That which Homer darkly
scription of Greece, for which he could have derived knew or half guessed, has no value except as an
excellent materials from Herodotus.
scription of Greece, for which he could have derived knew or half guessed, has no value except as an
excellent materials from Herodotus.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - c
The jealousy of Cn.
Pom-
STRABAX, a sculptor, known by an inscrip- peius, the successor of Lucullus, made him refuse
tion on a pedestal found on the Acropolis, in front every thing to the friends of Lucullus. Moa-
of the western portico of the Parthenon. This phernes, the uncle of Strabo's mother, and probably
pedestal bears two inscriptions ; the one is on the her father's brother, was governor of Colchis under
front, from which we learn that it supported an ho- Mithridates the Great, and his fortunes were ruined
norific statue erected by the Areiopagus ; the other with those of the king.
is on the top, by the side of the print of two bronze The period of Strabo is generally well known
feet, and runs thus : ETPABAEESOHEN. From from his own work. He lived during the reign of
the form of the letters, Ross supposes that the Augustus, and at least during the first five years of
artist lived in the middle of the 4th century B. C. , the reign of Tiberius, for he speaks of the great
that is, in the time of Praxiteles. (Ross, in Ger- earthquake of Sardis, which happened in the time
hard's Archäologische Zeitung for 1844, p. 243 ; 1 of Tiberius (p. 626 ; Tacit. Ann. ii. 47). The
9
3 N 2
## p. 916 (#932) ############################################
916
STRABO.
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1
1
year nf his birth is not ascertained; but it has was written after such time ; but Groskurd does
been fixed by some writers by a conjecture founded make such inferences. At the close of the sixth
on several passages in the geography, about B. c. book (p. 288) Strabo speaks of Caesar Germanicus
66. In B. c. 29 Strabo was at Gyaros, and on as still living. Germanicus died in Syria in A. D.
his voyage to Corinth. Octavianus Caesar was 20 (19); and Groskurd concludes that the sixth
then at Corinth, and on his road to Italy to cele- book was written in A. D. 19. The true conclusion
brate the triumph of his victory at Actium (p. 485). is that this passage was written before A. D. 19.
Strabo was probably on his way to Italy and It has been shown that Strabo was writing after
Rome, where he spent several years. In 1. c. 24, A. D. 19, and yet the passage at the end of the
Straho was with his friend Aelius Gallus in Egypt, sixth book stands as he wrote it, though Ger-
and travelled as far as Syene (p. 816). It is as- manicus was dead when he wrote the passage
sumed that he must have been a man of mature about Juba II. in the seventeenth book. This
years when he first visited Rome, but there is shows that the inference from particular passages
nothing which justifies the conjecture of making should be the strict logical inference and no more.
him cight and thirty at the time of this visit, in A passage in the fourth book (p. 206) certainly
order to establish B. c. 66 as the year of his birth. was written in A. D. 19, for Strabo there states
A passage in which Strabo says (p. 568) that he that the Carni and Taurisci had quietly paid tri-
saw P. Servilius Isauricus, has given rise to some bute for thirty-three years ; and both these tribes
discussion. This Servilius defeated the Isauri, were reduced to subjection by Tiberius and Drusus
whence he got the name Isauricus, between B. C. in B. c. 14. Groskurd concludes thus : " if Strabo
77 and 75; and he died at Rome in B. C. 44, at wrote his fourth book in his eighty-fifth year, and
the age of ninety. If Strabo saw this Isauricus, if we allow him two years for the composition of
when did he see him? As the question cannot be the first three books, he will have commenced his
satisfactorily answered, it has been assumed that work in the eighty-third year of his age ; and since
Strabo confounded Isauricus with some other dis he finished it in his eighty-eighth or ninth year, we
tinguished Roman whom he saw in Asia in his may allow for the composition of the whole work
youth, or that he has confounded him with the son six or seren years. ” This conclusion as to the age
P. Servilius Casca, who was also called Isauricus. when Strabo began his work depends on the date
But it is clear that Strabo means to say that he saw of his birth, which is unknown ; and the con-
the Isauricus who got his name from the conquest clusion as to the times at which he wrote particular
of the Isaurians. The assumed date, B. C. 66, for books is not certain.
the birth of Strabo, is too early. He was certainly Strabo had a good education. Tyrannio of Ami-
writing as late as A. D. 18; and perhaps we may sus in Pontus, a professor of grammatic, is men-
with Clinton place his birth not later than B. C. tioned by Strabo as his teacher (p. 548); but if
54. But Strabo was a pupil of Tyrannio the Tyannio went to Rome soon after the capture of
grammarian (p. 548), and Tyrannio was made pri- Amisus, Strabo must have heard him at Rome ;
soner by Lucullus in B. c. 71, and carried to Rome, and if he did not hear him at Rome as á
probably not later than B. c. 66, and perhaps youth, he must have heard him when he was
earlier. Strabo therefore was a hearer of Tyrannio of mature years. This question about Tyrannio
at Rome.
is not clear, See Clinton, Fast. Hellen. B. C.
The name Strabo (squint-eyed) is originally 58. Strabo also received instruction in gram-
Greek, though it was also used by the Romans, and matic and rhetoric from Aristodemus, at Nysa in
applied as a cognomen, among others, to the father Caria (p. 650); and he afterwards studied philo-
of Pompeius Magnus. How the geographer got sophy under Xenarchus of Seleucia in Cilicia (p.
this name we are not informed.
670), but Strabo does not say that he heard him
Groskurd infers that Strabo died about a. D 24. in Cilicia. Xenarchus finally taught at Rome,
Strabo (lib. xii. p. 576) says that Cyzicus was still where he died. Boethus of Sidon, afterwards a
a free state ; but in A. D. 25, Cyzicus lost its pri- Stoical philosopher, was the companion of Strabo
vilege as a Libera Civitas (amisere libertatem ; | in his Aristotelian studies (p. 757). Strabo seems
Tacit. Ann. iv. 36 ; Dion Cass. liv. 7). Accord to have had only moderate mathematical and astro-
ingly, Groskurd concludes that Strabo was dead in nomical knowledge, and certainly he did not pos-
A. D. 25; but this is not a necessary conclusion. sess all the knowledge of his times. He was well
We can only conclude that the passage about Cyzi- acquainted with history and the mythological tra-
cus was written before A. D. 25. In the seven- ditions of his nation; and also with the Greek
teenth and last book (p. 828, &c. ) he mentions poets, and particularly with Homer. He must
the death of Juba II. as a recent occurrence, and have had competent means to obtain a good educa-
he also mentions the fact of Juba being succeeded by tion, and as he travelled a great deal and appa-
his son Ptolemaeus. Juba died in A. D. 21. The rently had no professional or other occupation, we
conclusion that Strabo died in A. D. 24 is unsup may conclude that his father left him some pro-
ported by any evidence. We only know that he perty. It does not appear where he was living
died after a. D. 21. Groskurd's reckoning makes while he wrote his work, but wherever it was, he
Strabo attain the age of near ninety. In fact he had opportunities of being acquainted with the
may have lived after A. D. 25, and may have been chief public events that took place in the Roman
more than ninety when he died; but as the year empire.
of his birth is unknown, we cannot fix the limit of The philosophical sect to which Strabo belonged
was the Stoical, as appears plainly enough from
As to the time at which he wrote his work, we many passages in his Geography. He wrote an
know nothing more than can be collected from historical work, intitled 'lotopind Throuviuata,
particular passages, and we cannot with certainty which he mentions himself, and it is also cited hv
infer from a particular passage in a book being Plutarch (Lucullus, 28, Sulla, 26), who calls him
written after a given time, that the whole book ! Strabo the philosopher. This work, in forty-three
his age.
## p. 917 (#933) ############################################
STRABO.
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STRABO.
books, began where the history of Polybius ended, | the mythical stamp. That which gives so much
and was probably continued to the battle of Ac- real value to his work is his own personal obser-
tium (Groskurd, Transl. of Strabo, i. p. 21). vation, and the truthfulness of his description.
