination of connection through polytheistic religious practice in Western Europe and in Rome, archaeological evidence of Germanic trade and craft, and the study of settlements common to Celtic and Germanic peoples, this research demonstrates that the Germani were actively participating in large scale cultural exchanges across Europe. This study challenges the notion of Germanic isolation within ancient Europe.