Around 98 CE, Roman historian Tacitus wrote "Germania," a ethnographic work describing the customs, societies, and virtues of Germanic tribes beyond the Rhine. The text mixed observation with moral commentary contrasting "barbarian" simplicity to Roman decadence. It became a key source for understanding ancient Northern Europe and later influenced Romantic-era poetry and nationalist literature.

Tacitus's 'Germania' provided a contrasting ethnographic perspective that influenced the Romantic notion of the 'noble savage.' This work sparked a literary fascination with the idealization of indigenous peoples, impacting poets such as Wordsworth and Coleridge in their exploration of nature and humanity.