Strabo was a great traveller, and much of his He is the first extant writer who has treated on
geographical information is the result of his own physical geography, and on the causes now in
observation. In a passage in the second book of operation by which the earth's surface is conti-
his Geography (p. 117) he says, “ I shall accordnually undergoing change. The connection of geo.
ingly describe partly the lands and seas which graphy and history henceforth subsisted, as we see
I have travelled through myself, partly what I in the extant Greek and Roman historians, and in
have found credible in those who have given me the Ana basis of Arrian, which is founded on works
information orally or by writing. Westwards I that are now lost. The first systematic writer on
have travelled from Armenia to the parts of 'Tyr. geography was Eratosthenes, who preceded Strabo
rhenia adjacent to Sardinia ; towards the south by about three centuries. The work of Eralos-
from the Euxine to the borders of Ethiopin. And thenes was not confined to political and topogra-
perhaps there is not one among those who have phical description : of the three books, into which
written geographies who bas visited more places the work was distributed, it is said that the third
than I have between these limits ; for those who only contained particular description, and the first
have gone further to the west have not gone so far two contained a history of geography, a criticism
to the east; and others who have gone further to- of the sources of which the author availed himself,
wards the east, have not advanced so far to the and matters pertaining to physical and mathema-
west: and the case is the same with the regions rical geography: the whole was accompanied by a
between the northern and the southern limits. " new map of the world. Though this work was se-
He expressly mentions in his work having seen the verely criticised by Hipparchus, it does not appear
following countries and places: Egypt, Corinth, the that the Greeks had any other systematic treatise
island Gyarus ; Populonium, near Elba ; Comana on geography before that of Strabo. But the mate-
in Cappadocia ; Ephesus; Mylasa, Amasia, Nysa, rials for a geographical writer had been greatly
and Hierapolis in Phrygia. It follows, from this increased between the time of Eratosthenes and
enumeration, that he must have seen a great number Strabo, and those materials were partly furnished
of other places. The meagre and incorrect descrip- by historical writers, and adventurers by sea and
tion which he gives of many districts and towns land: the conquests of the Romans also had
may perhaps be taken as evidence that he derived opened countries which were almost unknown to
his knowledge of them only from books ; whereas the contemporaries of Eratosthenes.
on the contrary, the fulness and accuracy of his There is no ground for viewing the Geography
description, in other cases, may be good evidence of Strabo as a new edition of that of Eratosthenes,
that he had visited them.
though it is clear from his own work that the trea
It is certain that he saw very little of Greece: tise of Eratosthenes furnished the foundation for
he visited Corinth, Argos, Athens, Megara, and his new undertaking, and also furnished him with
the neighbourhood of those places, but this was all. many materials, which however he had to examine,
He saw no more of the Peloponnesus than he to correct, and to add to. Strabo's work, accord-
would see in going to Argos, and he did not knowing to his own expression, was not intended for
that the remains of Mycenae still existed (p. 372). the use of all persons ; and indeed no complete
It seems probable that he merely passed through geographical work can be adapted to those who
Greece on his way to Brundusium, by which route have not the necessary elementary knowledge.
he probably reached Rome. Populonium and His work was intended for all who had a
Luna were the limit of his travels to the north in good education, and particularly for those who
Italy. It was probably in Rome that he obtained were engaged in the higher departments of admi.
his information about the countries which lie north nistration ; it was designed to be a work which
of the Alps, Gallia, Germany, and also Britain, would give such persons that geographical and his-
and Spain. During his visit to Egypt he staid torical information about each country which a
some time in Alexandria, and he went up the person engaged in matters political cannot do with-
river to Syene and Philae, the southern limits of out. Consistently with this view, his plan does
Egypt. That he did not remain in Egypt, we not comprehend minute description, except when
may safely assume; but it is not clear by what the place or the object is of great interest or im-
route he left it, and the conjectures upon this portance ; nor is his description limited to the
· matter are merely guesses.
physical characteristics of each country; it com-
The oldest writings of the Greeks, the Homeric prehends the important political events of which
poems, contain geographical description blended each country has been the theatre, a notice of the
with history and fable. In the early period of chief cities and the great men who have illustrated
Greek literature, geography was nothing more than them ; in short, whatever was most characteristic
local description, and the description was made and interesting in every country. His work forms a
for other purposes than geography: it was sub- striking contrast with the geography of Ptolemaeus,
servient to poetry. The Ionian school may be and the dry list of names, occasionally relieved by
considered as having made a step towards geogra- something added to them, in the geographical por.
phical science by the attention which they paid tion of the Natural History of Plinius. It is in
to celestial phenomena, but they did nothing short a book intended for reading, and it may be
directly for geography. The history of Herodotus read ; a kind of historical geography.
is the earliest extant work in which geographical Strabo’s work has a particular value to us of the
description is blended with an historical subject. present day, owing to his method of handling the
Bat Herodotus still retains marks of the charac-subject: he has preserred a great number of histo-
teristic early literature of Greece: his history is rical facts for which we have no other evidence
an epic poem ; his general geography still bears than his work. His language is generally clear,
3 N 3
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STRABO.
STRABO.
1
1
1
1
1
except in those passages where the text has been readers, an object which Strabo clearly admits, the
corrupted ; it is appropriate to the matter, simple reduction of works within reasonable limits was
and without affectation.
at that time, even more than now, necessary, in
It is objected to Strabo that he has undervalued order to ensure their circulation.
Herodotus, and puts him on the same footing as The use that Strabo has made of Homer, is
Ctesias. The work of Herodotus was perhaps another objection to his work. Like many other
hardly appreciated, as it deserved to be, by any Greeks, Strabo viewed the old national poet as the
writer of antiquity; and it is a well grounded representative of all knowledge ; and considered
complaint against Strabo that he could not or did with respect to his own time, the Homeric poems
not choose to discriminate between the stories are the representation of all that was then known, at
which Herodotus tells simply as stories which he least of history and geography. But the way in
heard, and that which is the result of the personal which Strabo, particularly in his first book, labours
observation of Herodotus. There are many parts to give a meaning to what the poet has said, is
of the geography of Strabo, particularly his de- highly uncritical.
That which Homer darkly
scription of Greece, for which he could have derived knew or half guessed, has no value except as an
excellent materials from Herodotus. Strabo has index of the state of geographical knowledge at that
maintained the notion, which had prevailed from time, and was entirely useless in the age of Strabo.
the time of Alexander the Great, that the Caspian Though the Homeric poems show a great acquaint-
sea was connected with the northern ocean. Hero- ance with the topography of Greece and the islands
dotus states it to be a lake, without expressing any of the Archipelago, they could not with any pro-
doubt on the matter ; but how he got this inform- priety be made the basis of a geographical descrip-
ation, it is impossible to conjecture. Strabo did tion of those parts, as Strabo has made them ; and
not consider such a fable worth mentioning. We there were many materials, though scattered and
might reasonably expect him to give some evidence, incomplete, which Strabo should have used in
such as he had, of its supposed connection with preference to the Homeric poems, and which he
the northern ocean. He rejects the evidence of either did not look for or purposely neglected.
Pytheas of Marseille, as to the northern regions of Thus his description sometimes becomes rather a
Europe, and treats him as no better than a liar, commentary 'on Homer than an independent de
a circumstance in some measure due to Strabo's scription, based on the actual state of knowledge.
attachment to his own system ; but an unprejudiced In fact he did not conceive his object with that
critic should have discovered truth even when it clearness, which is necessary to give to a work a
is mixed with fable. Strabo's authorities are distinctive character; and though his work is doubt-
nearly exclusively Greek. He had a contempt for less much more entertaining than that of Eratos-
the Roman writers generally ; and certainly simply thenes was, and more nearly approaches to the cha-
as geographers there was not one among them who racter of a true geographical system than the meagre
could be called by that name. But the campaigns determinations of Ptolemaeus, it does not fulfil all
of the Romans and their historical writings and the conditions of a general systematic geography:
memoirs would have furnished him with many It is another defect in Strabo's work that the
valuable geographical facts both for his Asiatic and science of astronomy was not properly applied by
European Geography.
He made some use of him. The determination of the earth's figure, and
Caesar's writings for his description of Gallia, the the determination of position by the measures of
Alps, and Britain, and he used other materials also, latitude and longitude are the essential foundations
as we see from his brief notice of the voyage of of geographical description. The physical descrip-
Publius Crassus to the Cassiterides (p. 176). But tion of the earth's surface, which is the proper
with this exception, and the writings of Asinius object of geography, requires the determination of
Pollio, Fabius Pictor, and an anonymous chorogra- position, in order to give it precision. Though
pher, he drew little from Roman sources. The Strabo had some mathematical and astronomical
conjecture that he was imperfectly acquainted with knowledge, he undervalued these sciences as helps
the Latin language, will not sufficiently account for to geography, and he did not consider the exact
this, even we suppose that he did not learn it division of the earth into climates, in the sense in
till he visited Rome ; for he might easily have which Hipparchus used the term, and the state-
learned Latin enough during his residence in Italy ment of the latitudes and longitudes of places,
to read a Roman author, and if he did choose to which in many cases were pretty well determined,
do that, he could have found plenty of Greeks and as essential to his geographical description. He is
Romans to help him. That he could not have also frequently very incomplete and unsatisfactory
wanted the means of procuring information, we in his notice of the physical character and the
may safely assume, for Strabo could not have tra- natural phaenomena of the countries which he
velled so much if he were a poor man. He cer- describes, which defects and others in his work are
tainly did not take pains to make the most of the probably in a great measure due to the circumstance
Roman materials which he might have found in that the notion of a geographical description was
Rome.
by no means well settled then ; and indeed the
The imperfect descriptions in many parts of same remark applies in some degree to the works
Strabo's work are probably to be attributed more to of the present day. The true medium between a
system than to want of information. He purposely pure description of the earth's surface as a natural
omitted many things and many places as not being phaenomenon and the earth's surface as the scene of
comprehended within his notion of what would be human activity, both past and present, cannot be
useful for the class of persons for whom he wrote. determined by any general rule, but must be left to
It was probably also his object to bring his work the tact and judgment of a writer who is
within a certain compass, so as not to damage its thoroughly master of his matter, and who sees by
circulation by its magnitude, for as books were to a kind of intuition what must be admitted within
be copied, and as a man wrote in order to have his work and what may be properly omitted.
