Strabo (64 BCE–24 CE)
Strabo, also a Greek geographer, became most famous for his seventeen-volume work Geographica. He was born in Amasya (in modern Turkey) to a wealthy and well-connected family. He moved to Rome around the age of 19 or 20 (44 BCE) and studied under Tyrannion, a distinguished geographer, and several other prominent teachers.24 He also knew Posidonius, another geographer and polymath.
He may have stayed in Rome for many years – he was certainly there in 35 BCE and in 31 BCE and visited again in 29 BCE. He travelled widely (for the time): he was in Egypt from 25 to 20 BCE, evidently based in Alexandria; there he sailed up the Nile as far as Philae (Aswan area) and the frontiers of Ethiopia in 25 BCE, then travelled to various locations in Asia Minor, the shores of the Euxine (Black Sea) and Beirut in Syria. His final visit to Rome was around 7 BCE and he may have spent the last twenty-six or twenty-seven years of his life in his native Amasya.We are mainly interested in Strabo here for his Geographica, the greater part of which was probably written before 7 BCE. He probably used his time in Alexandria to research information in the Great Library, one of the most important such institutions of the ancient world. Strabo’s world, or rather his view of the world, was substantially narrower than the reality we know today. Africa (largely limited to ‘Libya’ and adjoining areas) was much smaller, Asia only extended as far as India, and Europe is only recognisable in the Mediterranean area; there was nothing else. Eurasia, and North Africa reduced to a small continent: this was the extent of the Graeco-Roman world. Fifteen of the seventeen books cover specific regions and half of those are focused on Mediterranean countries. He typically describes the places, peoples, products and a little of the history, which often reverts to legend and myth, a good part of it implausible to a twenty-first-century reader. He praises certain earlier geographers, but totally disregards others: ‘Still, while many are beneath discussion, such men as Eratosthenes, Posidonius, Hipparchus, Polybius, and others of their stamp, deserve our highest consideration.’ However, even these worthies were not exempt from severe criticism.25
He draws heavily on Alexander’s great expedition to Asia and on the discussion of India, but there is little else. Curiously, there is no mention of black pepper, let alone its provenance, despite his acknowledgement that 120 ships were leaving Myos Hormos annually for India (mainly for the spice trade).26 Despite this and other shortcomings, his voluminous work is impressive in coverage and provides by far the best understanding of the world in his era.