Strabo

Greek geographer

• Born: 64 or 63 b.c.e.
• Birthplace: Amasia, Pontus, Asia Minor (now Amasya, Turkey)
• Died: After 23 c.e.
• Place of death: Probably Amasia, Pontus, Asia Minor (now Amasya, Turkey) or Rome (now in Italy)

Strabo wrote a description of the known inhabited world, valuable for its philosophy of geography, its historical digressions, and the current scientific notions it contains. His work stands out for its diverse subjects, encyclopedic scope, and contemporary view of the ancient world at the dawn of the Christian era.

Early Life

Strabo (STRAY-boh) was born at Amasia in Pontus, about 55 miles (90 kilometers) inland from the southeastern shore of the Black Sea. Formerly a royal capital of Pontus, Amasia was located in a deep valley on the Iris River. It was a well-fortified place, with striking mountains towering above the town. Located there were the tombs of the kings of Pontus. Amasia controlled the surrounding river valleys and villages, which doubtless contributed to its wealth. It is inferred that Strabo belonged to a rich family who could afford to give their son a good education. Although his lineage was a mixture of Asiatic and Greek, Strabo’s training and language were purely Greek.

The area had been conquered by the Romans immediately before Strabo’s birth. In the generation before, Mithradates the Great of Pontus had extended the kingdom’s borders through Asia Minor, the islands of the Aegean Sea, and the southern and eastern shores of the Black Sea. He fought the Romans Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Lucius Licinius Murena, and Lucullus before succumbing to Pompey the Great. A most formidable foe of Rome, he died about the time Strabo was born.

Strabo thus grew up appreciating both the power of Rome and the legacy of Pontus. His mother’s ancestors had been on close terms with the royal house, and one of them, the general Dorylaus Tacticus, had been a friend of King Mithradates V Euergetes. Mithradates the Great patronized Strabo’s great-grandfather Lagetas and granduncle Moaphernes, appointing the latter to a governorship. The king also made Dorylaus’s nephew the priest of Ma at Comana, a position that gave him power second only to Mithradates himself.

Strabo’s education in grammar and rhetoric included lessons from Aristodemus, who was also the tutor of Pompey’s sons. When he was nineteen or twenty years old, Strabo went to Rome and was instructed by Tyrannio, a tutor of Cicero’s sons and an expert on geography. It is likely that Strabo got his passion for the subject from this master. Also in Rome, Strabo learned from Xenarchus, who, like Tyrannio, was an Aristotelian. Nevertheless, references throughout the Geōgraphica (c. 7 b.c.e.; Geography, 1917-1933) indicate that Strabo became a follower of the Stoics, perhaps under the influence of Augustus’s teacher and friend Athenodorus. In addition to his early educational trips, Strabo made other visits to Rome, most likely in 35 and 29.

As a youth, Strabo read widely and became especially enamored of Homer, as shown by his later passionate defense of the epics’ historical and geographical accuracy. He also read Herodotus’s Historiai Herodotou (c. 424 b.c.e.; The History, 1709), which he did not value, and the work of Polybius, which he considered useful and accurate. He became familiar with the historical, scientific, and geographical works of Posidonius, Eratosthenes of Cyrene, Hipparchus, Artemidorus, and Ephorus. In addition, Strabo read the works of the historians of Alexander the Great, especially concerning Alexander’s eastern travels.

By adulthood, Strabo had visited a good portion of Asia Minor and made several trips to Rome. He had met influential Romans and Greeks and had been introduced to the best in literature and history—all of which were to influence his later writings.

Life’s Work

Probably between 25 and 19, Strabo resided in Alexandria, Egypt. At the beginning of his sojourn there, he accompanied his friend Aelius Gallus, the Roman prefect of Egypt, on a trip up the Nile River, reaching the border of Ethiopia. His time in Egypt gave him opportunity to observe the country—and perhaps to use the library at Alexandria. Afterward, he returned to Rome for an undetermined amount of time.

Strabo’s travels continued through his life and reached as far west as Etruria and as far east as the border of Armenia, south to the northern edge of Ethiopia, and north to the Black Sea. Around 26, Strabo wrote a historical work, now known as Historical Memoirs, none of which has survived, although Plutarch and Flavius Josephus refer to it. It comprised forty-three books, covering the period from the destruction of Corinth and Carthage in 146 b.c.e. to (perhaps) the Battle of Actium in 31 b.c.e., thus forming a continuation of Polybius’s history.

Strabo’s magnum opus was the Geography, a work in seventeen books describing the inhabited world of the three continents Europe, Asia, and Africa. Its scope included mathematical, physical, political, and historical aspects of geography. His was a general treatise on the subject: the first ancient attempt to synthesize all known geographical knowledge.

