Kid gloves and a skeptics touch? Nevertheless you invite a more vigorous inquiry to dissect and analyze the other so-called “peoples” of Rome’s passing mention, especially the “presumably” germanic oddities, like the Suevi, or the Allemans or the particularly non-germanic sounding, and clearly slavic-derived Cherusci.

Wends and Vandals, and “Ostrogoths” also seem almost transparently slavic, or at the least confederational with considerable slavic elements.

This could be its own blog, since the R1a genepool has been in place in central Europe since 1500 b.c., so lots of this talk about “identity” seems so much after-the-fact politics that historians need to sober up about and finally shed the Nazi brainwash.

Europe is a Slavic continent, either because of superior fertility or because of superior delivery. Europe’s fathers are R1a, since 1500 b.c. The Romans seem a blip on the map genepool-wise. Everyone else appears just an also-ran. Is my math wrong? The Veneti appear to have spread far and wide. Mislabelled? misunderstood? over-attributed? Lots of syllables that miss the point. Europe wasn’t born in 475 A.D.

I’d sure love to hear some input about “Suevi” (slavs) in Iberia with a capital named “Braga” (Prague??) and some good arguments why “Cossacks” didn’t also occur in 100 A.D. or 200 A.D. or 300 A.D.

This might be the egg nog talking, but Merry Christmas, and thanks for this excellent, excellent website.