Geography_(Strabo)

<i>Geographica</i>

Geographica

Encyclopedia of geographical knowledge by Strabo

The Geographica (Greek: Γεωγραφικά, Geōgraphiká; Latin: Geographica or Strabonis Rerum Geographicarum Libri XVII, "Strabo's 17 Books on Geographical Topics") or Geography, is an encyclopedia of geographical knowledge, consisting of 17 'books', written in Greek in the late 1st century BC, or early 1st century AD, and attributed to Strabo, an educated citizen of the Roman Empire of Greek descent. There is a fragmentary palimpsest dating to the fifth century. The earliest manuscripts of books 1–9 date to the tenth century, with a 13th-century manuscript containing the entire text.^[1]

Title page of the 1620 edition of Isaac Casaubon's Geographica, whose 840 page numbers prefixed by "C" are now used as a standard text reference.

Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Geography_(Strabo), and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] [1]
Strabo, and Duane W Roller. The Geography of Strabo. New York, Cambridge University Press, 2014, pp. 51

[2] [2]
Dueck, Daniela (2000). Strabo of Amasia: A Greek Man of Letters in Augustan Rome. London, New York: Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group. p. 145. ISBN 0-415-21672-9.

[3] [3]
Book 3 chapter 1 section 1 1st sentence, page C136.

[4] [4]
Book 3 chapter 4 section 5 last sentence, page C158.

[5] [5]
Book 6 chapter 1 section 2, page C253.

[6] [6]
Book 9 chapter 5 section 14, page C435.

[7] [7]
Book 2 chapter 5 section 17, page C120, Jones translation.

[8] [8]
Ad. Att. 2. 6. 1.

[9] [9]
Sterrett, Loeb Edition, pages xxii–xxiii.

[10] [10]
Sterrett, Loeb Edition, page xxvii.

[11] [11]
Dueck page 146 on Strabo Book 4, Chapter 6, Book 9, page C206.

[12] [12]
Strabo, and Duane W Roller. The Geography of Strabo. New York, Cambridge University Press, 2014, pp. 51–52.

[13] [13]
Book I sections 22–23.

[14] [14]
Strabo rotates the Pyrenees to form the east side of Iberia, which is correspondingly distorted.

[15] [15]
In fact adjacent Cape St. Vincent is further west but Sagres Point was the Sacred Cape.

[16] [16]
"Print and online editions of the Greek text of Strabo's Geography". strabo.ca.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

Book	Section	Description
I.1	1	Geography is a branch of philosophy.
	2	Homer is the founder of geography.
	3	The Ocean.
	4	The Elysian Plain.
	5	The Isles of the Blessed.
	6	The Aethiopians, Definition of the Arctic Circle
	7–9	Tides of the Ocean. Earth is an island.
	10	The Mediterranean, the land of the Cimmerians, the Ister.
	11	Anaximander and Hecataeus.
	12	Hipparchus and the climata.
	13	The antipodes.
	14–19	The ecumene. Geography requires encyclopedic knowledge of celestial, terrestrial and maritime features as well as natural history and mathematics and is of strategic interest.
	20	Earth is a sphere with surface curved by the law of gravity, that bodies move to the center.
	21	Knowledge of geometry is required to understand geography.
	22–23	The purpose and plan of the encyclopedia.

Book	Section	Description
I.2	1	Contributions of the Romans and Parthians to geography
	2–3	Critique of Eratosthenes
	4–40	Critique of Homer's and the other poets' geography and various writers' view of it, especially Eratosthenes'.

Book	Section	Description
I.3	1–2	Critiques of Eratosthenes' sources: Damastes, Euhemerus.
	3	Critiques of Eratosthenes' geology, shape of the Earth.
	4–7	Fossils, formation of the seas.
	8–9	Silting.
	10	Volcanic action.
	11–12	Currents.
	13–15	More on the formation of the seas.
	16–20	Island-building, earthquakes
	21	Human migration.
	22–23	Hyperboreans, Hypernotians

Book	Section	Description
I.4	1	Heaven is spherical corresponding to Earth's sphericity.
	2–6	Distances along lines of latitude and longitude to various peoples and places.
	7–8	The three continents: Europe, Asia, Libya.
	9	Recommends Alexander the Great's division of people into good or bad rather than the traditional Greek barbarians and Greeks.