## p. 919 (#935) ############################################
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919
STRABO.
.
The first two books of Strabo are an introduction | Agrippa, but this work of Agrippa, says Groskurd,
to his Geography, and much the most difficult part was not completed and published until after his
of the work. A good commentary upon them death, and in B. c. 12, and consequently much too
would in fact be a criticism on all ancient geography late for Strabo to have made use of it between B. C.
up to Strabo's time. He began the first book with 29 and 26, at Rome. The translator here assumes
showing the importance of geographical knowledge that he has fixed Strabo's residence at Rome
and its uses. He then passes to Homer, whom he during this period, whereas it cannot be proved,
considers the earliest of geographers, and defends and if it could, the argument would not even then
against many of the objections of Eratosthenes. be conclusive. It is a better objection to the
In this book he points out some errors of Eratos- supposition of this chorographer being Agrippa,
thenes, and makes various remarks on the causes “that Strabo made use of this work only for Italy,
which operate to change the earth's surface. He perhaps also southern Gaul, and for no other
concludes with some corrections of the errors of country, and yet it extended over the whole Ro-
Eratosthenes, as to the extent and division of the man empire. ” The fifth book concludes with a
inhabited part of the earth.
description of Campania, partly from his own
The second book is mainly occupied with mathe knowledge and partly from Antiochus of Syracusae
matical geography. It contains a criticism of the and others.
map of the world by Eratosthenes, and of his divi- In the sixth book he describes Southern Italy
sion of the habitable earth into portions (o opayides); and Sicily, with the adjacent islands ; and adds at
an examination of the doctrines of Posidonius, the end a short sketch of the extent and actual
particularly the division into six zones adopted by condition of the Roman Empire.
him and by Polybius ; with remarks on the sup- In the seventh book he treats of the nations of
posed circumnavigation of Libya by Eudoxus, and northern and eastern Europe, including those north
on some errors of Polybius. He also gives his own of the Ister, and, south of the Ister, Illyricum,
views on the form and magnitude of the earth, and Pannonia, Dalmatia, the coast of Thrace on the
of the extent of the habitable part of it; and re- Pontus, and Epirus, with some notices of Mace-
marks upon
the delineation of the earth, on spheres donia and Thrace. That part of the book which
and surfaces, and on a map of the world. He also treated of Macedonia and Thrace is lost; and all
gives a general sketch of the earth's habitable sur- that we have in place of it is a meagre epitome.
face, with reference to seas, countries, and nations ; Strabo does not state his authorities for what he
and concludes with explaining the doctrine of says of the Germans ; but for the other northern
climates and of the shadows projected by objects nations he bad the work of Posidonius. For the
in consequence of the sun's varying position with tracts south of the Ister he had the lost work of
respect to them.
Aristotle on the constitution of states, Polybius,
in the third book he begins his description : Posidonius, Theopompus, and Ephorus.
he devotes eight books to Europe ; six to Asia ; The eighth, ninth, and tenth books comprehend
and the seventeenth and last to Egypt and the description of Hellas and the Islands, and, as
Libya. The third book comprises the description already observed, Homer is the basis of his de-
of Iberia, and Spain and Portugal, for which his scription. The treatment of the subject in these
principal authorities are Artemidorus, Polybius, and three books differs considerably from that in the
Posidonius, all of whom had visited Iberia. Arte rest of the work: it is chiefly antiquarian and
midorus was also an authority for his knowledge mythological. Heeren maintains that Strabo visited
of the sea-coast in general, both that of the Medi- all Hellas and the islands of the Archipelago, but
terranean, and that of the Ocean. At the end of it is not easy to prove this from his work, and the
this book he speaks of the Cassiterides.
defects of his description are better evidence for
The fourth book treats of Gallia according to the opinion that he saw very little of the Pelopon-
its four-fold division under Augustus, of Britain, nesus and of Greece north of the Isthmus.
the description of which is meagre, of Jerne or The eleventh book begins with the description
Ireland, of Thule, and of the Alps. His principal of Asia, which is considered as separated from
authorities are the same as for the third book, with Europe by the Tanais or Don. Strabo follows
the addition of C. Julius Caesar, who is his only Eratosthenes in dividing Asia into two large
authority for Britain, with the exception of some masses, a northern and a southern mass ; a natural
little matter from Pytheas. Polybius is his autho- division determined by the direction of the moun-
rity for the description of the Alps. But it is plaintain range of Taurus from west to east. The first
that he also obtained matter for his fourth book or northern division, that on this side Taurus, com-
from oral communications during his residence in prehends four parts, of which the first comprises
Italy.
the country between the Tanais, the Maeotis, the
In the fifth and sixth books Strabo describes Pontus, and the Caspian; the second comprises the
Italy and the adjacent islands; and his description tracts east of the Caspian, and Taurus itself ; the
begins with North Italy, or Gallia Cisalpina, and third comprises the countries south of the Caucasus,
the country of the Ligures, for which Polybius is Media, Armenia, and Cappadocia ; and the fourth
his chief authority, though with respect to this and Asia Minor, from the Halys. The first three parts
other parts of Italy he derived much information are described in the eleventh book, and the fourth,
from his own personal observation. Eratosthenes, with Cappadocia and Pontus, in the twelfth, thir-
Artemidorus, Ephorus, Fabius Pictor, Caecilius, teenth, and fourteenth books. For the first part,
the Sicilian, and an anonymous chorographer are comprised in the eleventh book, Strabo migbt, and
his main written authorities for the description of probably did obtain much oral information in his
Italy. The anonymous chorographer is supposed native. country ; some little he derived from Hero-
to be a Roman, because he gives distances in Roman dotus, and still more from Artemidorus, Erato-
miles and not in Greek stadia. Some critics have sthenes, and the historians of the Mithridatic wars,
conjectured that this chorographer is M. Vipsanius / among whom was Theophanes, the friend of Pome
3 N 4
## p. 920 (#936) ############################################
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STRABO.
STRABO.
war
peius Magnus. (Plutarch, Pompeius, c. 37, 42. ) In the seventeenth and last book Strabo describra
Metrodorus of Scepsis, Hypsicrates of Amistis, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the north coast of Libya He
and Clitarchus, were also his authorities. For the had seen all Egypt as far as the first cataracts, and
second part he had Patrocles, and Aristobulus, who his description of this country and of its ancient
described the campaigns of Alexander, Eratosthenes, monuments is one of the most complete parts of his
Herodotus, and Posidonius ; and for the third the work. Besides the information that he could collect
historians of the Mithridatic War.
in Alexandria, he had Eratosthenes, Eudorus,
With the twelfth book begins the description of Aristo, Polybius, and Posidonius. For the Am-
Asia Minor, and treats of the northern part. monium he had the historians of Alexander, whom
Strabo bad not seen all this tract himself, and the Arrian afterwards used ; and for Ethiopia the au-
chief part of his knowledge was derived from oral thority of Petronius, who had carried on
information and the Greek historians. The de-there, and also Agatharchides and Herodotus. As
scription of Asia Minor is continued in the thir- to the country of the Libyans and the tribes Strabo
teenth book, but is confined to some districts of the says little that is new ; but he made use of Era-
north-western coast and the island of Lesbus. He tosthenes, Artemidorus, Posidonius, and Iphicrates,
devotes, as we might expect, a large space to the who wrote a work on the plants and animals of
Troad, which he had doubtless visited, and he | Libya.
avails himself of Homer and the researches of Strabo's historical work is mentioned by Josephus
Demetrius of Scepsis. This book contains much (Jewish Antiq. xiv. 7) and by Plutarch. His geogra-
mythological and historical matter for which there phical work is only mentioned by Marcianus of
were ample materials in Ephorus, Hellanicus, ileraclea, at the commencement of his Periplus,
Charon, Menecrates, and many other Greek writers. Athenaeus, and by Harpocration, in his Lexicon of
His dissertation on the Leleges, Cilicians, and Pethe Ten Orators (Aléxanov, Aevrás). It was largely
lasgi, who once inhabited the coast of Aeolis and of used by Stephanus of Byzantium, in the fifth
lonia, is chiefly from Menecrates and Demetrius of century. It is not quoted by Pausanias, which is
Scepsis.
