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A
member of a noble family on his mother's side, Strabo was born in 64 or
63 BC in the city of Amaseia (now called Amasya) capital of Pontus, a
region in northeastern Anatolia that was an independent kingdom from
the 4th century BC until overcome by Pompey in 66 BC. Pontus became a
province of the Roman empire in 62 BC, shortly after Strabo's birth.
Coming
as he did from a wealthy family, Strabo was able to undergo a good
education and he also had an opportunity to travel as the spirit filled
him. His ancestors had performed important duties for the former kings
of Pontus and one of them was even elevated by Mithridates Eupator to
the rank of high priest, putting him second in authority to no one but
the king himself.
Attaching
much importance to his education, Strabo began studying at a very early
age with Artemidoros in Nysa (now Sultanhisar) near Tralles (Aydin) in
the region of Caria (southwestern Anatolia). It is possible that owing
to the strife with Rome, Strabo's family may have sent him to Nysa in
the hope that it would be a safer place for their young son than
Amaseia.
In
44 BC Strabo went to Rome, passing through Corinth on the way, to study
under Publius Severus Isauricus, who died the same year. Now in Rome,
the young man Strabo probably continued his studies with the Seleucid
philosopher Xenarchos. In describing Amisos (Samsun) in his Geographika
he tells us that he studied under Tyrannion, a geographer from that
city. (Cicero also refers to Tyrannion as a distinguished geographer.)
It is possible that Strabo was influenced by this teacher of his to
become a geographer himself. Among Strabo's other teachers was the
great Stoic philosopher, historian, and scholar Poseidonios. Strabo
himself was an adherent to the principles of Stoic philosophy.
Politically
speaking, he was a staunch supporter of Roman imperialism and the
respect and admiration he felt towards Roman and towards its
leaders�particularly the emperors Augustus and Tiberius�is apparent in
his work. Strabo was also influenced by Pythodoris, queen of Pontus,
who was so great a friend of Rome that she bequeathed her throne to
Augustus and this also must have played a role in his partiality
towards the empire. Following his first visit to Rome in 44 BC Strabo
returned to the city several times more (35 BC, 31 BC, 29 BC, and 7
AD). Strabo spent much of his life traveling and noting what he saw,
visiting Egypt, Ethiopia, and many other countries in the process. It
is likely that he spent the last twenty-six or twenty-seven years of
his life in his birthplace Amaseia probably composing and refining his
work.
The
earliest date for his death is put at 21. Having spent nearly thirty
years in the fringes of the Roman world far from its hub however,
Strabo was unable to keep track of day-to-day political events in Rome
and thus his book is devoid of references to them.
Strabo's work
According
to some, the Geographika began to be composed in 7, when Strabo was
about fifty-seven years old. Others put the date of composition later
in 18-19. H.L. Jones asserts that Strabo himself regarded his own work
as a sort of monument and no one would attempt to start producing such
a work at the ripe old age of eighty. He thus puts the writing at
sometime around 7 when, at the age of fifty-seven, Strabo would still
have the mental and physical stamina necessary for such an undertaking.
In my own opinion however 18 is a better choice as the date of
composition because in volume XII (3.29) Strabo makes mention of the
death of Archelaos, the husband of Pythodoris. Archelaos died however
in the early years of the reign of Tiberius (r 14-37), by which time
the author would indeed have been around eighty. In his book, Strabo
proudly refers to his extensive travels and they were extensive indeed:
as far east as Armenia in the east, as far west as the Tyrrhenian
shores opposite Sardinia, as far north as the Pontus Euxinus (Black
Sea), and as far south as Ethiopia. In addition, Strabo tells us that
among the geographers, there was no one who had gone beyond these
borders or traveled more than he had. In his work, Strabo not only
provides us with information about the geography of Anatolia but he
also gives a brief history of each region that he describes, thus
making his work additionally important. Indeed, Strabo appears to have
been as much a historian as he was a geographer for among his works is
a forty-seven volume work of history of which unfortunately nothing
remains.
It
is most likely that Strabo was little read in ancient times and he
seems to have been essentially rediscovered during the Byzantine
period. Very few copies of the work exist. The single manuscript which
has survived and from which it appears all existing copies were made
contains a horde of shortcomings and errors that were faithfully
repeated in all the later versions. The seventeen volumes of the
Geographika provide information on the geography of the ancient world
stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Indus River in
the east. Volumes I and II present a history of geography and earlier
geographers. Volumes III-XI treat Spain, Gaul, Britain, Italy, Sicily,
northern and southern Europe, the northern Balkans, Greece, the Black
Sea, and the Caspian Sea. Volumes XI-XIV deal with Asia Minor
(Anatolia) while volumes XVI-XVII cover India, Persia, Mesopotamia,
Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, and North Africa. The work is more than just a
geography book however: it is in fact a sort of encyclopedia of the
ancient world at the turn of the millennium, a historical geography,
and�as some have put it�a "philosophy of geography". |
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