as old as these three. In an earlier mention of these three peoples by Pliny the Elder it is explained that the Istvaeones lived near the Rhine. The surviving manuscripts of both Pliny and Tacitus lack any listing of specific Germanic peoples who were Istvaeones.

Although the names of these three peoples did not appear again in Roman era literature, they were used again in learned medieval literature, although different nations were included in the medieval versions. The terms were also revived