Fascinating deep-dive! The Tacitus connection really underscores how ancient texts get weaponzied for modern mythmaking. I worked in Eastern Europe for a bit and saw how historical narratives shape current identities, but dunno if I fully grasped the folklore mechanism until reading this. Wagner pulling from Tacitus' Germania to craft a unifying myth, then the Wagner Group co-opting that same lineage for legitimacy is such a layered manipulation. The bridge as liteally and metaphorically dividing worlds tracks perfectly.
Fascinating deep-dive! The Tacitus connection really underscores how ancient texts get weaponzied for modern mythmaking. I worked in Eastern Europe for a bit and saw how historical narratives shape current identities, but dunno if I fully grasped the folklore mechanism until reading this. Wagner pulling from Tacitus' Germania to craft a unifying myth, then the Wagner Group co-opting that same lineage for legitimacy is such a layered manipulation. The bridge as liteally and metaphorically dividing worlds tracks perfectly.