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Born in Embers

The Beginning of History

Around 500 BC the peoples of central Europe and thus also the inhabitants of our region emerge from their historical anonymity for the first time.

Greek and Roman written sources now transmit the names and settlement areas of tribes and ethnic groups. The naming of the Scythians and Celts was pivotal, serving more as a geographical division from east to west.

As the last of these peoples classified as barbarians by the Mediterranean cultures are named the Teutons; doubtless not until 80 BC by Poseidonios. The age and origin of the name remain controversial. Around 53 BC Julius Caesar declared – politically motivated, generalising, but inaccurate – the Rhine to be the cultural divide between ›Gauls‹ on the west bank and ›Teutons‹ east of the river. Heterogeneous mixtures of peoples were divided into two opposing civilisation blocks that did not exist in this constellation.

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