STRABO [STRABON] (born c. 63 B.c.), Greek geographer, was born at Amasia in Pontus, a city which had been much Hellenized. He studied at Nysa under the grammarian Aristo demus, under the grammarian Tyrannio at Rome, under the philosopher Xenarchus, and he studied Aristotle with Boethus. He also states that he saw P. Servilius Isauricus, who died at Rome in advanced years in 44 B.C., from which it has been inferred that he visited Rome early in life. He also tells us that he was at Gyaros (one of the Cyclades) when Augustus was at Corinth on his return to Rome from the East in 29 B.C., and that he accompanied the prefect of Egypt, Aelius Gallus, on his ex pedition to Upper Egypt, which seems to have taken place in 25 24 B.C. These are the only dates in his life which can be ac curately fixed. The latest mentioned in his work is the death of Juba, king of Mauretania, which took place in A.D. 21.
Although he had seen a comparatively small portion of the regions which he describes, he had travelled much. As he states himself : "Westward I have journeyed to the parts of Etruria opposite Sardinia; towards the south from the Euxine to the borders of Ethiopia." His Geography was finally revised between A.D. 17 and 23.
earliest writing was an historical work now lost, which he himself describes as his Historical Memoirs. He tells us (xi. 9, 3) that the sixth book of the Memoirs was identical with the second of the Continuation of Polybius; probably, there fore, books i.–iv. formed an introduction to the main work. Plutarch, who calls him "the Philosopher," quotes Strabo's Me moirs (Luc. 28), and cites him as an historian (Sulla, 26). Jose phus calls him "the Cappadocian," and often quotes from him.
The Geography is the most important work on that science which antiquity has left us. It follows Eratosthenes, who had first laid down a scientific basis for geography. The earlier book was too small to contain the description of separate countries which Strabo included. The historical notices are all his own. He regarded Homer as the source of all wisdom and knowledge—in deed, his description of Greece is largely drawn from Apollo dorus's commentary on the Homeric "Catalogue of Ships"—and treated Herodotus with undeserved contempt, classing him with Ctesias and other "marvel-mongers."
Strabo chiefly employed Greek authorities (the Alexandrian geographers Polybius, Poseidonius and Theophanes of Mytilene, the companion of Pompey) and made comparatively little use of Roman authorities. He probably amassed his material in the library of Alexandria, so that Greek authorities would naturally furnish the great bulk of his collections, and then returned to Rome, where he perhaps used the chorography of Agrippa, a map of the Roman Empire set up in the Porticus Vipsaniae.
The Geography consists of seventeen books, of which the seventh is imperfect. The first two are introductory, the next eight deal with Europe, two being devoted to Spain and Gaul, two to Italy and Sicily, one to the north and east of Europe, and three to Greek lands. The eleventh book treats of the main divisions of Asia and the more easterly districts, the next three of Asia Minor. Book xv. deals with India and Persia, book xvi. with Assyria, Babylonia, Syria and Arabia, and the closing book with Egypt and Africa.
Editions.—The Aldine (Venice, 1516) was unfortunately based on a very corrupt ms. The first substantial improvements in the text were due to Casaubon (Geneva, 1587; Paris, 1620), whose text re mained the basis of subsequent editions till that of Coraes (Paris, 1815-19) , who removed many corruptions. The mss. were first scientifically collated by Kramer (Berlin, 5844-52), who demonstrated that Par. 1,397 was the best authority for the first nine books (it contains no more) and Vat. 1,329 for the remainder. Of later editions the most important are those of C. Muller (Paris, 1853) and Meineke (Leipzig, 1866-77). H. F. Tozer's volume of selections (Oxford, 1893) is useful. Napoleon I., an admirer of Strabo, caused a French trans lation of the Geography to be made by Coraes, Letronne and others (Paris, 1805-19) ; German translation by Grosskurd (Berlin, 1831-34) Eng. trans. by H. L. Jones, Loeb Classical Lib. (5 vols. 1922-28). For fragments of the Historical Memoirs see Leipziger Studien XI., 1891. See also Miiller's Fragmenta historicorum graecorum, iii. 490 sqq.; Bunbury's History of Ancient Geography, vol. ii. chs. 21, 22 ; and F. Dubois's Examen de la geographic de Strabon (Paris, 1891) should also be consulted.