LacusCurtius • Strabo's Geography
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Strabo: The Geography
The Author, the Manuscripts
As with most ancient authors, not that much is known of Strabo, and
the Loeb edition's introductory material
, by the translator Horace Leonard Jones, is about as good as one can get. The Loeb edition also provides a thorough bibliography, including a very summary discussion of the principal manuscripts of the Geography: that too should eventually find its way onsite, except for some few addenda made by the Loeb editors in the later reprintings and therefore still under copyright. Further good information, especially on editions and translations, may be found on
Sarah Pothecary's site
The Text of Strabo on LacusCurtius
The entire work is online in English translation. I don't plan to enter the original Greek text: those, now few, who read Greek will very likely have access to TLG.
As almost always, I retyped the text rather than scanning it: not only to minimize errors prior to proofreading, but as an opportunity for me to become intimately familiar with the work, an exercise I heartily recommend. (
Well-meaning
attempts to get me to scan text, if
success
­ful, would merely turn me into some kind of machine: gambit declined.)
I ran a first check immediately after entering each book; then I proofread the text word by word, a check which is meant to be final. In the little table of contents below, the sections are therefore shown
on blue backgrounds
, indicating that I believe the text of them to be completely errorfree;
red backgrounds
would mean that they still needed that final proofreading. As elsewhere onsite, the header bar at the top of each chapter's webpage will remind you with the same color scheme.
Should you spot an error, however . . . please do report it.
Books 6‑14 of the Geography have also been online for some time
at Perseus
, in both the original Greek and an English translation.
Edition Used
Loeb Classical Library, 8 volumes, Greek texts with fa­cing English translation by H. L. Jones: Harvard University Press, 1917 thru 1932. The text is in the public domain: that of the earlier volumes because the copyright has lapsed; that of the later volumes, pursuant to the 1978 revision of the U. S. Copyright Code, because the copyrights expired and were not renewed at the appropriate times, which would have been in various years up to 1960.
(Details here on the copyright law involved.)
Chapter and Section Numbering, Local Links
Both chapters (large numbers) and sections (small numbers) mark local links, according to a consistent scheme; you can therefore link directly to any passage. Similarly, for citation purposes, the Loeb edition pagination and the frequently used traditional pagination of Casaubon's 1620 edition — down the
right-hand
and
left-hand
side of the page respectively — are both indicated by local links in the sourcecode. It should be noticed that the latter usually don't coincide with the sections and chapters, so that if for example your nineteenth-century text refers to "p. 67" you may have to look both at the end of Book
and at the beginning of Book
II
Book
Subject
page numbers
Casaubon
Loeb
I.1:
Strabo's preface, on the scope and usefulness of geography
1‑14
I:
I.2.1‑23:
zzz
14‑30
49
I.2.24‑40:
zzz
30‑47
111
I.3:
zzz
47‑62
173
I.4:
zzz
62‑67
231
II.1.1‑19:
zzz
67‑77
253
II.1.20‑37:
zzz
[Proofread, but still missing several geometrical figures inserted by the editor]
77‑90
289
II.1.38‑41:
Eratosthenes is often wrong, but Hipparchus' corrections are worse.
90‑94
345
II.2:
zzz
94‑96
361
II.3:
zzz
96‑104
367
II.4:
zzz
104‑109
399
II.5.1‑17:
zzz
109‑121
419
II.5.18‑43:
zzz
121‑136
467
III.1:
Iberia
136‑141
II:
III.2:
Iberia
141‑151
19
III.3:
Iberia
151‑156
61
III.4:
Iberia
156‑167
79
III.5:
The islands of Iberia: Baleares, Cassiterides, Gades
167‑176
123
IV.1:
Transalpine Gaul: Narbonensis
176‑189
163
IV.2:
Transalpine Gaul: Aquitania
189‑191
213
IV.3:
Transalpine Gaul: Lugdunensis
191‑194
221
IV.4:
Transalpine Gaul: W Lugdunensis and Belgica
194‑199
235
IV.5:
