I was listening to the History of Rome podcast, and I became interested in knowing what type of societies existed amongst Germanic peoples.
I got the impression that the tribes (is that even the right word?) were many and fractured, but could unite from time to time to raise huge armies. Is this accurate? How did they have such a large population?
How did these peoples produce foodstuffs? I would think they would have to be mostly farmers to support a large population, but the podcast states that they lived in heavily forested areas that don't seem to support a large network of farms.
Did these peoples have cities? Were they nomadic or semi-nomadic? How did they grow to be so large? Did they have a better diet than their roman counterparts?
What was their religion like? Did they really burn people or make other sorts of human sacrifices?
How does a fractured group of peoples successfully resist Roman effort to subjugate them?
I don't have the information to answer your question, but this similar question might interest you.
The book "Commentarii de Bello Gallico" written by Julius Caesar, has some information about the Germanic Tribes around the year 50 BC. The book covers the campaign fought by Caesar in the Gallic wars in Gaul (Modern day France) in the years 58 BC to 50 BC, and one such campaign is against some Germanic tribes, with the Suebi/Suevi being the largest tribe. Caesar mentions a few interesting points about the Germanic tribes, such as: 1: They live across the Rhine (modern day Germany) 2: They often raided into Gaul (modern day France and Belgium) 3: They brought with them women 4: They are good fighters, and brought a lot of men to the fight 5: They served as Mercenaries for the Gaulish tribes 6: Some settled in Gaul, or wanted to settle in Gaul 7: Their king Ariovistus boasts that they had lived 14 years with no roof over their heads
From this it would seem that Germanic tribes normally lived across the Rhine, but that they could also with ease move across it and fight a campaign in Gaul when they wanted to. This, and the fact that they brought with them a lot of fighters would indicate that they may have been nomadic or semi nomadic. The fact that they boast that they had lived 14 years outdoors would also point to the Germanic tribes being nomadic. As Caesar does not mention how the Suebi lived in their home region, it may be that they lived a settled life at home, and became nomadic when raiding, or they could be nomadic at all times. One reason I think that they were nomadic is the ease with which they moved into Gaul, compared to the effort the Helvetii (The first Gaulic tribe that came in conflict with Rome at the start of the Gallic wars) took when they decided to move to another place. Caesar describes in detail the efforts the Helvetii took to move their people from what today is Switzerland to another place such as saving up food, packing etc, and he does not mention this same effort by the Suebi/Suevi and other Germanic tribes, who seem to move into Gaul from across the Rhine quite fast. That they brought their women might also indicate that they were nomadic, as it would be a waste to bring women if you could not live successfully of the land, as bringing women means that you have to pack more supplies if you can't live of the land. The fact that Arovistus says they had lived 14 years outdoors would also indicate that they had were nomadic, but the fact that some of them settled in Gaul would indicate that they could settle if they wanted to. Reason for this discrepancy could simply be that Arovistus lied to make them seem tougher warriors, or it could be that they had simply been raiding for 14 years straight.
To sum up: It seems the Germanic tribes around 50 BC were nomadic or semi-nomadic, when they raided in Gaul. But it also seems they could settle if they wanted to, and may or may not have lived settled lives back home.