not surprising ; but it is somewhat singular that
The fourteenth book contains the description of Plinius does not refer to it in his Natural History,
the other parts of Asia Minor, Ionia, Caria, the a circumstance which justifies the conclusion that
islands Samos, Chios, Rhodos, the countries Lycia, he was not acquainted with the work. Copies of
Pamphylia, and Cilicia, and the island Cyprus. the geography were probably dear, which will er-
In addition to the authorities which he had for the plain its not being much in circulation, though the
thirteenth book, he adds for this book also Phere expense alone would not have prevented Plinius
cydes of Syros, for the Milesian colonies Anaxi- from getting it. “ How much happier are we,”
menes of Lampsacus, and Herodotus, Thucydides, exclaims Groskurd, with true Philhellenic en-
Ephorus, Artemidorus, Eratosthenes, and Posi. thusiasm,“ to whom the old Greek authors are
donius.
now offered in unlimited abundance and in three
The fifteenth and sixteenth hooks contain the silver-groschen-little-volumes (dreisilbergroschen-
description of the second great division of Asia, the bändchen). "
southern, or the part on that side of Taurus. The If, then, there were few copies of Strabo, it is
fifteenth book contains the description of India and something of an accident that the work exists at
Persia, which Strabo never visited. His descrip- all ; and it seems probable that the extant MSS.
tion of India is very imperfect as a geographical may all owe their origin to some one that existed
description, but it contains much valuable matter, in the middle ages. This inference appears to fol-
particularly about the people, which he derived low from the fact of the great corruption of Strabo's
from the historians of Alexander and of the cam- text, and the general agreement of all MSS. which
paigns of Seleucus in India. Patrocles, Aristo- have hitherto been collated in their lacunae and
bulus, and Nearchus, the two last of whom we errors, for slight discrepancies in MSS. naturally
know how to estimate by the aid of Arrian, he result from copying, especially when the copyist is
judiciously made his chief authorities. He also not a critic. The great lacuna at the end of the
used Megasthenes, Onesicritus, Deimachus, and seventh book is found in all the MSS. ; but there
Clitarchus, but he did not put confidence in them. must have been some MSS. on which was framed
For East Persia, or Ariana, Eratosthenes is his the Epitome which occupies the place of the original
chief authority ; for West Persia, or Persia Proper, text, now deficient. The valuable MS. now at
he had Aristobulus and Polycletus of Larissa, who Paris (Cod. Par. 1393; in Falconer's edition,
wrote a history of Alexander ; and he derived Par. 3) was brought from Asia in 1732, by the
something from Herodotus.
Abbé Sevin.
In the sixteenth book he treats of Assyria, with An Epitome or Chrestomatheia of Strabo was
Babylonia and Mesopotamia, Syria with Phoenicia made by an unknown author, probably about A. D.
and Palestine, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and 980. It is printed in the second volume of Hud-
the coast of Ethiopia, and Arabia. His chief au. son's Minor Geographers, and in the editions of
thorities for Assyria, Babylonia, and Mesopotamia, Falconer and Koray. This epitome, which has all
were some of the historians of Alexander, and the faults inherent in an epitome, and some that
Eratosthenes, Posidonius, and Herodotus: for the are not unavoidable, extends to the whole work,
other parts, Eratosthenes, Posidonius, and Artemi- and is of some use, as it has been made from a
dorus. His description of Arabia and the adjacent MS. different from any that exist. Another
coast of Libya is founded on Eratosthenes and epitome, still in MS. , was made by the monk
Artemidorus, but Artemidorus derived materials Maximus Planudes about 1350 ; and excerpts from
for his description of the Red Sea from Agnihar- the first ten books made by Pletho, the teacher of
chides of Cnidos. Strabo also obtained oral in- Cardinal Bessarion, are still in MS. The excerpts
formation about Arabia from his friends Aelius were collated by Siebenkecs, and used in the Sie
Gallus and the Stoic Athenodorus.
benkecs-Tzschucke edition.
## p. 921 (#937) ############################################
STRABO.
921
STRABO.
The first edition of Strabo was by Aldus, Ve- | 1847) contain books i. -xii. The text of this
nice, 1516 ; and this text was followed in the edition is founded on a new collation of MSS. , and
editions of Hopper and Heresbach, Basle, 1549, is furnished with a critical commentary.
and of Xylander (Holzmann), Basle, 1571, with The first Latin translation of Strabo appeared
a new Latin version. The next edition of the forty-five years before the Greek text of Aldus.
text was by Casaubon, who used several MSS. , Guarini of Verona translated the first ten books,
but it is uncertain if they exist. There are two and Gregorio of Tiferno the remainder. The next
editions of the text by Casaubon, Geneva, 1587, version, that of Xylander, is much superior, and is
and Paris, 1620, fol. , accompanied by a Latin printed in both editions of Casaubon, in that of
translation and a commentary. Casaubon, who Almeloveen, and in the Siebenkecs- Tzschucke
was only twenty-eight years of age when he edition, with some corrections. Strabo was well
edited this work, did a great deal for Strabo, translated into Italian from a MS. by Bonaccioli,
though he could bave done more, if he had taken | Venice, 1552 or 1562. A German translation by
more time about it. His commentary is pretty A. J. Penzel appeared at Lemgo, 1775, &c. , 4 vols. ;
complete for the first books, but it gradually but it is said to have little merit.
becomes more mengre as he approached the end of A French translation of Strabo appeared at
his labours. The edition of 10:20 does not differ Paris, 1805–1819, in five quarto volumes, with
materially from that of 1587, and it is that which the title Géographie de Strabon, traduite du
is generally referred to by the page. No new Grec en Français," and accompanied by copious
edition of Strabo appeared for a long time, and the critical and other notes. It was translated by La
critics were contented with making occasional cor- Porte du Theil and Koray, with the exception of
rections of certain passages and incidental remarks. Du Theil's share, which was left unfinished by his
The conjectures of Thomas Tyrwhitt, London, death in 1815, and which was completed by Le-
1783, are valuable.
tronne, who translated the sixteenth and seven-
The reprint of Casaubon's edition by Alme- teenth books. Gosselin added the geographical ex-
Joveen, Amsterdam, 1707, is useful for the col- planations, and five maps to illustrate the systems
lection of the notes of various critics. A new of Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, Polybius, and Strabo,
edition of Strabo was commenced by Brequigny, with respect to the inhabited portion of the earth.
but only three books appeared, Paris, 1763. He The notes of Du Theil are sometimes exceedingly
left behind him a French translation with notes in diffuse.
Latin, which was used by the French translators An Italian translation by Ambrosoli was pub-
of Strabo.
lished at Milan, 1828, 4 vols. 8vo. and 4to.
The seventh edition of Strabo, that of Falconer, The best translation of Strabo is the new Ger-
Oxford, 1807, 2 vols. fol. , was begun after the man version by C. J. Groskurd, 3 vols. 8vo. , Berlin
edition of Siebenkees, but finished before it. It is and Stettin, 1831-1833. The fourth volume,
a reprint from Almeloveen, and contains no im- Berlin, 1834, contains a very complete Index,
provement of the text, though there were means which is adapted to the second edition of Casaubon
for doing this, in the collection of five MSS. by and all subsequent editions, except the small
Villebrune, and in other resources. This edition Tauchnitz edition, the only one that has not the
contains the collation of the Eton MS. , that of paging of Casaubon's edition in the margin. The
the Escurial, and two Medicean MSS. ; also the translation of Groskurd is made from the cor-
conjectures of Tyrwhitt, and some remarks of rected text of Strabo, and he has availed himself
Villebrune and Falconer. There are seventeen of the labours of all his predecessors. In addition
maps intended for the illustration of Strabo. to this he has bestowed great pains on his version,
The eighth edition of Strabo was commenced by which is a most valuable addition to the literature
Professor J. P. Siebenkees, Leipzig, 1811. He of his country: those who occupy themselves with
only lived to complete the first six books in 2 vols. the history of geography, and with ancient geo-
8vo. ; and the work was finished by Professor | graphy in particular, may now ascertain the meaning
Tzschucke in 1811. Siebenkees did his part of Strabo, so far as it is possible to ascertain its
very ill ; but the edition improved greatly after The author has added many valuable notes at the
Tzschucke commenced his labours. He made, bottom of the page. To say that such a work
however, few corrections, having a religious respect cannot be free from error, is not to disparage it.
for the readings of the MS. , and his text differs A comparison of many parts with the original has
little from that of the edition of Casaubon. Friede- convinced the writer of this article of the fidelity,
mann added as a continuation and seventh part of diligence, and sound knowledge of the learned
this work the commentary of Casaubon, and a very translator.