The first two books of the Geography deal with the history of the discipline, including attacks on the ideas of Eratosthenes and others, whom Strabo considered to have made mistakes in their published works on geography. He discourses at length on Homer, naming him the first geographer. Strabo was often at pains to “prove Homer right” and saw the ship catalog in the second book of the Iliad (c. 750 b.c.e.; English translation, 1611) as preserving historical locales and the voyages of Odysseus and Jason’s quest for the Golden Fleece as actual events. Strabo also suggests that as the inhabited world that he knows only makes up one-third of the temperate zone, it is likely that other continents exist.

Apparently not relying on Roman writers, Strabo addresses Spain in book 3, drawing mainly on Greek sources in his description of the natural resources and physical traits of the country. This book also makes mention of the mythical island home of Geryon and the Tin Islands, which Strabo does not recognize as connected with Britain in any way.

Relying heavily on the Comentarii de bello Gallico (52-51 b.c.e.) and the Comentarii de bello cinli (45 b.c.e.; both translated into English as Commentaries, 1609) of Julius Caesar, Strabo wrote the fourth book about Britain, France, and the Alps. Although he used Caesar’s description of the Gallic tribes, for some reason Strabo ignored his descriptions of the dimensions of Britain, thereby making the island much broader and shorter than it actually is. Strabo believed that Ireland lay to the north of Britain. His description of the Alps is somewhat accurate, including discussions of trade, alpine passes, and avalanches.

Because maps of Italy and the surrounding islands were common in his day, Strabo probably had one before him while writing about this area in his fifth and sixth books. In addition, Strabo was personally familiar with Italy and aware of several Greek and Roman writers on the subject. Impressive in this section is his description of Mount Vesuvius, which he describes as having every appearance of a volcano, although it had not erupted in living memory. His words were oddly appropriate, for Vesuvius erupted in 79 c.e. Strabo never visited Sicily, so his description is not as accurate as that of Italy proper, but his descriptions of the volcanic activity of Mount Etna and the Aeolian Islands are well done.

Northern Europe forms the bulk of the seventh book, and the lack of information handicapping Strabo is very evident in this section. It is strange that Strabo ignores things that the Romans knew about these regions: the amber trade and the testimony of Herodotus about the region. When he describes the area north of the Black Sea, however, his accuracy increases, probably because of Mithradates’ recent conquests in the area.

The next three books deal with Greece and its islands and is surprisingly lacking in geographical information; Strabo probably assumed that his readers were familiar with the area, and Strabo knew little of it at first hand. In addition, his preoccupation with identifying sites mentioned in the Homeric catalog of ships skewed Strabo’s account here. Finally, Greece’s diminished status in the period left little outstanding to describe. Many cities lay in ruin, while others were reduced to the status of sleepy villages in Strabo’s lifetime. His interest in volcanoes does not flag in this section, which describes the volcanic activity of mountains at Thera and near Methone.

Books 11 through 16 deal with Asia. Strabo’s accounts of Asia Minor—especially the northern sections—are rather accurate, for he had seen much of it, his home being in Pontus. The section includes a discussion of the site of Homeric Troy. Strabo believed that the Caspian Sea connected to the northern ocean and even describes what a sailor would see while sailing southward into this arm of the surrounding sea. Strabo admits that he knows nothing about the extreme north of Asia, and, although he knows the name of silk producers, he does not mention the silk trade at all, although it had already become quite important. He provides an interesting account of India, derived from the lost works of those who accompanied Alexander the Great to that land. Strabo concentrates on the customs of the inhabitants there—at the expense of the actual geography of the territory. Africa, the subject of the seventeenth book, is well described along the Nile because of Strabo’s acquaintance with the territory. He describes the antiquities of the land and gives an account of the Ethiopians. The rest of Africa is not as well delineated; in fact, Strabo reduced its size by more than two-thirds, having no idea how far to the south it actually extended. In fact, Strabo seems to have ignored or not to have known of the works of his younger contemporary Juba II, king of Mauretania, who had written extensively on North African geography and history.

Strabo died some time after completing the Geography, possibly in his homeland. His acquaintance with eminent Romans of his time and the admiration for the Roman Empire, which he consistently shows in his writing, could not ensure instant success at Rome for his work, which came to be appreciated only by later generations.

Significance

Strabo said that his work would be useful to administrators and generals, calling geography a practical and philosophical science. He thus avoids tedious listings of the insignificant in favor of major points relating to places under discussion. His work is encyclopedic and comprehensive—a storehouse of information about his world.

