Archimedes' Black Forest Connection

“In the gods' number, they alone consider whom they perceive, and by whose powers they are openly assisted, the sun and fire and the moon (Deorum numero eos solos ducunt, quos cernunt et quorum aperte opibus iuvantur, Solem et Valcanum et Luman)"—"Commentaries on the Gallic War."



Once, vast forests covered most of Western Europe; many of the old-growth trees survived into the Middle Ages, and beyond. The "EndangeredSpeciesHandbook" said many were still there until just recently.  But despite this terrible loss, the history will never vanish.

Black forest magic didn’t build the mechanized clocks of Europe, but their works did come from Archimedes. When Rome sacked Syracuse, circa 212 B.C., Roman soldiers stoled the blueprints. 

"The deciduous and mixed pine forests lost ground to the increased populations of towns and cites only in the last few centuries.  In Scandinavia, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, tree farms now take the place of the old-growth forests; other forests were replaced by agriculture and grazing."

Yet, mention the “black forest” and carvings, clocks and eerie dark shadows come to mind.  Witches, lost children and cautionary tales shroud old-growth forests.  And, of course, wizened old men — carving wood.

Named after a tiny area in southwest Germany, the “silva nigra” (as the Romans called it), came to symbolize all that was ancient, dark and rustling in the high winds. Dwarfs lived there, and wicked stepmothers too.  The tales made famous by the Brothers Grimm.

The forests in the ancient world of Europe were dangerous, but most of the more important legends (historical tales anyway), weren’t mentioned to frighten the children.  They seem to be there to help others, and in some cases, cast wonder or amazement.  

In Norbert Krapf’s “Beneath the Cherry Sapling,” for example, a legend from ancient Franconia reads true.  It created a signpost to danger that certainly helped many lost and hungry travelers.

Titled, “Die Glock zu Lohr” (“The Bell at Lohr”), it records the story of a Count who became lost in the Spessart Forest (a range of low wooded mountains, in the States of Bavaria and Hesse in Germany).  According to the story, he was saved by the sound of a ringing church bell. 

After wandering for days (although how long he is not clear), he sat under a tree at nightfall.  In the quiet of the canopy he heard a bell, and was able to follow the sound to Lohr.  After much needed food and rest, he requested the bell be rung every night to help other travelers find their way.  It has been rung every night for centuries.  Only recently, according to Krapf’s translation, has the tradition ended.

Many in Germany still celebrate the Battle of Teutoburg Forest. Old-Growth forests, well known or unimagined, brought insight. Whether it’s E.T.A. Hoffmann’s tales or the forest’s cuckoo clocks.

Long before this story was recorded, the Romans had looked across the Rhine.  Sometime in or prior to the second century B.C., according to Dan C. Heinemeier, major upheavals among the Germanic tribes caused them to push south and west into Celtic lands.  In his book, “A Social History of Hesse,” Heinemeier wrote “by about the time of the birth of Christ this period culminated in the Germanization of the whole entire area of modern Germany west to the Rhine and south into modern Bavaria.  (It was here) the marauding invaders ran into the solid bulwark of Roman power.”

The Germanic people were made up of individual tribes, much the same as Native Americans in the United States.  According to Heinemeier, it was a matter of personal honor to exact revenge from neighboring clans or tribes for any slight or injury to one of their own.  This ultimately led to “courts” leveling fines in sheep and cattle for killing and wounding others, and much later payments in money.  It kept the violence and retribution from getting out of hand.

But Rome had no rights here.  They pushed across the Rhine in the late first century B.C., Heinemeier said.  But Heinemeier's historical account suggests Roman soldiers were defending Roman Gaul.  Prior to Rome’s assault, a major attack by the tribes of Sugambri, Cherusci and Quadi started a conflict with Rome.  It was after being attacked that the Romans took the tribes more seriously.  The fighting was hard though, and Rome suffered defeats.  The legions were disciplined to strengthen fighting skills. 

This map predates the Roman Empire; it helps show how far south and west the tribes traveled.  The Rhine  boarders France in the southwest corner of Germany, just north of Switzerland. (The map shared here is from shoreline.edu, in accordance with Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 legal code.)

(When Caesar sent his dispatch to Rome about "perceived gods"—sometime between 58 B.C. and 50 B.C.—the Germanic tribes were the people he wrote about.)

Latin scholars (Mueller et al.) believe the wartime dispatches were written as reports to the Roman Senate, but also to the people (like Putin does today for the people of Russian).  Although the Roman's portrayed the war as preemptive and defensive (especially regarding the Germanic fight), the march to Gallorum (France), and the ensuing conflicts were fought primarily to boost Caesar's political career.

But the tribesmen Caesar wrote about did not hide behind trees and just attack others.  Accounts by the Roman historian, Tacitus, reported that the land was “productive of grain and rich in flocks and herds.”

So how did their land become a dark canopy harboring nothing but lost children, witches, dwarfs, mysterious clocks and chocolate cake smothered in wild cherries?  Especially in a land where agriculture, domesticated animals and even the rule of law flourished?

Hienemeier said the Germanic tribes that came in contact with Rome progressed toward a more settled existence beyond what previously had been possible.  But even prior to this the tribes had fields of barely, oats and wheat, along with flax for making linen and the exploitation of wild plants such as plums, wild cherries and hazel nuts.

Historic Latin texts, and contemporary understanding of Caesar’s dispatch (quoted at the top of this story), suggest the Germanic tribes fought with their gods at their side; and they worshiped only those they could see and feel. Simply, their gods walked among them.  The god, Baldur, The Bright, for example (at least according to Jakob Grimm), was a god of light…and a pure innocent, almost feminine, Grimm said.  His heavenly home was called Breitablick (Broad Glitter), which could be a reference to the Milky Way.

Caesar said in his report that the other gods (Rome’s, no doubt) hadn’t even been heard of, "(not) even by report.”

Imagine a people too stupid to know that Rome had better gods?  Today we still marvel at the mysteries of the black forest, and other ancient forests of antiquity. The Germanic tribes had real power.  Rome feared this, and as the Battle of Teutoburg Forest showed (decades after the death of Caesar), rightly so.



(What better way to vilify a people than to tell tall tales? Peasants who worship inferior gods and live like animals in forests?  Certainly, they must be defeated for their own good).

“Later in the Roman period,” Heinemeier said, “the tribes had shifted their loyalties to Wodan or Oden, whose character and abilities are not fully understood."  But the sun, fire and the moon (Solem te Valcanum et Luman) were understood.

The tribes worshiped local spirits inhabiting sacred groves, springs and forests. The oak were very sacred, as were some beech, ash and thorn trees.  Wind in the foliage became god’s speech.

But naturally, the Roman gods were better and more powerful....

Sun, Fire and Moon gods defeated Rome.  And just as the night sky was important to many ancient societies, it was in Germany as well.  Imagine a full moon in a forested glen in tribal Germany.  The gods of  the Germanic tribes ruled both day and night, and the tribes could see and feel them — and ask for favors.  They did not need Rome, and they most certainly bristled at their arrogance.

Most Western European, old-growth forests are gone now, but their traditions and history live on.  And good or bad, Rome played a part.  Rome didn’t bake the first black forest cake, but their conquests did reach Europe, and even transported stolen technology (and especially the Antikythera mechanism) that without question wound up playing a roll in the development of the black forest cuckoo clock.

For many ancient societies the stars held real power and understanding (just as they helped the Germanic tribes). One mathematician in the ancient world even mechanized a working planetarium, and in a twist of fate, started a journey to Europe.