STRABAX, a sculptor, known by an inscrip- peius, the successor of Lucullus, made him refuse
tion on a pedestal found on the Acropolis, in front every thing to the friends of Lucullus. Moa-
of the western portico of the Parthenon. This phernes, the uncle of Strabo's mother, and probably
pedestal bears two inscriptions ; the one is on the her father's brother, was governor of Colchis under
front, from which we learn that it supported an ho- Mithridates the Great, and his fortunes were ruined
norific statue erected by the Areiopagus ; the other with those of the king.
is on the top, by the side of the print of two bronze The period of Strabo is generally well known
feet, and runs thus : ETPABAEESOHEN. From from his own work. He lived during the reign of
the form of the letters, Ross supposes that the Augustus, and at least during the first five years of
artist lived in the middle of the 4th century B. C. , the reign of Tiberius, for he speaks of the great
that is, in the time of Praxiteles. (Ross, in Ger- earthquake of Sardis, which happened in the time
hard's Archäologische Zeitung for 1844, p. 243 ; 1 of Tiberius (p. 626 ; Tacit. Ann. ii. 47). The
9
3 N 2
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STRABO.
1
1
year nf his birth is not ascertained; but it has was written after such time ; but Groskurd does
been fixed by some writers by a conjecture founded make such inferences. At the close of the sixth
on several passages in the geography, about B. c. book (p. 288) Strabo speaks of Caesar Germanicus
66. In B. c. 29 Strabo was at Gyaros, and on as still living. Germanicus died in Syria in A. D.
his voyage to Corinth. Octavianus Caesar was 20 (19); and Groskurd concludes that the sixth
then at Corinth, and on his road to Italy to cele- book was written in A. D. 19. The true conclusion
brate the triumph of his victory at Actium (p. 485). is that this passage was written before A. D. 19.
Strabo was probably on his way to Italy and It has been shown that Strabo was writing after
Rome, where he spent several years. In 1. c. 24, A. D. 19, and yet the passage at the end of the
Straho was with his friend Aelius Gallus in Egypt, sixth book stands as he wrote it, though Ger-
and travelled as far as Syene (p. 816). It is as- manicus was dead when he wrote the passage
sumed that he must have been a man of mature about Juba II. in the seventeenth book. This
years when he first visited Rome, but there is shows that the inference from particular passages
nothing which justifies the conjecture of making should be the strict logical inference and no more.
him cight and thirty at the time of this visit, in A passage in the fourth book (p. 206) certainly
order to establish B. c. 66 as the year of his birth. was written in A. D. 19, for Strabo there states
A passage in which Strabo says (p. 568) that he that the Carni and Taurisci had quietly paid tri-
saw P. Servilius Isauricus, has given rise to some bute for thirty-three years ; and both these tribes
discussion. This Servilius defeated the Isauri, were reduced to subjection by Tiberius and Drusus
whence he got the name Isauricus, between B. C. in B. c. 14. Groskurd concludes thus : " if Strabo
77 and 75; and he died at Rome in B. C. 44, at wrote his fourth book in his eighty-fifth year, and
the age of ninety. If Strabo saw this Isauricus, if we allow him two years for the composition of
when did he see him? As the question cannot be the first three books, he will have commenced his
satisfactorily answered, it has been assumed that work in the eighty-third year of his age ; and since
Strabo confounded Isauricus with some other dis he finished it in his eighty-eighth or ninth year, we
tinguished Roman whom he saw in Asia in his may allow for the composition of the whole work
youth, or that he has confounded him with the son six or seren years. ” This conclusion as to the age
P. Servilius Casca, who was also called Isauricus. when Strabo began his work depends on the date
But it is clear that Strabo means to say that he saw of his birth, which is unknown ; and the con-
the Isauricus who got his name from the conquest clusion as to the times at which he wrote particular
of the Isaurians. The assumed date, B. C. 66, for books is not certain.
the birth of Strabo, is too early. He was certainly Strabo had a good education. Tyrannio of Ami-
writing as late as A. D. 18; and perhaps we may sus in Pontus, a professor of grammatic, is men-
with Clinton place his birth not later than B. C. tioned by Strabo as his teacher (p. 548); but if
54. But Strabo was a pupil of Tyrannio the Tyannio went to Rome soon after the capture of
grammarian (p. 548), and Tyrannio was made pri- Amisus, Strabo must have heard him at Rome ;
soner by Lucullus in B. c. 71, and carried to Rome, and if he did not hear him at Rome as á
probably not later than B. c. 66, and perhaps youth, he must have heard him when he was
earlier. Strabo therefore was a hearer of Tyrannio of mature years. This question about Tyrannio
at Rome.
is not clear, See Clinton, Fast. Hellen. B. C.
The name Strabo (squint-eyed) is originally 58. Strabo also received instruction in gram-
Greek, though it was also used by the Romans, and matic and rhetoric from Aristodemus, at Nysa in
applied as a cognomen, among others, to the father Caria (p. 650); and he afterwards studied philo-
of Pompeius Magnus. How the geographer got sophy under Xenarchus of Seleucia in Cilicia (p.
this name we are not informed.
670), but Strabo does not say that he heard him
Groskurd infers that Strabo died about a. D 24. in Cilicia. Xenarchus finally taught at Rome,
Strabo (lib. xii. p. 576) says that Cyzicus was still where he died. Boethus of Sidon, afterwards a
a free state ; but in A. D. 25, Cyzicus lost its pri- Stoical philosopher, was the companion of Strabo
vilege as a Libera Civitas (amisere libertatem ; | in his Aristotelian studies (p. 757). Strabo seems
Tacit. Ann. iv. 36 ; Dion Cass. liv. 7). Accord to have had only moderate mathematical and astro-
ingly, Groskurd concludes that Strabo was dead in nomical knowledge, and certainly he did not pos-
A. D. 25; but this is not a necessary conclusion. sess all the knowledge of his times. He was well
We can only conclude that the passage about Cyzi- acquainted with history and the mythological tra-
cus was written before A. D. 25. In the seven- ditions of his nation; and also with the Greek
teenth and last book (p. 828, &c. ) he mentions poets, and particularly with Homer. He must
the death of Juba II. as a recent occurrence, and have had competent means to obtain a good educa-
he also mentions the fact of Juba being succeeded by tion, and as he travelled a great deal and appa-
his son Ptolemaeus. Juba died in A. D. 21. The rently had no professional or other occupation, we
conclusion that Strabo died in A. D. 24 is unsup may conclude that his father left him some pro-
ported by any evidence. We only know that he perty. It does not appear where he was living
died after a. D. 21. Groskurd's reckoning makes while he wrote his work, but wherever it was, he
Strabo attain the age of near ninety. In fact he had opportunities of being acquainted with the
may have lived after A. D. 25, and may have been chief public events that took place in the Roman
more than ninety when he died; but as the year empire.
of his birth is unknown, we cannot fix the limit of The philosophical sect to which Strabo belonged
was the Stoical, as appears plainly enough from
As to the time at which he wrote his work, we many passages in his Geography. He wrote an
know nothing more than can be collected from historical work, intitled 'lotopind Throuviuata,
particular passages, and we cannot with certainty which he mentions himself, and it is also cited hv
infer from a particular passage in a book being Plutarch (Lucullus, 28, Sulla, 26), who calls him
written after a given time, that the whole book ! Strabo the philosopher. This work, in forty-three
his age.
## p. 917 (#933) ############################################
STRABO.
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STRABO.
books, began where the history of Polybius ended, | the mythical stamp. That which gives so much
and was probably continued to the battle of Ac- real value to his work is his own personal obser-
tium (Groskurd, Transl. of Strabo, i. p. 21). vation, and the truthfulness of his description.
