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A famous sentence of Tacitus shapes our picture: the Germani thought it unworthy to confine their gods in human form and within temple walls. But archaeology shows a subtler picture.
The cult lived above all in sacred groves, at springs and bogs, not in statues. Symbols and consecrated signs could represent the deity without "depicting" it.
At the same time, simple, often forked wooden idols were found in bogs, for instance from Braak, Broddenbjerg or Oberdorla. Some are barely worked branches with hinted faces or sexual features. They show: pictorial cult signs did exist – only differently from what Rome knew.
"They do not think it worthy to shut gods within walls or to represent them in human form."after Tacitus, Germania 9 (public domain, own translation)
The idols show the peculiarity of the Germanic cult. Continue with the Germanic sacrifices and the Irminsul.
Germanic Sacrifice & Sanctuaries · The grove of the Semnones · The Irminsul · Nerthus – the earth goddess · Germanic Religion.
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