--- title: Strabo of Amasia: Author of the 1st-Century Geography author: Rosie Sykes source: https://www.worldhistory.org/Strabo_of_Amasia/ format: machine-readable-alternate license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) updated: 2026-08-19 --- # Strabo of Amasia: Author of the 1st-Century Geography _Authored by [Rosie Sykes](https://www.worldhistory.org/user/rosiesykes/)_ Strabo of Amasia (c. (c. 64 BCE - c. 24 CE) was the author of *Geography*, a 17-book geography of the world as it was known to the Greeks and Romans of the time, extending from [Iberia](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/iberia/) and Mauria ([Mauretania](https://www.worldhistory.org/Mauretania/)) in the west to [India](https://www.worldhistory.org/india/) as recorded by [Alexander the Great](https://www.worldhistory.org/Alexander_the_Great/)’s companions, and from Ethiopia to ‘Farthest Thule’, an unidentified island north of [Britain](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/Britain/). Strabo lived during the 1st centuries BCE and CE, and thus would have been an outside observer on some momentous political upheavals, including [Rome](https://www.worldhistory.org/Rome/)’s civil wars and the establishment of [Augustus](https://www.worldhistory.org/augustus/) as emperor. ### Early Life Strabo's home [city](https://www.worldhistory.org/city/), Amasia (Amasya, modern [Turkey](https://www.worldhistory.org/Asia_Minor/)), was the former capital of the Pontus region. Strabo records the intimate involvement of his ancestors with the royal family of Pontus, including their friendship with the kings Mithridates Euergetes V and Mithridates Eupator VI. These ancestors, however, made a number of attempts to betray Mithridates in favour of the invading Romans. Although they ultimately fell out of favour with both Pontic and [Roman](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/Roman/) leaders, the Roman *cognomen* of ‘Strabo’ may suggest adoption into a Roman *familia* or the bestowal of [Roman citizenship](https://www.worldhistory.org/article/859/roman-citizenship/) at some stage, either for Strabo himself or a member of his family. Strabo's Roman name and aristocratic [Greek](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/greek/) heritage reflects his position between two worlds: one [Hellenistic](https://www.worldhistory.org/Hellenic_World/) and dominated by Greek-speaking monarchies, and the other conditioned by the [Roman empire](https://www.worldhistory.org/Roman_Empire/) as an increasingly unmatched force in the [Mediterranean](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/mediterranean/) and beyond. These circumstances also inform his *Geography*, in which the author comes across both as a proud inheritor of the Greek literary tradition, but willing as well to position [Italy](https://www.worldhistory.org/italy/) as the new cultural and geographical centre of a shaken-up world. Strabo travelled far from Amasia in the course of his life. He received his education from various Peripatetic philosophers in locations such as Nysa, although he ultimately chose to follow Stoic [philosophy](https://www.worldhistory.org/philosophy/), referring to Stoicism as ‘our school’ and its founder as ‘our Zeno’. It can be inferred from his work that he spent time during his adulthood in both Rome and [Alexandria](https://www.worldhistory.org/alexandria/), including travelling up the [Nile](https://www.worldhistory.org/nile/) in the entourage of Aelius Gallus, the prefect of [Egypt](https://www.worldhistory.org/egypt/) who later mounted an expedition across the Red Sea against [Arabia](https://www.worldhistory.org/Arabia/) Felix, which failed dramatically in its aims to explore the region and to make allies or subjects of its inhabitants. Strabo mentions the extent of his own travels: > I have travelled westward from [Armenia](https://www.worldhistory.org/armenia/) as far as the regions of Tyrrhenia opposite Sardinia, and southward from the Euxine Sea as far as the frontiers of Ethiopia. And you could not find another person among the writers on geography who has travelled over much more of the distances just mentioned than I… > (*Geography*, 2.5.11) [ ![Map of the Roman Republic on the eve of the Mithridatic Wars](https://www.worldhistory.org/img/r/p/750x750/18467.png?v=1767077894-1767077943) Map of the Roman Republic on the eve of the Mithridatic Wars Simeon Netchev (CC BY-NC-ND) ](https://www.worldhistory.org/image/18467/map-of-the-roman-republic-on-the-eve-of-the-mithri/ "Map of the Roman Republic on the eve of the Mithridatic Wars")### The Mediterranean World Strabo thus had personal knowledge of many of the locations which he describes. For others, such as Iberia and India, he is reliant on the reports of others. Strabo records hundreds of sources which he used to compile his *Geography*, ranging from Homeric epic to [Eratosthenes](https://www.worldhistory.org/Eratosthenes/), the Hellenistic geographer and head librarian at Alexandria. His Homeric interests are evident both from his tendency to regard geographical information contained in [Homer](https://www.worldhistory.org/homer/) as infallible, and from his use of commentators on Homeric geography, such as Apollodorus of [Athens](https://www.worldhistory.org/Athens/), who discussed the geographical implications of the Iliadic ‘Catalogue of Ships’, and Hestiaia of Alexandria, a female scholar who wrote on the topography of Homer's *[Iliad](https://www.worldhistory.org/iliad/)*. Strabo’s *Geography* preserves numerous quotations and paraphrases of such authors, although it can be sometimes difficult to disentangle Strabo’s own views and contributions from those reported. The *Geography* traces a clockwise path around the Mediterranean, beginning and ending at the Pillars of [Hercules](https://www.worldhistory.org/hercules/) (the Straits of Gibraltar). This is in the style of the written sailing guides of the time, which were known as *Periploi*. Strabo was generally interested in the 'inhabited world' (or *oikoumenē*) as he perceived it, rather than the layout of the entire globe, regarding this as too abstract a concern for a work which he intended as practical and useful to political and military leaders: > The greater part of geography serves political needs: for the setting of the activities of states is the land and the sea, which we inhabit... Moreover, the greatest generals are men who are able to control land and sea, and to unite nations and [cities](https://www.worldhistory.org/city/) under one government and political administration. It is therefore plain that geography as a whole has a direct bearing upon the activities of commanders. > (1.1.16) The genre of the chorography (a written description of a particular place or region) is also relevant to Strabo’s undertaking: his work can be seen as a sequence of chorographies which encompass the known world. [ ![Corbita Sailing](https://www.worldhistory.org/img/r/p/750x750/3313.jpg?v=1629276302) Corbita Sailing Jan van der Crabben (CC BY-NC-SA) ](https://www.worldhistory.org/image/3313/corbita-sailing/ "Corbita Sailing")### Geometry, Astronomy, and Natural Sciences Strabo saw geography as a composite subject, made up of various strands. Its chief components were geometry and astronomy, vital for identifying the size and position of places on the globe with reference to their latitude, established from projections such as meridians and the Arctic circle. Strabo, however, viewed geography as also deeply intertwined with history: the inhabited world was, in his view, significant because it was primarily the stage for human action. At one point, he expresses how sufficiently important monuments, with important stories attached to them, can become almost a ‘natural’ feature of a place: > Different places exhibit different good and bad attributes… some due to nature and others resulting from human design… Of the latter attributes \[those resulting from human design\], one should make a point of mentioning those which can persist for a long time, or else those which do not persist for long and yet still possess a certain distinction and fame, which, by enduring to later times, make a work of man, even when it no longer exists, a kind of natural attribute of a place. > (2.5.17) Strabo refers frequently to historical sources, such as Ephorus’ universal history, and [Polybius](https://www.worldhistory.org/Polybius/)’ history of Rome’s rise to power. Strabo himself wrote historical works (now lost) before embarking on his *Geography*: he states that his *Historical Sketches* (*Historika Hypomnemata*) were intended as a continuation of Polybius (11.9.3), whose work concluded in 146 BCE. [ ![Map of the Trade Networks of the Roman Empire](https://www.worldhistory.org/img/r/p/750x750/15641.png?v=1780305671-1780305905) Map of the Trade Networks of the Roman Empire Simeon Netchev (CC BY-NC-ND) ](https://www.worldhistory.org/image/15641/map-of-the-trade-networks-of-the-roman-empire/ "Map of the Trade Networks of the Roman Empire")History for Strabo encompassed both rationalised myth and more recent history. His *Geography* includes short narratives of ‘great men’, from [Alexander](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/Alexander/) to [Pompey](https://www.worldhistory.org/pompey/), but also of powerful [women](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/women/) throughout history and up to his present day, including his contemporary Pythodoris, the client-queen of Pontus, [Cilicia](https://www.worldhistory.org/Cilicia/) and Cappadocia: > But the Tibareni and Chaldaei, extending as far as Colchis, and Pharnacia and [Trapezus](https://www.worldhistory.org/Trapezus/) are ruled by Pythodoris, a woman who is wise, and empowered to oversee affairs of state… > (12.3.29) Strabo did not view human history in isolation from the natural world. His study of geography involved the mutual shaping of nature and [culture](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/culture/): his work shows curiosity about the effects of environmental factors on human communities, as well as humans’ impact on their environments. Ethnography and natural history are thus also focuses of the work, and Strabo records a wealth of detail on plants and animals. Here, Strabo records the tale of how Alexander the Great's troops mistook a group of long-tailed langur monkeys for armed men in the Emodi mountains (probably the westernmost regions of the Himalayas): > They report on the vast