Geography, Volume V: Books 10–12

by Strabo, Horace Leonard Jones (Translator)

Strabo (ca. 64 BCE to ca. 25 CE), an Asiatic Greek of Amasia in Pontus, studied at Nysa and after 44 BCE at Rome. He became a keen traveller who saw a large part of Italy, various near eastern regions including the Black Sea, various parts of Asia Minor, Egypt as far as Ethiopia, and parts of Greece. He was a long time in Alexandria where he no doubt studied mathematics, astronomy, and history.

Strabo's historical work is lost, but his most important "Geography" in seventeen books has survived. After two introductory books, numbers 3 and 4 deal with Spain and Gaul, 5 and 6 with Italy and Sicily, 7 with north and east Europe, 8-10 with Greek lands, 11-14 with the main regions of Asia and with Asia Minor, 15 with India and Iran, 16 with Assyria, Babylonia, Syria, and Arabia, 17 with Egypt and Africa. In outline he follows the great mathematical geographer Eratosthenes, but adds general descriptions of separate countries including physical, political, and historical details. A sequel to his historical memoirs, "Geography" is planned apparently for public servants rather than students--hence the accounts of physical features and of natural products. On the mathematical side it is an invaluable source of information about Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, and Posidonius.

The Loeb Classical Library edition of Strabo is in eight volumes.

Genres: History, Classics

560 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1928

About the author

born perhaps 63 BC
died perhaps 24

Geography , great work, the only extant text of Strabo, Greek historian, describes the known peoples during the reign of Augustus to the Romans.

* Στράβων

Strabo, a philosopher, lived in Asia Minor during the transitional period of the republic into the Roman Empire.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strabo

Reviews

[Collwyn]

Remarkable atticizing koine prose.
Very i yetesting to see how ppl then saw the world and how much they - already - knew about it.

[James Violand]

Strabo was the geographer of the Ancient World. He not only traveled, but he relied on the recorded geographies of other writers to fill the gaps in his knowledge (which was pretty extensive). It is interesting to read of those places we are familiar with but as they were two thousand years ago. Not for those who aren't interested in the ancient world.

[Vicki Cline]

Book 10 - Euboea, Crete, other islands
Book 11 - Russia east of the Don, the Transcaucasus, northwest Iran, Central Asia
Book 12 - Anatolia