Strabo was a great traveller, and much of his He is the first extant writer who has treated on
geographical information is the result of his own physical geography, and on the causes now in
observation. In a passage in the second book of operation by which the earth's surface is conti-
his Geography (p. 117) he says, “ I shall accordnually undergoing change. The connection of geo.
ingly describe partly the lands and seas which graphy and history henceforth subsisted, as we see
I have travelled through myself, partly what I in the extant Greek and Roman historians, and in
have found credible in those who have given me the Ana basis of Arrian, which is founded on works
information orally or by writing. Westwards I that are now lost. The first systematic writer on
have travelled from Armenia to the parts of 'Tyr. geography was Eratosthenes, who preceded Strabo
rhenia adjacent to Sardinia ; towards the south by about three centuries. The work of Eralos-
from the Euxine to the borders of Ethiopin. And thenes was not confined to political and topogra-
perhaps there is not one among those who have phical description : of the three books, into which
written geographies who bas visited more places the work was distributed, it is said that the third
than I have between these limits ; for those who only contained particular description, and the first
have gone further to the west have not gone so far two contained a history of geography, a criticism
to the east; and others who have gone further to- of the sources of which the author availed himself,
wards the east, have not advanced so far to the and matters pertaining to physical and mathema-
west: and the case is the same with the regions rical geography: the whole was accompanied by a
between the northern and the southern limits. " new map of the world. Though this work was se-
He expressly mentions in his work having seen the verely criticised by Hipparchus, it does not appear
following countries and places: Egypt, Corinth, the that the Greeks had any other systematic treatise
island Gyarus ; Populonium, near Elba ; Comana on geography before that of Strabo. But the mate-
in Cappadocia ; Ephesus; Mylasa, Amasia, Nysa, rials for a geographical writer had been greatly
and Hierapolis in Phrygia. It follows, from this increased between the time of Eratosthenes and
enumeration, that he must have seen a great number Strabo, and those materials were partly furnished
of other places. The meagre and incorrect descrip- by historical writers, and adventurers by sea and
tion which he gives of many districts and towns land: the conquests of the Romans also had
may perhaps be taken as evidence that he derived opened countries which were almost unknown to
his knowledge of them only from books ; whereas the contemporaries of Eratosthenes.
on the contrary, the fulness and accuracy of his There is no ground for viewing the Geography
description, in other cases, may be good evidence of Strabo as a new edition of that of Eratosthenes,
that he had visited them.
though it is clear from his own work that the trea
It is certain that he saw very little of Greece: tise of Eratosthenes furnished the foundation for
he visited Corinth, Argos, Athens, Megara, and his new undertaking, and also furnished him with
the neighbourhood of those places, but this was all. many materials, which however he had to examine,
He saw no more of the Peloponnesus than he to correct, and to add to. Strabo's work, accord-
would see in going to Argos, and he did not knowing to his own expression, was not intended for
that the remains of Mycenae still existed (p. 372). the use of all persons ; and indeed no complete
It seems probable that he merely passed through geographical work can be adapted to those who
Greece on his way to Brundusium, by which route have not the necessary elementary knowledge.
he probably reached Rome. Populonium and His work was intended for all who had a
Luna were the limit of his travels to the north in good education, and particularly for those who
Italy. It was probably in Rome that he obtained were engaged in the higher departments of admi.
his information about the countries which lie north nistration ; it was designed to be a work which
of the Alps, Gallia, Germany, and also Britain, would give such persons that geographical and his-
and Spain. During his visit to Egypt he staid torical information about each country which a
some time in Alexandria, and he went up the person engaged in matters political cannot do with-
river to Syene and Philae, the southern limits of out. Consistently with this view, his plan does
Egypt. That he did not remain in Egypt, we not comprehend minute description, except when
may safely assume; but it is not clear by what the place or the object is of great interest or im-
route he left it, and the conjectures upon this portance ; nor is his description limited to the
· matter are merely guesses.
physical characteristics of each country; it com-
The oldest writings of the Greeks, the Homeric prehends the important political events of which
poems, contain geographical description blended each country has been the theatre, a notice of the
with history and fable. In the early period of chief cities and the great men who have illustrated
Greek literature, geography was nothing more than them ; in short, whatever was most characteristic
local description, and the description was made and interesting in every country. His work forms a
for other purposes than geography: it was sub- striking contrast with the geography of Ptolemaeus,
servient to poetry. The Ionian school may be and the dry list of names, occasionally relieved by
considered as having made a step towards geogra- something added to them, in the geographical por.
phical science by the attention which they paid tion of the Natural History of Plinius. It is in
to celestial phenomena, but they did nothing short a book intended for reading, and it may be
directly for geography. The history of Herodotus read ; a kind of historical geography.
is the earliest extant work in which geographical Strabo’s work has a particular value to us of the
description is blended with an historical subject. present day, owing to his method of handling the
Bat Herodotus still retains marks of the charac-subject: he has preserred a great number of histo-
teristic early literature of Greece: his history is rical facts for which we have no other evidence
an epic poem ; his general geography still bears than his work. His language is generally clear,
3 N 3
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918
STRABO.
STRABO.
1
1
1
1
1
except in those passages where the text has been readers, an object which Strabo clearly admits, the
corrupted ; it is appropriate to the matter, simple reduction of works within reasonable limits was
and without affectation.
at that time, even more than now, necessary, in
It is objected to Strabo that he has undervalued order to ensure their circulation.
Herodotus, and puts him on the same footing as The use that Strabo has made of Homer, is
Ctesias. The work of Herodotus was perhaps another objection to his work. Like many other
hardly appreciated, as it deserved to be, by any Greeks, Strabo viewed the old national poet as the
writer of antiquity; and it is a well grounded representative of all knowledge ; and considered
complaint against Strabo that he could not or did with respect to his own time, the Homeric poems
not choose to discriminate between the stories are the representation of all that was then known, at
which Herodotus tells simply as stories which he least of history and geography. But the way in
heard, and that which is the result of the personal which Strabo, particularly in his first book, labours
observation of Herodotus. There are many parts to give a meaning to what the poet has said, is
of the geography of Strabo, particularly his de- highly uncritical.
That which Homer darkly
scription of Greece, for which he could have derived knew or half guessed, has no value except as an
excellent materials from Herodotus. Strabo has index of the state of geographical knowledge at that
maintained the notion, which had prevailed from time, and was entirely useless in the age of Strabo.
the time of Alexander the Great, that the Caspian Though the Homeric poems show a great acquaint-
sea was connected with the northern ocean. Hero- ance with the topography of Greece and the islands
dotus states it to be a lake, without expressing any of the Archipelago, they could not with any pro-
doubt on the matter ; but how he got this inform- priety be made the basis of a geographical descrip-
ation, it is impossible to conjecture. Strabo did tion of those parts, as Strabo has made them ; and
not consider such a fable worth mentioning. We there were many materials, though scattered and
might reasonably expect him to give some evidence, incomplete, which Strabo should have used in
such as he had, of its supposed connection with preference to the Homeric poems, and which he
the northern ocean. He rejects the evidence of either did not look for or purposely neglected.
Pytheas of Marseille, as to the northern regions of Thus his description sometimes becomes rather a
Europe, and treats him as no better than a liar, commentary 'on Homer than an independent de
a circumstance in some measure due to Strabo's scription, based on the actual state of knowledge.
attachment to his own system ; but an unprejudiced In fact he did not conceive his object with that
critic should have discovered truth even when it clearness, which is necessary to give to a work a
is mixed with fable. Strabo's authorities are distinctive character; and though his work is doubt-
nearly exclusively Greek. He had a contempt for less much more entertaining than that of Eratos-
the Roman writers generally ; and certainly simply thenes was, and more nearly approaches to the cha-
as geographers there was not one among them who racter of a true geographical system than the meagre
could be called by that name. But the campaigns determinations of Ptolemaeus, it does not fulfil all
of the Romans and their historical writings and the conditions of a general systematic geography:
memoirs would have furnished him with many It is another defect in Strabo's work that the
valuable geographical facts both for his Asiatic and science of astronomy was not properly applied by
European Geography.
He made some use of him. The determination of the earth's figure, and
Caesar's writings for his description of Gallia, the the determination of position by the measures of
Alps, and Britain, and he used other materials also, latitude and longitude are the essential foundations
as we see from his brief notice of the voyage of of geographical description. The physical descrip-
Publius Crassus to the Cassiterides (p. 176). But tion of the earth's surface, which is the proper
with this exception, and the writings of Asinius object of geography, requires the determination of
Pollio, Fabius Pictor, and an anonymous chorogra- position, in order to give it precision. Though
pher, he drew little from Roman sources. The Strabo had some mathematical and astronomical
conjecture that he was imperfectly acquainted with knowledge, he undervalued these sciences as helps
the Latin language, will not sufficiently account for to geography, and he did not consider the exact
this, even we suppose that he did not learn it division of the earth into climates, in the sense in
till he visited Rome ; for he might easily have which Hipparchus used the term, and the state-
learned Latin enough during his residence in Italy ment of the latitudes and longitudes of places,
to read a Roman author, and if he did choose to which in many cases were pretty well determined,
do that, he could have found plenty of Greeks and as essential to his geographical description. He is
Romans to help him. That he could not have also frequently very incomplete and unsatisfactory
wanted the means of procuring information, we in his notice of the physical character and the
may safely assume, for Strabo could not have tra- natural phaenomena of the countries which he
velled so much if he were a poor man. He cer- describes, which defects and others in his work are
tainly did not take pains to make the most of the probably in a great measure due to the circumstance
Roman materials which he might have found in that the notion of a geographical description was
Rome.
by no means well settled then ; and indeed the
The imperfect descriptions in many parts of same remark applies in some degree to the works
Strabo's work are probably to be attributed more to of the present day. The true medium between a
system than to want of information. He purposely pure description of the earth's surface as a natural
omitted many things and many places as not being phaenomenon and the earth's surface as the scene of
comprehended within his notion of what would be human activity, both past and present, cannot be
useful for the class of persons for whom he wrote. determined by any general rule, but must be left to
It was probably also his object to bring his work the tact and judgment of a writer who is
within a certain compass, so as not to damage its thoroughly master of his matter, and who sees by
circulation by its magnitude, for as books were to a kind of intuition what must be admitted within
be copied, and as a man wrote in order to have his work and what may be properly omitted.