Book	Section	Description
II.1	1–3	Relates Eratosthenes' description of the Tropic of Cancer, which was based on Patrocles.
	4–5	Critiques Hipparchus' criticism of Patrocles, which was based on Deimachus and Megasthenes. Points out that Eratosthenes used the Library of Alexandria.
	6–8	Critique of Patrocles.
	9	Fabrications of the geographers concerning India.
	10–41	Calculations of distances between parallels and meridians passing through various places in the habitable world, according to various geographers: Hipparchus, Eratosthenes, Pytheas, Deimachus.

Book	Section	Description
II.2	1	Introduces the work Oceans by Poseidonius.
II.2	2–3	Critiques Poseidonius, who criticises Parmenides and Aristotle on the widths and locations of the five zones.

Book	Section	Description
II.3	1–3	Critiques the six zones of Polybius.
	4	Describes African voyages: the circumnavigation by an expedition sent by Necho II, another by Magus; to India by Eudoxus of Cyzicus.
	5	Adventures and misadventures of Eudoxus. Attacks the credibility of Pytheas, Euhemerus, Antiphanes.
	6	Poseidonius' theory of Atlantis; attributes migration of Cimbri to inundation.
	7	Attributes the distribution of plants, animals and civilizations to chance (suntuchia) rather than to zones (which was Poseidonius' theory).
	8	Example of random racial distribution: Ethiopians were in both Asia (India) and Libya (Africa). Strabo says his school avoids such causal connections.

Book	Section	Description
II.4	1–2	Polybius' critique of Pytheas.
	3	Strabo's criticisms of Polybius' European distances.
	4	Strabo's criticisms of Polybius' critique of the distances of Eratosthenes.
	5–6	Strabo's corrections to various geographers' descriptions of the locations of the Tanaïs, the Tyras, the Borysthenes and the Hypanis.
	7	Strabo criticises Polybius' length of the inhabited world.
	8	Strabo criticises Polybius' and Eratosthenes' physical divisions of Europe.

Book	Section	Description
II.5	1	Representation of a spherical surface as a plane requires the geographer to be a mathematician.
	2	The celestial sphere, gravity, the Earth's axis and the poles, stellar paths, equator, tropics, arctic circles, ecliptic, zodiac.
	3	The five zones, terrestrial and celestial, the hemispheres, the ocean.
	4	The gnomon, latitude, longitude, circumference of the Earth.
	5–6	The inhabited world is an island shaped like a truncated cone, in a spherical quadrilateral formed between the equator, the arctic circle and a great circle passing through the poles. The island is 70,000 stadia long by 30,000 stadia wide.
	7	Hipparchus says the equator is 252,000 stadia long; the great circle distance from equator to pole is 63,000 stadia.
	8	Strabo does not believe Pytheas that Thule is farthest north at the Arctic Circle. He thinks no one is north of Ierne. He believes the Romans scorned to invade Britain as being worthless.
	9	The length and width of the inhabited world are 70,000 and 30,000 stadia respectively.
	10	Strabo recommends representing the Earth on a globe of no less than 10 feet in diameter or on a plane map of at least 7 feet.
	11–12	Strabo says he personally travelled from Armenia to Tyrrhenia and from the Euxine Sea to the frontiers of Ethiopia. He and all other geographers receive information mostly by hearsay. He went up the Nile river with his friend Aelius Gallus, prefect of Egypt, to the edge of Ethiopia and Syene.
	13–16	The known limits of the Earth are Meroe in the Nile river, Ierne, the Sacred Promontory beyond the Pillars of Hercules and east of Bactriana.
	17–18	The sea determines the contours of the land. The four largest internal seas are the Caspian sea, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.
	19–25	Mediterranean Sea.
	26	The continents are Europe, Libya, Asia. Europe develops excellence in men and government and has contributed the most to the others.
	27–33	States the locations of the countries of the three continents.
	34	Division of the circumference of the Earth, which is 252,000 stadia, by 360 gives 700 stadia per section.
	35–43	Equator, Tropic circle, Arctic circle, latitude by the shadow of the gnomon and the length of the longest day.