Britain, Ireland, and Thule
199‑201
253
IV.6:
Cisalpine Gaul (Northern Italy)
201‑209
263
V.1:
Northern Italy proper (roughly Emilia-Romagna)
209‑218
299
V.2:
Tyrrhenia and Umbria (Tuscany, Umbria, and the N Marche)
218‑228
333
V.3:
The Sabine lands and Latium
228‑240
375
V.4:
Picenum (S Marche) and Campania
240‑251
427
VI.1:
zzz
252‑265
III:
VI.2:
Sicily
265‑277
55
VI.3:
Iapygia
277‑285
103
VI.4:
Summary remarks on Italy and the expansion of Rome
285‑288
137
VII.1:
Germany
289‑292
151
VII.2:
Germans and the Cimbri or Cimmerians
292‑294
165
VII.3:
Mysia, Dacia, and the Danube (SE Europe)
294‑308
173
VII.4:
The Tauric Chersonese (Crimea)
308‑312
229
VII.5:
Illyria and Pannonia
312‑318
249
VII.6:
Eastern Dacia and the north shore of the Propontis
318‑320
275
VII.7:
Epirus
320‑329
285
Fragments
329‑331
321
VIII.1:
Greece, generalities
332‑334
IV:
VIII.2:
The Peloponnesus
335‑336
13
VIII.3:
Elea
336‑358
19
VIII.4:
Messenia
358‑362
107
VIII.5:
Laconia
362‑368
125
VIII.6:
Argolis
368‑383
149
VIII.7:
Ionia
383‑388
207
VIII.8:
Arcadia
388‑389
227
IX.1:
Attica
390‑400
239
IX.2:
Boeotia
400‑416
277
IX.3:
Phocis
416‑425
341
IX.4:
Locris
425‑429
377
IX.5:
Thessaly
429‑444
395
10
X.1:
Euboea
444‑449
V:
X.2:
Acarnania
449‑462
23
X.3:
Aetolia
462‑474
75
X.4:
Crete
474‑484
121
X.5:
The Greek islands (Sporades and Cyclades)
484‑489
161
11
XI.1:
Preliminary remarks about Asia
490‑492
183
XI.2:
The shore of the Black Sea from the Maeotian Lake to Colchis
492‑499
191
XI.3:
Asian Iberia
499‑501
217
XI.4:
(Asian) Albania
501‑503
223
XI.5:
The Caucasus and the country of the Amazons
503‑506
233
XI.6:
The western approaches to the Caspian Sea
506‑508
243
XI.7:
Hyrcania
508‑510
249
XI.8:
East of the Caspian Sea: the Sacae and the Massagetae
510‑514
259
XI.9:
Parthia proper
514‑515
271
XI.10:
Aria and Margiana
515‑516
277
XI.11:
Bactria
516‑520
279
XI.12:
Cis-Tauran Asia and the Taurus
520‑522
295
XI.13:
Media
522‑526
303
XI.14:
Armenia
526‑533
317
12
XII.1:
Cappadocia
533‑535
345
XII.2:
Cataonia and Melitene
535‑540
351
XII.3:
Pontus, Paphlagonia, Lesser Armenia
540‑563
371
XII.4:
Bithynia
563‑566
455
XII.5:
Galatia
566‑568
467
XII.6:
Lycaonia
568‑569
473
XII.7:
Pisidia
569‑571
479
XII.8:
Arcadia
571‑580
485
13
XIII.1.1‑27:
The Troad and Ilium
581‑595
VI:
XIII.1.28‑45:
Dardania; Ilium again
595‑603
59
XIII.1.46‑70:
The Achaeium, Scepsis, Assus, Adramyttium, Teuthrania
604‑616
91
XIII.2:
Lesbos and its minor islands
616‑619
139
XIII.3:
The Aeolian cities
619‑623
149
XIII.4:
Pergamum, Sardis, Catacecaumene, Hierapolis
623‑631
163
14
XIV.1:
Ionia
632‑650
197
XIV.2:
Caria
650‑664
263
XIV.3:
Lycia
664‑667
311
XIV.4:
Pamphylia
667‑668
323
XIV.5:
Cilicia
668‑681
327
XIV.6:
Cyprus
681‑685
373
15
XV.1.1‑25:
India, basic geography
685‑696
VII:
XV.1.26‑38:
India, animals
696‑703
43
XV.1.39‑73:
India, people
703‑720
67
XV.2:
Ariana, Gedrosia, and Carmania
720‑727
129
XV.3:
Persia proper
727‑736
155
16
XVI.1:
Leucania
736‑749
193
XVI.2:
Syria — Commagene, Syria proper, Seleucia, Coelesyria (Palestine), Phoenicia
749‑765
239
XVI.3:
zzz
765‑767
299
XVI.4:
zzz
767‑785
307
17
XVII.1.1‑10:
Egypt and Ethiopia
785‑795
VIII:
XVII.1.11‑24:
Egypt, continued
795‑804
43
XVII.1.25‑54:
Egypt, continued
804‑821
77
XVII.2:
Ethiopia and Egypt, conclusion
821‑824
141
XVII.3:
Libya (North Africa)
824‑840
155
Inconsistencies in the English Translation
Somewhat understandably, since Prof. Jones' edition and translation of Strabo appeared over the course of fifteen years, he fell into a few minor inconsistencies that do not represent any inconsistencies in the Greek text. I've let them stand, but the reader should be aware of them. In addition to fairly frequent inconsistencies of capitalization, hyphenation, diacriticals, and rendering of proper names by Greek-like or Latinate forms, the main ones I noticed:
Cherronese, Chersonese
Cinnamon-producing Country, Cinnamon-bearing Country
Egypt, Aegypt
Ethiopia, Aethiopia
inhabited world, habited world
Magnetans, Magnesians
Massalia, Massilia
Rhenus, Rhine
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Site updated:
2 Apr 16