The Geography of Strabo, Volume 2 (of 3): Literally Translated, with Notes

In Short

This volume surveys the physical, political, and historical contours of the ancient Mediterranean, focusing heavily on Greece, the Aegean islands, Asia Minor, and the Black Sea region. Moving systematically from region to region—from Peloponnesian strongholds to Phrygian mountain passes—Strabo correlates physical topographies with local histories, military campaigns, and epic lore. The narrative functions as an intellectual journey, evaluating earlier cartographers, historians, and local traditions against empirical evidence and literary texts. It has endured as an irreplaceable portal into the classical world because it synthesizes raw physical data with deep literary commentary, showing how physical environments shaped ancient civilizations, local governance, and historic events.

The Story

The volume opens with a detailed examination of Greece, taking up the geographical survey where previous books left off. Strabo begins by detailing the Peloponnese, systematically mapping out regions such as Laconia, Messenia, Corinth, and Arcadia. Throughout this tour, he continuously evaluates local topographies alongside classical literature, using Homeric references like the Catalogue of Ships to test whether historical names match physical locations, rivers, and coastal lines. He recounts local legends—such as the tragic love story of Rhadine, who sailed from Samos to Corinth—and outlines major historical shifts, including the rise of Spartan power, the subjugation of the Helots under King Agis, and the later destruction of Corinth by the Roman general Lucius Mummius.

Moving outward from the Peloponnese, the survey turns toward Attica and Central Greece. Strabo investigates the origins of Athens, tracking its development from Cecrops’s initial division of the land into twelve distinct cities to Theseus’s political unification of Attica into a single capital. He assesses local water sources, correcting writers like Callimachus regarding the purity of the Eridanus, and details legendary battlefields such as Chaeroneia, where Philip of Macedon defeated the allied Greek states. Sacred sites also anchor the topography, including the underground oracle of Jupiter Trophonius at Lebadeia and the venerable, inviolable temple of Minerva at Alalcomenae.

The survey then moves northward into Thessaly and the surrounding island territories. Strabo explains how Thessaly’s broad central plain was once an inland lake until an earthquake tore open the chasm of Tempe between Mount Ossa and Mount Olympus, allowing the Peneius River to drain into the sea. He tracks the political migrations and forced relocations of whole populations across Euboea, detailing towns like Oreus, Histiaea, and Dium. He also addresses the diplomatic maneuvers of outlying tribes, noting how the Acarnanians secured privileges from Rome by proving they were the only Greek people who had abstained from Agamemnon’s expedition against Troy.

Crossing the Aegean, the work charts Crete and the northern Black Sea coast. Strabo details the internal power struggles between Crete's major centers, Cnossus and Gortyna, while exploring the origin of local cults dedicated to Dictaean and Dictynnaean deities. Moving to the Cimmerian Bosporus and the Sea of Azov (Maeotis), he describes frozen straits, ancient defensive earthworks, and the Greek mercantile colonies that replaced earlier nomadic populations. He sharply critiques Alexander the Great’s court historians, exposing how they fabricated geographic links between the Caspian Sea and the Sea of Azov merely to inflate Alexander's conquests.

Finally, the narrative travels across Asia Minor—spanning Media, Bithynia, Pontus, Mysia, and Phrygia. Strabo traces the origins of royal lineages, local religious sanctuaries like Comana, and the rise of powerful states such as Pergamum. He weaves personal history into this geographic tapestry, recounting how his own maternal ancestors held high office under Mithridates before defecting to the Roman general Lucullus. The volume concludes with descriptions of the natural phenomena of inner Phrygia and the coastal cities of Æolis, leaving the reader with a fully realized panorama of the ancient world.

How It Unfolds

Surveying the Peloponnese The journey starts across Southern Greece, tracing the coastlines of Messenia, Laconia, and the Corinthian Isthmus. Strabo pairs land measurements with local histories, recounting the origin of Spartan Helot slavery under Agis and the eventual destruction of Corinth by Roman forces.

Mapping Central Greece and Attica Moving into Attica and Boeotia, the narrative examines the political evolution of Athens from Cecrops to Theseus. Strabo assesses famous landmarks, local river systems like the Eridanus, and renowned sites such as the battlefield of Chaeroneia and the oracle at Lebadeia.

Traversing Thessaly and Euboea The text moves north to describe the geological history of Thessaly, explaining how an earthquake created the gorge at Tempe to drain a massive prehistoric lake. It details regional shifts, island settlements, and how the Acarnanians used their absence from the Trojan War to win Roman favor.