Book	Section	Description
III.1	1–3	Ibēria is poor, inhospitable and mountainous, 6000 stadia N–S, 5000 E–W. The Purēnē oros is aligned N–S and separates Ibēria from Keltikē.^[14]
	4	The Sacred Cape is the westernmost point of the inhabited world.^[15] The country next to it is called Cuneus, "wedge", in the Latin language from its shape. It is occupied by the Ibēres across the straits from the Maurousioi.
	5	Strabo repeats Poseidonius' assertion that the setting sun is larger at the coast because of a lens effect through the water vapor. He says Artemidorus is wrong in claiming a size of 100 times larger and that he could not have seen it because the cape was taboo at night.
	6	South West Iberia is delimited by the Tagus river (to the north of the Sacred Cape) and the Anas river to the east. The region is populated by the Keltikoi and some Lusitanai resettled there from beyond the Tagus by the Romans. Inland are the Karpētanoi (Madrid region), the Ōrētanoi (La Mancha and eastern Sierra Morena, and the Ouettōnoi (Salamanca region). The fertile southeast, Baetica (Andalusia region), east of the Baetis river after which it is named, is occupied by the Tourdētanoi or Tourdouloi, who have writing and a literature. Other Iberians have alphabets, but not the same, as they do not all use the same languages (glōttai).

Book	Section	Description
III.2	1–2	Bætica is the region around the Bætis river, main cities are Corduba and Gadira.
	3–5	Bætis river is navigable and boats go from the sea to Corduba.
	6	Bætica soil is fertile, it exports a lot of wheat, wine, and oil.
	7	Bætica littoral is full of fish, especially fat tuna, which eat a lot of acorns like some "sea pigs".
	8	Bætica subsoil is full of gold, silver, cooper, and iron.
	9–10	How gold and silver are extracted from the soil of Baetica and other regions of Hispania.
	11–13	What Homer says about Bætica.
	14–15	Bætica was a Phœnician colony, now it's romanised.

Book	Section	Description
III
	1	Topography of Iberia
	2	Turdetani
	3	North West Spain discussed
	4	Seacoast from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Pyrenees & inland
	5	Islands of Iberia
	6
	7
	8

Book	Section	Description
III	1	Balearic Islands
	2	Balearic Islands cont.
	3	Gades
	4	Mythical Erytheia location
	5	Myths about the Pillars of Heracles
	6	Pillars of Heracles cibt
	7	Water and tides and Gades
	8	Water and tides and Gades cont.
	9	Seleucus in Gades.
	10	Story by Poseidonius of a tree found in Gades
	11	Cassiterides

Book	Section	Description
IV	1	'Celtica beyond the Alps' (Gaul), its inhabitants and boundaries
	2	The agriculture and landscapes of Gaul
	3	The cities and towns of Narbonitis
	4	The cult of Ephesian Artemis in Massalia (Marseille)
	5	The government and society of Massalia, its interactions with Rome, and the founding of Aquae Sextiae (Aix)
	6	The coastline around Massalia, including the Galactic Gulf; the site and trade of Narbo (Narbonne)
	7	The mysterious rocks of the Stony Plain, and the causes given by other writers
	8	Siltation and oyster-fishing in the mouth of the Rhodanus (Rhône)
	9	The remaining settlements of the coastline, including Forum Iulium (Fréjus), Nicaea (Nice) and Antipolis (Antibes)
	10	The Stoechades Islands (Îles d’Hyères) and other coastal islands
	11	The towns and rivers of the Cévennes and the Rhône basin as far as Lemenna (lac Léman), including Avenio (Avignon), Arausio (Orange) and Vienna (Vienne)
	12	The right bank of the Rhône, including Nemausos (Nîmes)
	13	Historical migration from Gaul to Cappadocia
	14	Tolossa (Toulouse) and river trade in Gaul