The date and place of composition are uncertain. The latest date in it is 23 c.e., but few believe that he began his work in his eighties. It has been argued that he composed it while in his fifties, around 7 b.c.e., and later revised, for it lacks references to events between 3 b.c.e. and 19 c.e. Rome seems a likely place for its publication, but some have argued that Strabo returned to Amasia to write it, because Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy ignore the work. Had it been published in Rome, one would expect that it would have gained some attention. In fact, however, there are only a few minor references to the Geography before Stephanus of Byzantium made frequent use of it at the end of the fifth century c.e. Other possibilities for Strabo’s residence at the end of his life include the eastern Mediterranean region or Naples.

Although Strabo boasts of his wide travels, he evidently did not make detailed studies of all the places he visited. He probably saw Cyrene in Libya only as he sailed by and probably did not even visit Athens. In Italy, he kept to the main roads leading to and from Rome.

Strabo assumed a spherical Earth at the center of the universe. An island surrounded by ocean, it was admissible of being divided into five zones, uninhabitable at the extreme north because of the cold and at the extreme south because of the heat. Aside from assuming a geocentric universe, Strabo made a number of mistakes, mainly resulting from the lack of accurate observations and reliable sources of information. Where data were available, they were often misleading. As a result, he distorted the shape of the whole of the Mediterranean and Europe. Other mistakes include the assumption that the northern coast of Africa was practically a straight line, and that a line from the Pillars of Hercules to the Strait of Messina was equidistant from Europe and Africa. Also in error are his statements that the Pyrenees form a line from north to south, that Cape St. Vincent is the most westerly point of Europe, and that eastern Crete does not extend much to the east of Sunium Promontorium (when in fact four-fifths of the entire island lies east of it). Describing Palestine, he asserted that the Jordan River flowed into the Mediterranean Sea, being navigable for ships sailing east from the sea.

In spite of its inaccuracies, Strabo’s Geography is the most important geographical treatise from the ancient world. Its great value lies not only in his own observations that, when firsthand, are accurate and lucid—but also in the preservation of so many previous authors whose work it summarizes, especially Eratosthenes and Posidonius.

Bibliography

Bunbury, E. H. A History of Ancient Geography Among the Greeks and Romans from the Earliest Ages till the Fall of the Roman Empire. 1879. Reprint. Amsterdam: J. C. Gieben, 1979. The standard handbook on the subject of ancient geography. Putting Strabo in historical perspective, it has four long sections on the Geography, with detailed discussions of each book, commenting on Strabo’s sources, errors, and value. With maps, notes, and an index.

Dilke, O. A. W. Greek and Roman Maps. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. Evidence for cartography in the ancient world, from the work in Mesopotamia to the Renaissance. Chapters on ancient Greece and geographical writers, the latter containing a section on Strabo: his cartographic terms, construction of a globe, contribution to mapmaking, use of myth, and lack of scientific accuracy. Contains maps, charts, photographs, notes, appendices, and bibliography, and an index.

Dueck, Daniela. Strabo of Amasia: A Greek Man of Letters in Augustan Rome. New York: Routledge, 2000. A biography that covers the life and works of the ancient geographer. Bibliography and index.

Kish, George. A Source Book in Geography. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1978. Selections from Strabo and other ancient geographers, putting the Geography in context. Casts light on the geographical theory. Includes selections from Plato, Aristotle, Greek travelers’ reports, Greek heliocentric theory, and selections from Strabo on geography in general, the inhabited world, changes in the earth, volcanoes, and Asian lands.

Magie, David. Roman Rule in Asia Minor to the End of the Third Century After Christ. 2 vols. New York: Arno Press, 1975. Exhaustive historical discussion of Strabo’s homeland. Essential for understanding the geographer’s background. A chapter on “The Rise of the Power of Pontus,” chapters on Mithradates, Pompey, and the years of Strabo’s youth. Told from the Roman perspective, it is dependent on Strabo’s Geography as the copious notes show.

Strabo. The “Geography” of Strabo with an English Translation. Translated by Horace Leonard Jones. 8 vols. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1982-1989. Contains the complete Greek text and English translation, with notes and bibliography. Includes diagrams illustrating complex mathematical discussions, maps, and index. Useful introduction discusses Strabo’s life and works. Identifies the sources of Strabo’s many quotations, contains useful cross-references, and points out textual variations.

Thomson, J. Oliver. History of Ancient Geography. New York: Biblo and Tannen, 1965. Numerous useful maps and pertinent chapters on geography in the Roman Republic, theory in the same period, and the great days of the Roman Empire. With a brief section on Strabo. Contains an index and addenda.