Exploring Crete and the Bosporus Turning to the Mediterranean islands and the Euxine coast, Strabo examines the rivalries of Cretan city-states like Cnossus and Gortyna. He then surveys the frozen waters of the Cimmerian Bosporus, contrasting earlier Cimmerian rule with later Scythian and Greek settlements.

Exposing Court Geographers Analyzing Asia and the Caspian region, Strabo debunks geographic inventions created by Alexander the Great’s flatterers. He demonstrates that claims joining the Caspian Sea to the Sea of Azov were mere political propaganda rather than empirical reality.

Charting Asia Minor and Family History The volume concludes by tracing the kingdoms, sanctuaries, and physical features of Mysia, Pontus, Media, and Phrygia. Strabo describes the rise of Pergamum and incorporates his own family's history of political maneuvering during the Roman wars against Mithridates.

The People

• Strabo: The authoritative narrator and analytical geographer who seeks to synthesize physical landscapes, historic events, and epic literature into an accurate record of the known world. He approaches earlier accounts with critical skepticism, correcting poets, cartographers, and flatterers while incorporating his own family history into the regional account of Pontus.
• Homer: Framed by Strabo as the foundational geographer whose epics provide the earliest descriptions of the Mediterranean. His verses serve as a constant baseline for investigation, though Strabo frequently clarifies where ancient poetic names differ from modern sites.
• Theseus: The legendary Athenian statesman who consolidated Attica’s twelve independent cities into a single powerful civic center, transforming the regional political landscape.
• Agis: The Spartan king who altered the social order of Laconia by stripping neighboring populations of equal rights, imposing tribute, and reducing the revolting inhabitants of Helos to permanent public slaves.
• Ephorus: A respected historian and disciple of Isocrates frequently cited by Strabo. His accounts provide key details on regional colonizations, military campaigns, and tribal origins, though Strabo does not hesitate to correct him when his claims contradict Homer.
• Lucullus and Pompey: Roman commanders whose campaigns reshaping Asia Minor directly impacted Strabo’s maternal ancestors, highlighting the transition of these ancient territories into the Roman sphere of influence.

In Its Own Voice

"Homer was the first writer on the subject of geography, and was followed by many others..."

This observation sets Strabo's analytical framework, establishing epic poetry as the primary baseline for geographical inquiry.

"The system of Heilote-slavery, which continued from that time to the establishment of the dominion of the Romans, was almost entirely the contrivance of Agis."

Strabo explains the political origins of Laconia's social hierarchy, tying long-standing institutions directly to specific historic figures.

"Many additional falsehoods were invented respecting this sea, to flatter the ambition of Alexander and his love of glory..."

Here Strabo exposes how court historians distorted physical geography to inflate the achievements of military conquerors.

"When a chasm was formed, at the place now called Tempe, by shocks of an earthquake, and Ossa was riven from Olympus, the Peneius flowed out through it to the sea, and drained this tract of country."

This passage illustrates Strabo's keen interest in physical geology and how natural catastrophes shape human topography.

What It's Really About

Beneath its exhaustive cataloging of distances, rivers, and regional borders, this work is an investigation into how human history and physical geography shape one another. Strabo treats space not as a blank stage, but as a dynamic environment altered by natural forces—such as earthquakes tearing open mountain passes—and human interventions, such as forced migrations, urban consolidations, and military conquests.

The text also serves as an extended critical essay on historical methodology and literary authority. Strabo constantly confronts the challenge of reconciling ancient poetic accounts with contemporary physical realities. He demonstrates how mythic traditions, ancient treaties, and epic poems were actively weaponized by cities and tribes to claim territory or win diplomatic favors from dominant powers like Rome. Ultimately, the work argues that true geography requires empirical rigor, historical context, and a willingness to dismantle politically motivated myths.

Why Read It Today

This work offers an immersive journey into the mental map of the ancient Mediterranean world. Readers fascinated by classical antiquity, historical geography, and epic literature will find it an extraordinary resource. Rather than presenting a dry gazetteer, Strabo writes with the curiosity of an intellectual traveler, pairing physical descriptions with local gossip, historical tragedies, geological shifts, and textual analysis.

Reading the text requires patience. The narrative moves deliberately, weighed down at times by minute distance measurements, dense cataloging of long-extinct villages, and intricate linguistic debates over ancient Greek spellings and Homeric verses. Translators' notes and structural gaps reflect the complex transmission of ancient texts. Yet what remains is captivating: a vivid, wide-angle view of an interconnected ancient world where local myths, imperial conquests, and natural landscapes interlock on every page.