## p. 919 (#935) ############################################
STRABO.
919
STRABO.
.
The first two books of Strabo are an introduction | Agrippa, but this work of Agrippa, says Groskurd,
to his Geography, and much the most difficult part was not completed and published until after his
of the work. A good commentary upon them death, and in B. c. 12, and consequently much too
would in fact be a criticism on all ancient geography late for Strabo to have made use of it between B. C.
up to Strabo's time. He began the first book with 29 and 26, at Rome. The translator here assumes
showing the importance of geographical knowledge that he has fixed Strabo's residence at Rome
and its uses. He then passes to Homer, whom he during this period, whereas it cannot be proved,
considers the earliest of geographers, and defends and if it could, the argument would not even then
against many of the objections of Eratosthenes. be conclusive. It is a better objection to the
In this book he points out some errors of Eratos- supposition of this chorographer being Agrippa,
thenes, and makes various remarks on the causes “that Strabo made use of this work only for Italy,
which operate to change the earth's surface. He perhaps also southern Gaul, and for no other
concludes with some corrections of the errors of country, and yet it extended over the whole Ro-
Eratosthenes, as to the extent and division of the man empire. ” The fifth book concludes with a
inhabited part of the earth.
description of Campania, partly from his own
The second book is mainly occupied with mathe knowledge and partly from Antiochus of Syracusae
matical geography. It contains a criticism of the and others.
map of the world by Eratosthenes, and of his divi- In the sixth book he describes Southern Italy
sion of the habitable earth into portions (o opayides); and Sicily, with the adjacent islands ; and adds at
an examination of the doctrines of Posidonius, the end a short sketch of the extent and actual
particularly the division into six zones adopted by condition of the Roman Empire.
him and by Polybius ; with remarks on the sup- In the seventh book he treats of the nations of
posed circumnavigation of Libya by Eudoxus, and northern and eastern Europe, including those north
on some errors of Polybius. He also gives his own of the Ister, and, south of the Ister, Illyricum,
views on the form and magnitude of the earth, and Pannonia, Dalmatia, the coast of Thrace on the
of the extent of the habitable part of it; and re- Pontus, and Epirus, with some notices of Mace-
marks upon
the delineation of the earth, on spheres donia and Thrace. That part of the book which
and surfaces, and on a map of the world. He also treated of Macedonia and Thrace is lost; and all
gives a general sketch of the earth's habitable sur- that we have in place of it is a meagre epitome.
face, with reference to seas, countries, and nations ; Strabo does not state his authorities for what he
and concludes with explaining the doctrine of says of the Germans ; but for the other northern
climates and of the shadows projected by objects nations he bad the work of Posidonius. For the
in consequence of the sun's varying position with tracts south of the Ister he had the lost work of
respect to them.
Aristotle on the constitution of states, Polybius,
in the third book he begins his description : Posidonius, Theopompus, and Ephorus.
he devotes eight books to Europe ; six to Asia ; The eighth, ninth, and tenth books comprehend
and the seventeenth and last to Egypt and the description of Hellas and the Islands, and, as
Libya. The third book comprises the description already observed, Homer is the basis of his de-
of Iberia, and Spain and Portugal, for which his scription. The treatment of the subject in these
principal authorities are Artemidorus, Polybius, and three books differs considerably from that in the
Posidonius, all of whom had visited Iberia. Arte rest of the work: it is chiefly antiquarian and
midorus was also an authority for his knowledge mythological. Heeren maintains that Strabo visited
of the sea-coast in general, both that of the Medi- all Hellas and the islands of the Archipelago, but
terranean, and that of the Ocean. At the end of it is not easy to prove this from his work, and the
this book he speaks of the Cassiterides.
defects of his description are better evidence for
The fourth book treats of Gallia according to the opinion that he saw very little of the Pelopon-
its four-fold division under Augustus, of Britain, nesus and of Greece north of the Isthmus.
the description of which is meagre, of Jerne or The eleventh book begins with the description
Ireland, of Thule, and of the Alps. His principal of Asia, which is considered as separated from
authorities are the same as for the third book, with Europe by the Tanais or Don. Strabo follows
the addition of C. Julius Caesar, who is his only Eratosthenes in dividing Asia into two large
authority for Britain, with the exception of some masses, a northern and a southern mass ; a natural
little matter from Pytheas. Polybius is his autho- division determined by the direction of the moun-
rity for the description of the Alps. But it is plaintain range of Taurus from west to east. The first
that he also obtained matter for his fourth book or northern division, that on this side Taurus, com-
from oral communications during his residence in prehends four parts, of which the first comprises
Italy.
the country between the Tanais, the Maeotis, the
In the fifth and sixth books Strabo describes Pontus, and the Caspian; the second comprises the
Italy and the adjacent islands; and his description tracts east of the Caspian, and Taurus itself ; the
begins with North Italy, or Gallia Cisalpina, and third comprises the countries south of the Caucasus,
the country of the Ligures, for which Polybius is Media, Armenia, and Cappadocia ; and the fourth
his chief authority, though with respect to this and Asia Minor, from the Halys. The first three parts
other parts of Italy he derived much information are described in the eleventh book, and the fourth,
from his own personal observation. Eratosthenes, with Cappadocia and Pontus, in the twelfth, thir-
Artemidorus, Ephorus, Fabius Pictor, Caecilius, teenth, and fourteenth books. For the first part,
the Sicilian, and an anonymous chorographer are comprised in the eleventh book, Strabo migbt, and
his main written authorities for the description of probably did obtain much oral information in his
Italy. The anonymous chorographer is supposed native. country ; some little he derived from Hero-
to be a Roman, because he gives distances in Roman dotus, and still more from Artemidorus, Erato-
miles and not in Greek stadia. Some critics have sthenes, and the historians of the Mithridatic wars,
conjectured that this chorographer is M. Vipsanius / among whom was Theophanes, the friend of Pome
3 N 4
## p. 920 (#936) ############################################
920
STRABO.
STRABO.
war
peius Magnus. (Plutarch, Pompeius, c. 37, 42. ) In the seventeenth and last book Strabo describra
Metrodorus of Scepsis, Hypsicrates of Amistis, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the north coast of Libya He
and Clitarchus, were also his authorities. For the had seen all Egypt as far as the first cataracts, and
second part he had Patrocles, and Aristobulus, who his description of this country and of its ancient
described the campaigns of Alexander, Eratosthenes, monuments is one of the most complete parts of his
Herodotus, and Posidonius ; and for the third the work. Besides the information that he could collect
historians of the Mithridatic War.
in Alexandria, he had Eratosthenes, Eudorus,
With the twelfth book begins the description of Aristo, Polybius, and Posidonius. For the Am-
Asia Minor, and treats of the northern part. monium he had the historians of Alexander, whom
Strabo bad not seen all this tract himself, and the Arrian afterwards used ; and for Ethiopia the au-
chief part of his knowledge was derived from oral thority of Petronius, who had carried on
information and the Greek historians. The de-there, and also Agatharchides and Herodotus. As
scription of Asia Minor is continued in the thir- to the country of the Libyans and the tribes Strabo
teenth book, but is confined to some districts of the says little that is new ; but he made use of Era-
north-western coast and the island of Lesbus. He tosthenes, Artemidorus, Posidonius, and Iphicrates,
devotes, as we might expect, a large space to the who wrote a work on the plants and animals of
Troad, which he had doubtless visited, and he | Libya.
avails himself of Homer and the researches of Strabo's historical work is mentioned by Josephus
Demetrius of Scepsis. This book contains much (Jewish Antiq. xiv. 7) and by Plutarch. His geogra-
mythological and historical matter for which there phical work is only mentioned by Marcianus of
were ample materials in Ephorus, Hellanicus, ileraclea, at the commencement of his Periplus,
Charon, Menecrates, and many other Greek writers. Athenaeus, and by Harpocration, in his Lexicon of
His dissertation on the Leleges, Cilicians, and Pethe Ten Orators (Aléxanov, Aevrás). It was largely
lasgi, who once inhabited the coast of Aeolis and of used by Stephanus of Byzantium, in the fifth
lonia, is chiefly from Menecrates and Demetrius of century. It is not quoted by Pausanias, which is
Scepsis.