Book	Section	Description
IV	1	The geography of Aquitania, between the Pyrenees and the Liger (Loire) via the Garumna (Garonne)
	2	The inhabitants of Aquitania
	3	The history of Vercingetorix and the Arverni, including the settlements of Cenabum (Orléans), Gergovia (Gergovie) and Alesia (Alise-Sainte-Reine)

Book	Section	Description
IV	1	The coastal tribes (the Veneti and the Osismii)
	2	A general ethnography of the Gauls
	3	The tribes of the Belgae and their characteristics
	4	Description of the three intellectual classes of the Belgae (the bards, vates and druids)
	5	The habits of the Belgae, including their fondness for jewellery, practice of scalping and religious sacrifice of humans
	6	Description of an island near the mouth of the Loire, home to a Dionysiac cult and inhabited entirely by women

Book	Section	Description
V	1	The shape of Italy, its geography, and the rivers and cities of the north; the River Padus (Po), Mediolanum (Milan), Comum (Como), Patavium (Padua), and Ravenna
	2	The places of northwestern Italy, including the River Tiber, the quarry at Carrara, Pisa, and the islands of Elba, Corsica and Sardinia; also ethnographies of Italian peoples, including the Tyrrhenians (Etruscans), the Caeretanians, and the mysterious Pelasgians.
	3
	4
	5
	6
	7
	8
	9
	10
	11
	12

Book	Section	Description
VII	1	Overview of the lands to be covered in the rest of the text.
	2	Germanic peoples.
	3	Geography of Germania, list of Germanic tribes.
	4	Roman conflicts with Germans.
	5	The Hercynian Forest, the Ister river.

Book	Section	Description
VII	1	Correcting false tales of the Cimbri.
	2	Cimbri raids.
	3	Cimbri divination.
	4	Lack of knowledge of areas beyond Germany.

Book	Section	Description
IV	1	Description of the interior of Celtica (Gaul), between the Rhenus (Rhine) Rhodanus (Rhône) and Liger (Loire)
	2	Lugdunum (Lyon), one of the most important cities in Gaul, and of local tribes and peoples (including the Aedui and the Sequani)
	3	Description of the Rhine and a calculation of its length; an account of Julius Caesar's actions along the river during the Gallic Wars
	4	The territory of the Helvetii and the other peoples of the Rhine, including Germanic tribes and settlers (such as the Treveri, Nervii and Suebi)
	5	Northern Gaul, including Durocortorum (Reims), the Ardouenna (Ardennes) and the Parisii in Lucotocia (Lutetia)

Book	Section	Description
IV	1	The island of Great Britain and its dimensions
	2	The natural resources and inhabitants of Great Britain
	3	Roman attempts at the occupation of Great Britain
	4	Ireland and its inhabitants
	5	Thule

Book	Section	Description
VII	1	Southern Germania, myths about distant regions.
	2	The Mysians.
	3	Mysian culture and religion.
	4	Getae. Different views of their culture.
	5	Zalmoxis, his travels, and his influence on the Mysians.
	6	Errors in other Greek accounts of Mysia.
	7–10	The Scythians.
	11–12	The Getae.
	13–19	Danube river, Dacians, Thracians, Peucini, Dniester river, Dnepr river, Roxolani.

Book	Section	Description
VIII	1.1	Summary of previous chapters and intro to Greece
	1.2	Greek tribes and dialects, Origins thereof
	1.3	Topography – coastline and peninsulas
	3.9	Epeians and Eleians peoples
	3.12	Temples and Shrines to various gods
	3.17	Cauconians, Origins thereof
	3.30	Olympia, legends thereof
	4.11	Depopulation of Laconia (area around Sparta)

Book	Section	Description
XI	1	Brief Description of Asia
	2	The Taurus Mountains
	3	Measurements of the Taurus Mountains
	4	Brief overview of nations bordering the Taurus mountains
	5	The Don River, Sea of Azov, Strait of Kerch, Strait of Zabache, Kura, and Arax rivers
	6	Brief description of Pompey's expedition
	7	The Caspian Sea, Gates of Alexander, and Halys River

