GEOGRAPHER

Life
Stoic philosopher, historian and geographer from Amaseia in Pontus, Strabo was a member of a wealthy and important family. This ensured him an exceptionally fine education, beginning in Nysa, on the Maeander, in the province of Caria, and continuing in Rome and Alexandria. He was initiated into Stoic philosophy at an early age, and spent much of his life travelling the known world in order to learn as much about it as possible: his journeyings took him from Armenia to Tyrrhenia and from the Black Sea to the borders of Ethiopia.


Work
With the material he gathered he wrote two major works:

Á) "Historical sketches". Of the 47 books that make up this vast compilation, only a few fragments survive. It covered the history of the known world from the destruction of Carthage (146 BC) to the founding of the Roman Empire, and was intended as a continuation of Polybius' Universal History.

Â) "Geography". This was the work that made him famous, and with which his name is still associated. It was written in 17 books, and has survived almost entirely. Books I and II deal with physical and mathematical geography, Books III through X with the geography of Europe, Books XI through XVI with Asia and Book XVII with Africa.