
A page from Isaac Casaubon's 1620
edition of
Geographica.
Strabo ( ; 63/64 BC – ca. AD 24) was a
Greek historian,
geographer and
philosopher.
Life
Strabo was
born to an affluent family from Amaseia
in Pontus (modern Amasya
, Turkey
), a city
which he said to be situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km
from the Black sea. Pontus had recently fallen to the
Roman Empire, and although politically
he was a proponent of Roman
imperialism,
Strabo belonged on his mother's side to a prominent family whose
members had held important positions under the resisting regime of
Mithridates the Great.
Strabo's
life was characterized by extensive travels to Egypt
and Kush; as far west as coastal Tuscany and as
far south as Ethiopia; in addition to his traverse of Asia Minor
and time spent in Rome. Travel throughout the mediterranean
and near east, especially of scholarly purposes, was popular during
this era , as facilitated by the relative peace enjoyed throughout
the reign of
Augustus (27 BC - AD 14). He
moved to Rome in 44 BC, and stayed there, studying and writing,
until at least 31 BC.
In 29 BC, on his way to Corinth
(where
Augustus was at the time), he visited the Island of Gyaros in the
Aegean Sea for several years. Around 25 BC, he sailed up the
Nile until reaching Philae, after which point there is little
record of his proceedings until 17 AD, when he returned to Rome to
finish compiling a final draft of his
Geography during his
final years.
It is not known precisely when Strabo's
Geography was
written, though comments within the work itself place the finished
version within the reign of Emperor
Tiberius. Some place its first drafts around 7 AD,
others around 18 AD. Last dateable mention is given to the death in
23 AD of
Juba II, king of Maurousia
(
Mauretania), who is said to have died
"just recently".On the presumption that "recently" means within a
year, Strabo stopped writing that year or the next (24 AD), when he
died.
The first of Strabo's major works,
Historical Sketches,
written while he was in Rome (ca. 20 BC), is nearly completely
lost. Meant to cover the history of the known world from the
conquest of Greece by the Romans, Strabo quotes it himself and
other classical authors mention that it existed, although the only
surviving document is a fragment of papyrus now in possession of
the
University of Milan
(renumbered [Papyrus] 46).
Several different dates have been proposed for Strabo's death, but
most of them conclude that he died shortly after 23 AD.
Education
Strabo studied under several prominent teachers of various
specialties throughout his early life, at different stops along his
mediterranean travels.
His first chapter of education took place in
Nysa (modern Sultanhisar
, Turkey), under the master of rhetoric Aristodemus,
who had formerly taught the sons of the very same Roman general who
had taken over Pontus. Aristodemus was the head of two schools of
rhetoric and grammar, one in Nysa and one in Rhodes
, the former
of the two cities possessing a distinct intellectual curiosity of
Homeric literature and the interpretation of epics. To this
effect it should be noted that Strabo was indeed an admirer of
Homer's poetry, perhaps a consequence of his time spent in Nysa
with Aristodemus.
Around the age of 20 Strabo then first moved to Rome, where he
studied philosophy with the
Peripatetic
Xenarchus, a highly respected tutor in
Augustus' court. Despite Xenarchus' Aristotelian leanings, Strabo
later gives evidence to have formed his own
Stoic inclinations. In Rome he also learned grammar
under the rich and famous scholar
Tyrannion of Amisus. Although Tyrannion
was also a Peripatetic, he was more relevantly a respected
authority on geography, a fact obviously significant considering
Strabo's future contributions to the field.The final noteworthy
mentor to Strabo is
Athenodorus
Cananites, a philosopher who had spent his life since 44 BC in
Rome forging relationships with the Roman elite. Athenodorus
endowed to Strabo three important items: his philosophy, his
knowledge, and his contacts. Unlike the Aristotelian Xenarchus and
Tyrannion that preceded him in teaching Strabo, Athenodorus was
Stoic in mindset, almost certainly the source of Strabo's diversion
from the philosophy of his former mentors. Secondly, from his own
experiences he provided Strabo with information of regions of the
empire that would eventually be incorporated in his
Geography, specifically the cities of Tarsus, further
south on Asia Minor than Strabo's Pontus, and Petra, just north of
the Red Sea. Finally, Athenodorus' noteworthy relationship with
individuals of influence, including Cicero and the Roman Emperor,
undoubtedly aided Strabo's integration into Roman high
society.