Book	Section	Description
XI	1	The Sarmatians, Aorsi, Siraci, Moeotae, Achaei, Zygii, Heniochi, Cercetae, and Macropogones
	3	The city of Tanais
	4	The Maeotae and geography around Tanais
	5	The Cimmerians and the city of Cimmericum
	7	Monument of Satyrus
	8	The villages of Patraeus, Corocondame, and Acra
	9	Corocondametis Lake and the Kuban Rivers
	10	Phanagoria
	11	The Sindi, Dandarii, Toreatae, Agri, Arrhechi, Tarpetes, Obidiaceni, Sittaceni, Dosci, and Maeotae
	12-13	The Achae, Zygii, and Heniochi
	14	Geography of Colchis
	15	Geography of the North Caucasus
	16	Phasis
	17	Colchis
	18	The Argonauts and Mithridates
	19	The Soanes

Book	Section	Description
XI	1	Description of Caucasian Iberia
	2	The Kura, Araks, Alazan, Sandobanes, Rhoetaces, and Chanes Rivers
	3	Occupation of lowland and highland Iberians
	4-5	Entry into Iberia
	6	Social hierarchy of Iberia

Book	Section	Description
XI.2	1	The Caucasian Albanians
	2	The Kura River
	3	Agriculture of Caucasian Albania
	4	Features of Caucasian Albanians
	5	Military of Caucasian Albania, The Caspians, and entry into Caucasian Albania
	6	Rulership and fauna of Caucasian Albania
	7	Religion of Caucasian Albania
	8	Traditions of Caucasian Albania

Book	Section	Description
XI	1	The Amazons, Gargareans, Legae, and Gelae
	2	The Mermodas River
	3-4	Achievements of the Amazons
	5	?
	6	Highest point of the Caucasus
	7	The Troglodytae, Chamaecoets, and Polyphagi
	8	The Siraces and Aorsi

Book	Section	Description
XI	1	The Caspian Sea
	2	The Sacae and Massagetae
	3-4	Criticisms of historical authors

Geography_(Strabo)

Title of the work

Ascribed date

Oldest extant manuscripts

Composition

Content

Book I – definition and history of geography

Chapter 1 – description of geography and this encyclopedia

Chapter 2 – contributors to geography

Chapter 3 – physical geography

Chapter 4 – political geography

Book II – mathematics of geography

Chapter 1 – distances between parallels and meridians

Chapter 2 – the five zones

Chapter 3 – distribution of plants, animals, civilizations

Chapter 4 – criticisms of Polybius' and Eratosthenes' maps

Chapter 5 – Strabo's view of the ecumene

Book III – Iberian peninsula

Chapter 1 – Vicinity of the Sacred Cape

Chapter 2 – Bætica

Chapter 3 Iberia

Chapter 4

Chapter 5 - Islands of Iberia: Baleares, Cassiterides, Gades

Book IV – Gaul, Britain, Ireland, Thule, the Alps

Chapter 1 – Narbonitis

Chapter 2 – Aquitania

Chapter 3 – Celtica

Chapter 4 – Northwest Gaul and the Belgae

Chapter 5 – Great Britain, Ireland, and other islands

Chapter 6 – The Alps

Book V – Italy to Campania

Chapter 1 – Northern Italy

Chapter 2 – Tuscany and Umbria

Chapter 3 – The Sabine Hills and Latium

Chapter 4 – Picenum and Campania

Book VI – south Italy, Sicily

Chapter 1 – Southern Italy

Chapter 2 – Sicily

Chapter 3 – Greece

Chapter 4 – Italy summary

Book VII – north, east and central Europe

Chapter 1 – Germania

Chapter 2 – Germania

Chapter 3 – northern Black Sea region

Chapter 4 – Crimea

Chapter 5 – Illyria and Pannonia

Chapter 6 – Eastern Dacia and Thrace

Chapter 7 – Epirus

Book VIII – Greece

Book IX – More on Greece

Chapter 1 – Attica

Chapter 2 – Boeotia

Chapter 3 – Phocis

Chapter 4 – Locris

Chapter 5 – Thessaly

Book X – Yet more on Greece, Greek islands

Chapter 1 – Euboea

Chapter 2–3 – Aetolia and Acarnania

Chapter 4 – Crete

Chapter 5 – Archipelagos

Book XI – Russia east of the Don, the Transcaucasus, northwest Iran, Central Asia