not surprising ; but it is somewhat singular that
The fourteenth book contains the description of Plinius does not refer to it in his Natural History,
the other parts of Asia Minor, Ionia, Caria, the a circumstance which justifies the conclusion that
islands Samos, Chios, Rhodos, the countries Lycia, he was not acquainted with the work. Copies of
Pamphylia, and Cilicia, and the island Cyprus. the geography were probably dear, which will er-
In addition to the authorities which he had for the plain its not being much in circulation, though the
thirteenth book, he adds for this book also Phere expense alone would not have prevented Plinius
cydes of Syros, for the Milesian colonies Anaxi- from getting it. “ How much happier are we,”
menes of Lampsacus, and Herodotus, Thucydides, exclaims Groskurd, with true Philhellenic en-
Ephorus, Artemidorus, Eratosthenes, and Posi. thusiasm,“ to whom the old Greek authors are
donius.
now offered in unlimited abundance and in three
The fifteenth and sixteenth hooks contain the silver-groschen-little-volumes (dreisilbergroschen-
description of the second great division of Asia, the bändchen). "
southern, or the part on that side of Taurus. The If, then, there were few copies of Strabo, it is
fifteenth book contains the description of India and something of an accident that the work exists at
Persia, which Strabo never visited. His descrip- all ; and it seems probable that the extant MSS.
tion of India is very imperfect as a geographical may all owe their origin to some one that existed
description, but it contains much valuable matter, in the middle ages. This inference appears to fol-
particularly about the people, which he derived low from the fact of the great corruption of Strabo's
from the historians of Alexander and of the cam- text, and the general agreement of all MSS. which
paigns of Seleucus in India. Patrocles, Aristo- have hitherto been collated in their lacunae and
bulus, and Nearchus, the two last of whom we errors, for slight discrepancies in MSS. naturally
know how to estimate by the aid of Arrian, he result from copying, especially when the copyist is
judiciously made his chief authorities. He also not a critic. The great lacuna at the end of the
used Megasthenes, Onesicritus, Deimachus, and seventh book is found in all the MSS. ; but there
Clitarchus, but he did not put confidence in them. must have been some MSS. on which was framed
For East Persia, or Ariana, Eratosthenes is his the Epitome which occupies the place of the original
chief authority ; for West Persia, or Persia Proper, text, now deficient. The valuable MS. now at
he had Aristobulus and Polycletus of Larissa, who Paris (Cod. Par. 1393; in Falconer's edition,
wrote a history of Alexander ; and he derived Par. 3) was brought from Asia in 1732, by the
something from Herodotus.
Abbé Sevin.
In the sixteenth book he treats of Assyria, with An Epitome or Chrestomatheia of Strabo was
Babylonia and Mesopotamia, Syria with Phoenicia made by an unknown author, probably about A. D.
and Palestine, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and 980. It is printed in the second volume of Hud-
the coast of Ethiopia, and Arabia. His chief au. son's Minor Geographers, and in the editions of
thorities for Assyria, Babylonia, and Mesopotamia, Falconer and Koray. This epitome, which has all
were some of the historians of Alexander, and the faults inherent in an epitome, and some that
Eratosthenes, Posidonius, and Herodotus: for the are not unavoidable, extends to the whole work,
other parts, Eratosthenes, Posidonius, and Artemi- and is of some use, as it has been made from a
dorus. His description of Arabia and the adjacent MS. different from any that exist. Another
coast of Libya is founded on Eratosthenes and epitome, still in MS. , was made by the monk
Artemidorus, but Artemidorus derived materials Maximus Planudes about 1350 ; and excerpts from
for his description of the Red Sea from Agnihar- the first ten books made by Pletho, the teacher of
chides of Cnidos. Strabo also obtained oral in- Cardinal Bessarion, are still in MS. The excerpts
formation about Arabia from his friends Aelius were collated by Siebenkecs, and used in the Sie
Gallus and the Stoic Athenodorus.
benkecs-Tzschucke edition.
## p. 921 (#937) ############################################
STRABO.
921
STRABO.
The first edition of Strabo was by Aldus, Ve- | 1847) contain books i. -xii. The text of this
nice, 1516 ; and this text was followed in the edition is founded on a new collation of MSS. , and
editions of Hopper and Heresbach, Basle, 1549, is furnished with a critical commentary.
and of Xylander (Holzmann), Basle, 1571, with The first Latin translation of Strabo appeared
a new Latin version. The next edition of the forty-five years before the Greek text of Aldus.
text was by Casaubon, who used several MSS. , Guarini of Verona translated the first ten books,
but it is uncertain if they exist. There are two and Gregorio of Tiferno the remainder. The next
editions of the text by Casaubon, Geneva, 1587, version, that of Xylander, is much superior, and is
and Paris, 1620, fol. , accompanied by a Latin printed in both editions of Casaubon, in that of
translation and a commentary. Casaubon, who Almeloveen, and in the Siebenkecs- Tzschucke
was only twenty-eight years of age when he edition, with some corrections. Strabo was well
edited this work, did a great deal for Strabo, translated into Italian from a MS. by Bonaccioli,
though he could bave done more, if he had taken | Venice, 1552 or 1562. A German translation by
more time about it. His commentary is pretty A. J. Penzel appeared at Lemgo, 1775, &c. , 4 vols. ;
complete for the first books, but it gradually but it is said to have little merit.
becomes more mengre as he approached the end of A French translation of Strabo appeared at
his labours. The edition of 10:20 does not differ Paris, 1805–1819, in five quarto volumes, with
materially from that of 1587, and it is that which the title Géographie de Strabon, traduite du
is generally referred to by the page. No new Grec en Français," and accompanied by copious
edition of Strabo appeared for a long time, and the critical and other notes. It was translated by La
critics were contented with making occasional cor- Porte du Theil and Koray, with the exception of
rections of certain passages and incidental remarks. Du Theil's share, which was left unfinished by his
The conjectures of Thomas Tyrwhitt, London, death in 1815, and which was completed by Le-
1783, are valuable.
tronne, who translated the sixteenth and seven-
The reprint of Casaubon's edition by Alme- teenth books. Gosselin added the geographical ex-
Joveen, Amsterdam, 1707, is useful for the col- planations, and five maps to illustrate the systems
lection of the notes of various critics. A new of Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, Polybius, and Strabo,
edition of Strabo was commenced by Brequigny, with respect to the inhabited portion of the earth.
but only three books appeared, Paris, 1763. He The notes of Du Theil are sometimes exceedingly
left behind him a French translation with notes in diffuse.
Latin, which was used by the French translators An Italian translation by Ambrosoli was pub-
of Strabo.
lished at Milan, 1828, 4 vols. 8vo. and 4to.
The seventh edition of Strabo, that of Falconer, The best translation of Strabo is the new Ger-
Oxford, 1807, 2 vols. fol. , was begun after the man version by C. J. Groskurd, 3 vols. 8vo. , Berlin
edition of Siebenkees, but finished before it. It is and Stettin, 1831-1833. The fourth volume,
a reprint from Almeloveen, and contains no im- Berlin, 1834, contains a very complete Index,
provement of the text, though there were means which is adapted to the second edition of Casaubon
for doing this, in the collection of five MSS. by and all subsequent editions, except the small
Villebrune, and in other resources. This edition Tauchnitz edition, the only one that has not the
contains the collation of the Eton MS. , that of paging of Casaubon's edition in the margin. The
the Escurial, and two Medicean MSS. ; also the translation of Groskurd is made from the cor-
conjectures of Tyrwhitt, and some remarks of rected text of Strabo, and he has availed himself
Villebrune and Falconer. There are seventeen of the labours of all his predecessors. In addition
maps intended for the illustration of Strabo. to this he has bestowed great pains on his version,
The eighth edition of Strabo was commenced by which is a most valuable addition to the literature
Professor J. P. Siebenkees, Leipzig, 1811. He of his country: those who occupy themselves with
only lived to complete the first six books in 2 vols. the history of geography, and with ancient geo-
8vo. ; and the work was finished by Professor | graphy in particular, may now ascertain the meaning
Tzschucke in 1811. Siebenkees did his part of Strabo, so far as it is possible to ascertain its
very ill ; but the edition improved greatly after The author has added many valuable notes at the
Tzschucke commenced his labours. He made, bottom of the page. To say that such a work
however, few corrections, having a religious respect cannot be free from error, is not to disparage it.
for the readings of the MS. , and his text differs A comparison of many parts with the original has
little from that of the edition of Casaubon. Friede- convinced the writer of this article of the fidelity,
mann added as a continuation and seventh part of diligence, and sound knowledge of the learned
this work the commentary of Casaubon, and a very translator.