In general Strabo was very reverent of the academic process and
valued his own education as integral for his various works. He is
even quoted in expressing a responsibility that he felt to refer
'legends that have been taught us from boyhood' in his writings.
Strabo supported the notion of a broad and multifarious education,
consistent with the Greek and Roman approach to education
characteristic of the Hellenistic era, that recommended an
encyclopedic acquisition of knowledge as a means of attaining
learned status in any of the primary realms of study. Given the
multitude of respected intellectual mentors with which he was
provided study, Strabo accumulated a substantial knowledge of
terrestrial and celestial sciences, in addition to a worldly
knowledge as developed from frequent interaction with eclectic but
like-minded scholars. From this foundation he was thus prepared to
contribute to the environment of popular knowledge, especially
geographical knowledge, such as he did.
The Geography
Strabo is mostly famous for his 17-volume work
Geographica, which presented a descriptive history of
people and places from different regions of the world known to his
era.

Map of Europe according to
Strabo
Although the
Geographica was rarely utilized in its
contemporary antiquity, a multitude of copies are found throughout
the
Byzantine Empire. It first
appeared in Western Europe in Rome as a Latin translation issued
around 1469.
Isaac Casaubon,
classical scholar and editor of Greek texts, provided the first
critical edition in 1587.
Although Strabo referenced the antique Greek astronomers
Eratosthenes and Hipparchus and acknowledged their astronomical and
mathematical efforts towards geography, he claimed that a
descriptive approach was more practical, such that his works were
designed for statesmen who were more anthropologically than
numerically concerned with the character of countries and
regions.
As such,
Geographica provides a valuable source of
information on the ancient world, especially when this information
is corroborated by other sources.
Within the books of
Geographica is a map of Europe
(
see image at right).
Notes
- Strabo ("squinty") was a term employed by the Romans
for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of
Pompey was called
"Pompeius
Strabo." A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see
things at great distance as if they were nearby was also called
"Strabo."
- Geography Book XII Chapter 3 Section 15, "Amaseia, my
fatherland."
- Pontus fell to the
Roman general Pompey in 63
BC and, after the murder or suicide of Mithridates VI of Pontus (otherwise
known as Mithridates the Great), was broken up into smaller
provinces in 64 BC. Strabo in Book 12 Chapter 3 Section 41 states
that the Romans took possession of Bithynia "a little before my time", setting the
date of his birth to after 63 BC.
- with prefect of Egypt Aelius Gallus, who had been sent on a
military mission to Arabia
- Strabonis Geographica, Book 17, Chapter 7.
- he mentions all or most of his teachers as prominent citizens
of their own respective cities
- (see note 3.)
- this also highlights the international trend of the era that
Greek intellectuals would often instruct the Roman elite
- It may be noted that Aristodemus was also the grandson of the
famous Posidonius,
whose influence is manifest in Strabo's Geography
- largely due to his future teacher Athenodorus, tutor of
Augustus,
- thus completing his traditional education of Greek aristocracy;
namely rhetoric, grammar, & philosophy
- Tyrannion was known to have befriended Cicero and taught his
nephew, Quintus
References
- "Strabo." Encyclopaedia Britannica. 15th ed. 1998. 296-97.
Print.
- Strabonis Geographica. Recens. G.
Kramer. Ed. minor, with Latin annotations
at Google Books
- "Biography of Strabo", Tufts, webpage: Bio-Strabo.
Secondary Readings
- Dueck, Daniela. Strabo of Amasia Greek Man of Letters in
Augustan Rome. New York: Routledge, 2000. Print.
- Lindberg, David C. The Beginnings of Western Science The
European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, and
Institutional Context, Prehistory A.D. 1450, Second Edition. New
York: University Of Chicago, 2008. Print.
External links