THE
GEOGRAPHY
OF
STRABO.

LITERALLY TRANSLATED, WITH NOTES.
THE FIRST SIX BOOKS
BY H. C. HAMILTON, ESQ.
THE REMAINDER
BY W. FALCONER, M.A.,
LATE FELLOW OF EXETER COLLEGE, OXFORD.


IN THREE VOLUMES
VOL. I.

LONDON:
HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
MDCCCLIV.

JOHN CHILDS AND SON, BUNGAY.

NOTICE.

The present translation of Strabo, the great Geographer of Antiquity, is the first which has been laid before the English public. It is curious that a classic of so much renown and intrinsic value should have remained a comparatively sealed book to this country for so many centuries; yet such is the fact. It is true that the imperfect state of the Greek text, and the difficulty of geographical identification, have always been appalling obstacles; yet, after the acute and valuable labours of Gossellin, Du Theil, Groskurd, and especially of Gustav Cramer of Berlin, (whose text is followed in the present volume,) we might fairly have expected that some English scholar would have ventured to enter the field. But the task, like many in a similar position, has been reserved for the publisher of the Classical Library, and he trusts it will be found conscientiously fulfilled.

The translation was, in the first instance, intrusted to Mr. H. C. Hamilton, whose knowledge of the subject, and familiarity with the various languages concerned, peculiarly fitted him for the undertaking. His official duties, however, added to his anxious examination of every thing which tended to illustrate his author, prevented his proceeding with much speed; and it was only after the lapse of three years that he had reached the end of the sixth book. In the mean time it transpired that Mr. W. Falconer, son of the editor of the Oxford edition of the Greek text, had, after several years of care and attention, produced a very excellent translation, meaning to publish it. Under the circumstances it was deemed advisable to amalgamate the rival undertakings, and it is a source of gratification to the publisher that the respective translators were each so well satisfied with the labours of the other, that they assented readily to his proposal of associating their names.

This is all it seems necessary to state here. In the third volume will be given some account of the life and labours of Strabo, and of the manuscripts and principal editions; also a complete index of the places mentioned in the text, accompanied, where possible, by the modern names.

H. G. B.

STRABO’S GEOGRAPHY.

BOOK I.

INTRODUCTION.

SUMMARY.

That geographical investigation is not inconsistent with philosophy.—That Homer gives proof of it throughout his poems.—That they who first wrote on the science have omitted much, or given disjointed, defective, false, or inconsistent accounts.—Proofs and demonstrations of the correctness of this statement, with general heads containing a summary description of the disposition of the whole habitable earth.—Credit to be attached to the probabilities and evident proofs that in many regions the land and sea have been shifted, and exchanged places with each other.

CHAPTER I.

1.1If the scientific investigation of any subject be the proper avocation of the philosopher, Geography, the science of which we propose to treat, is certainly entitled to a high place; and this is evident from many considerations. They who first ventured to handle the matter were distinguished men, Homer, Anaximander the Milesian, and Hecatæus, (his fellow-citizen according to Eratosthenes,) Democritus, Eudoxus, Dicæarchus, Ephorus, with many others, and after these Eratosthenes, Polybius, and Posidonius, all of them philosophers.

Nor is the great learning, through which alone this subject can be approached, possessed by any but a person acquainted with both human and divine things,2 and these attainments constitute what is called philosophy. In addition to its vast importance in regard to social life, and the art of government, Geography unfolds to us the celestial phenomena, acquaints us with the occupants of the land and ocean, and the vegetation, fruits, and peculiarities of the various quarters of the earth, a knowledge of which marks him who cultivates it as a man earnest in the great problem of life and happiness.

2. Admitting this, let us examine more in detail the points we have advanced.

And first, [we maintain,] that both we and our predecessors, amongst whom is Hipparchus, do justly regard Homer as the founder of geographical science, for he not only excelled all, ancient as well as modern, in the sublimity of his poetry, but also in his experience of social life. Thus it was that he not only exerted himself to become familiar with as many historic facts as possible, and transmit them to posterity, but also with the various regions of the inhabited land and sea, some intimately, others in a more general manner. For otherwise he would not have reached the utmost limits of the earth, traversing it in his imagination.

3. First, he stated that the earth was entirely encompassed by the ocean, as in truth it is; afterwards he described the countries, specifying some by name, others more generally by various indications, explicitly defining Libya,3 Ethiopia, the Sidonians, and the Erembi (by which latter are probably intended the Troglodyte Arabians); and alluding to those farther east and west as the lands washed by the ocean, for in ocean he believed both the sun and constellations to rise and set.

The stars also he describes as bathed in the ocean.6

4. He portrays the happiness of the people of the West, and the salubrity of their climate, having no doubt heard of the abundance of Iberia,