Strabo

Strabo, also known as Geographer Strabo, was a Greek geographer, philosopher, and historian who lived in the late Hellenistic and early Roman periods, approximately 64 BCE to around 24 CE. He was born in Amasia in Pontus (now Amasya, Turkey) and traveled widely across the Roman world, studying in places such as Athens, Rhodes, and Rome before settling in the intellectual centers of the empire.

His principal work, the Geographica, is a seventeen-volume geographical encyclopedia intended as a reference for the known world. It covers Europe, Asia, and Africa and integrates ethnographic, historical, and economic information with descriptions of landscapes, cities, and peoples. Strabo drew on a wide range of sources, from earlier geographers such as Eratosthenes to contemporary writers, but he also offered his own critical assessments and observations from travel. The work emphasizes the relationships between geography and culture, history, and politics, and it often discusses the reliability of sources and the biases of authors.

Geographica is valued for its breadth and as a key secondary source for many aspects of ancient geography, cartography, and ethnography. Although it is not a fully systematic treatise by modern standards, Strabo’s method—cross-checking sources, noting travelers’ reports, and incorporating firsthand observations—made it a foundational reference for later scholars. After his death, Geographica influenced both late antique scholars and medieval readers, contributing to the transmission of geographical knowledge into the Renaissance.