Chapter 1 – East of the Don

Chapter 2 - Sarmatia

Chapter 3 – Iberia

Chapter 4 – Albania

Chapter 5 – The Caucasus

Chapter 6 - The Caspian

Chapter 7 - East of the Caspian

Chapter 8 - Geography of the Caspian and Iran

Chapter 9 – Parthia

Chapter 10 – Aria and Margiana

Chapter 11 – Bactria

Chapter 12 - The Taurus Mountains

Chapter 13 - Media

Chapter 14 - Armenia

Book XII – Anatolia

Chapter 1–2 – Cappadocia

Chapter 3 – Pontus

Chapter 4 – Bithynia

Chapter 5–7 – Galatia, Lycaonia and Pisidia

Book	Section	Description
XI	1	The Dahae and other Scythian nomads
	2	Hyrcania
	3	The Ochus and Oxus Rivers
	4	?
	5	?

Book	Section	Description
XI	1	Georgaphy of the Caspian Sea
	2	The Bactrians, Asii, Pasiani, Tochari, Sacaruli, Dahae. Sacae, and Massagetae
	3	Georgaphy of the Iranian Desert
	4-5	The Sacae
	6-7	The Massagetae
	8	More about the Scythian tribes
	9	Measurements between locations in Scythia

Book	Section	Description
XI	1	Bactria
	2	Cities of Bactria
	3	The Bactrians and Sogdians
	4	Cities created and destroyed by Alexander
	5	Rivers of Sogdiana and Bactria
	6	Alexander's planned expedition to Sogdiana
	7-12	Measurements of the region

Book	Section	Description
XI	1	Media
	2	Atropatene
	3	The summer palace in Ganzaka
	4	The Cadusii
	6-7	Geography of Media
	8	Tributes of Medes
	9-11	Traditions of the Medes

Book	Section	Description
XI	1-2	Armenia
	3	Arax River
	4	Geography of Armenia
	5	Growth of Armenia
	6	Artaxata
	7	Rivers of Armenia
	8	Lakes of Armenia
	9	Mines and Cavalry of Armenia
	10	Pompey and Tigranes
	11	Measurements of Armenia
	12-13	Strabo's account of the origin of the Armenians
	14	Tribes near Armenia
	15	Brief history of Armenia
	16	Religion of Armenia

Book	Section	Description
XII	1	The kingdom of Mithridates Eupator
	3	Bithynians
	5	Caucones whose domain extended from Mariandynia to the river Parthenius
	6	The city of Heracleia
	7	Rivers between Chalcedon and Heracleia
	15	The plain of Themiscyra
	16	The plain of Sidene
	32	Pontic Comana

Book	Section	Description
XII	1	Surroundings of Bithynia on all four sides
	2	Geography of the region south of Bithynia. The Astacene Gulf and the role of Bithynian kings in its history.
	4	On the difficulty of marking the boundaries between the territories of the Bithynians, Phrygians and Mysians.

Book	Section	Description
XII	1	Phrygia, Mysia, and Bithynia, and the parts of Phrygia and Mysia
	2	Debate as to whether the district around Sipylus is part of Greater of Lesser Phrygia
	3	Lydians and other peoples

Book	Section	Description
XII	1	Preamble to the region of the Troad with a brief discussion of sources, especially Homer
	2	Regions of the Troad

Book	Section	Description
XVI	1-2	Assyria geographical extent.
	4	Nineveh.
	5-6	Babylon.
	7	Borsippa.
	8-9	Geography of Babylon
	10	Canal Maintenance.
	11	Aristobulus on Alexander.
	12	Eratosthenes and hydrology.
	13	Polycleitus and hydrology.
	14	Babylonia production of resources
	15	Asphaltus in Babylonia and its uses
	16	Babylonia entyonym
	17	Artemita and Persis
	22–23	Cossaei, Paraetacene,Elymais.