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Germanen unsere vorfahre = Teutons, our ancestors

Outer - 2 - Teutons our ancesters.jpg

The Teutons (Latin: Teutones, Teutoni, Ancient Greek: Τεύτονες) were an ancient northern European tribe mentioned by Roman authors. The Teutons are best known for their participation, together with the Cimbri and other groups, in the Cimbrian War with the Roman Republic in the late second century BC.

Julius Caesar described them as a Germanic people, a term he applied to all northern peoples located east of the Rhine, and later Roman authors followed him. On one hand, there is no direct evidence that they spoke a Germanic language, and evidence such as their name, and the names of their rulers, indicates at least a strong influence from Celtic languages. On the other hand the indications that classical authors gave about the homeland of the Teutones is considered by many scholars to show that they lived in an area associated with early Germanic languages, and not Celtic languages.

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