A historical and topographical guide to the "geography" of Strabo

Strabo's Geography, completed in the early first century AD, is the primary source for the history of Greek geography. This Guide provides the first English analysis of and commentary on this long and difficult text, and serves as a companion to the author's The Geography of Strabo, the first English translation of the work in many years. It thoroughly analyzes each of the seventeen books and provides perhaps the most thorough bibliography as yet created for Strabo's work. Careful attention is paid to the historical and cultural data, the thousands of toponyms, and the many lost historical sources that are preserved only in the Geography. This volume guides readers through the challenges and complexities of the text, allowing an enhanced understanding of the numerous topics that Strabo covers, from the travels of Alexander and the history of the Mediterranean to science, religion, and cult. "The story that the Argonauts returned home by means of the Istros (Danube) and the Adriatic (see 1.2.10) meant that there were also relics in those areas, some of which were mentioned by Kallimachos. He placed the Argonauts in the Aegean (Anaphe, an island east of Thera where they landed [Apollonios 4.1717]), Thessaly (called Haimonia), and on the Istrian (Histrian) peninsula, where the pursuing Kolchians founded Pola (modern Pula in Croatia). Such a return for the Argo is based on the idea that the Istros split into two branches, one to the Black Sea and the other to the Adriatic, a geographical improbability first mentioned in the fourth century BC (Pseudo-Skylax 20; Aristotle, Research on Animals 7[8].13). The idea may have come through erroneous understanding of the complex river systems of the region, the fact that tributaries of the Danube are within 20 km. of the Adriatic in Croatia, and the similarity of the names Istros (the river) and Histria (the peninsula)"-- Provided by publisher Contents Maps Preface Abbreviations Additional material The Guide to the Geography Book 1: Introduction and Predecessors Book 2: Further Discussion of Predecessors Book 3: Iberia Book 4: Transalpine Keltike Book 5: Northern and Central Italia Book 6: Southern Italia and Sikelia Book 7: Northern and Eastern Europe Book 8: The Peloponnesos Book 9: East Central Hellas Book 10: West Central Hellas and the Hellenic Islands Book 11: The Northeastern Part of the Inhabited World Book 12: Central and Northern Anatolia Book 13: Northwestern and West Central Anatolia Book 14: Southern Anatolia and Cyprus Book 15: Indike and the Persian Plateau Book 16: Assyria, Syria, Phoenicia, and Arabia Book 17: Egypt, Libya, and Conclusion Bibliography Index of Passages Cited General Index The Geography of Strabo is the primary source for the history of Greek geography. This Guide provides the first English commentary on this long and difficult text, and serves as a companion to the author's The Geography of Strabo, the first English translation of the work in many years.