Kind tribes speaking Germanic languages occupied a vast territory between the Rhine and Vistula, the Danube and the northern seas by the beginning of our era. Gradually gaining strength, they eventually served as the basis for the formation of many European nations. This publication includes the most significant information about the ancient Germans from ancient sources - “Notes on the Gallic War” by Gaius Julius Caesar, “Geography” by Strabo, “Roman History” by Pliny the Elder, the works of Tacitus, Plutarch, Appian, Ammianus Marcellinus and others, which describe in detail the customs of the Germanic tribes, their social structure and methods of warfare. Arranged in chronological order, the fragments tell about the most ancient period in the history of the Germans - from the Cimbri War at the end of the 2nd century BC. e., when the Romans first encountered the “northern barbarians”, before the events of the 2nd century AD. e., preceding the death of the Western Roman Empire and the formation of German states on its ruins.