The
Aesti (or
Aestii) were a people described by the
Roman historian
Tacitus in his treatise
Germania (ca. 98 CE).Tacitus,
Germania,
Germania.XLV According to this account, the Aestii lived on the shore of the Suebian Sea (
Baltic Sea), eastward of the
Suiones (Scandinavians) and westward of the
Sitones. They were a population of Suebia. Tacitus did not know whether to assign the nearby
Fenni to Germania or
Sarmatia (which extended as far west as the
Vistula in places).
Historical sources
Tacitus
.The ancient writers, beginning with Tacitus, who was the first Roman author to mention them in his
Germania, provide very little information on the Aestii.For a theory that the Aestii are the
Osismii of
Strabo and the Ostimii of
Pytheas also mentioned by Strabo, see This is not a majority view as there is evidence of the continuity of the
Osismii in France. Although Tacitus never travelled to
Magna Germania himself and only recorded information he had obtained from others, the short ethnographic excursus below is the most detailed ancient account of the Aestii that we have:
<blockquote>"Upon the right of the Suebian Sea the Aestian nations reside, who use the same customs and attire with the Suebians; their language more resembles that of Britain. They worship the Mother of the Gods. As the characteristic of their national superstition, they wear the images of wild boars. This alone serves them for arms, this is the...
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