number and incredible size of the monkeys in that forest. This resulted once in the Macedonians getting the impression that they were an army, seeing a crowd of them standing on some bare hills, drawn up like the front-line. For this animal is human-like in its mentality, no less so than the elephant. They set out to attack them, as if they were enemies, but Taxiles, the king at that time, informed them of the truth, and they desisted. > (15.1.29) [ ![Map of the Cities Named Alexandria by Alexander the Great](https://www.worldhistory.org/img/r/p/750x750/14368.png?v=1776325295-1772605573) Map of the Cities Named Alexandria by Alexander the Great Simeon Netchev (CC BY-NC-ND) ](https://www.worldhistory.org/image/14368/map-of-the-cities-named-alexandria-by-alexander-th/ "Map of the Cities Named Alexandria by Alexander the Great")The *Geography* offers information about the history of scholarship, the state of geographical knowledge at an important place and time, and the cultural uses which this knowledge was put to. It is also an important source on stories of humans and animals in natural environments: Strabo refers to this sub-discipline as ‘terrestrial history’, meaning the variations in plants and animals across land and sea which he saw as characterising different locations. ### Legacy Although the *Geography* appears to have languished unpublished for some time after Strabo’s [death](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/Death/) c. 24 CE, references to it appear in the work of Athenaeus of [Naucratis](https://www.worldhistory.org/Naukratis/) (2nd-3rd CE). Along with [Claudius Ptolemy](https://www.worldhistory.org/Claudius_Ptolemy/), the geographer of the 2nd century CE, Strabo was highly influential on the ideas of [Byzantine](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/Byzantine/) geographical [writing](https://www.worldhistory.org/writing/). Both Strabo and [Ptolemy](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/Ptolemy/) were also widely consulted in the 15th and 16th centuries, representing respectively the ‘historical’ and ‘mathematical’ modes of geography. Several editions of the *Geography* were printed in the 16th century, including those by Aldus Manutius at Venice, Marcus Hopper at Basel, and Isaac Casaubon at Geneva. Scholars from the Florentine humanist Francesco Berlinghieri to Strabo’s editors Hopper and Casaubon commented on the practical benefit of reading such a text, reflecting Strabo’s own views on his *Geography*’s utility: Strabo clearly suited the humanist ideals of an informed and active civilian life, widespread in Renaissance thought. European bureaucracies at this time were also seeking out current and historical information in the production of regional chorographies: the German and Swiss states embarking on such projects, in particular, looked to Strabo's *Geography* as a model for how to accomplish these aims. #### Editorial Review This human-authored definition has been reviewed by our editorial team before publication to ensure accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards in accordance with our [editorial policy](https://www.worldhistory.org/static/editorial-policy/). ## Bibliography - [Clarke, Katherine. *Between Geography and History.* Oxford University Press, 2001.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0199248265/) - Dueck, D., Lindsay, H. and Pothecary S. (eds.) . *Strabo’s Cultural Geography: The Making of a Kolossourgia.* Cambridge University Press, Cambridge., 2005 - [Dueck, Daniela (ed.). *The Routledge Companion to Strabo.* Routledge, 2017.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/B0GGHXXSPZ/) - [Dueck, Daniela. *Strabo of Amasia.* Routledge, 2000.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0415620171/) - [Lightfoot, Jessica. *Strabo.* Bloomsbury Academic, 2025.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/B0DDTYLL23/) - Pothecary, Sarah. *Strabo’s Geography: A Translation for the Modern World.* Princeton University Press, Princeton., 2024 ## About the Author Rosie is a current PhD student at the University of Sydney, researching animals and nature in authors such as Strabo, Polybius and Diodorus Siculus. She has taught Latin and Ancient Greek at schools in the UK and Australia for a number of years. ## Timeline - **c. 64 BCE - c. 24 CE**: Life of the geographer Strabo of Amasia, author of the Geography. ## External Links - [The Geography by Strabo | Open Library](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL20043097M/The_geography) - [The Geography of Strabo.](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/44885/44885-h/44885-h.htm) ## Cite This Work ### APA Sykes, R. (2026, August 19). Strabo of Amasia: Author of the 1st-Century Geography. *World History Encyclopedia*. [https://www.worldhistory.org/Strabo\_of\_Amasia/](https://www.worldhistory.org/Strabo_of_Amasia/) ### Chicago Sykes, Rosie. "Strabo of Amasia: Author of the 1st-Century Geography." *World History Encyclopedia*, August 19, 2026. [https://www.worldhistory.org/Strabo\_of\_Amasia/](https://www.worldhistory.org/Strabo_of_Amasia/). ### MLA Sykes, Rosie. "Strabo of Amasia: Author of the 1st-Century Geography." *World History Encyclopedia*, 19 Aug 2026, [https://www.worldhistory.org/Strabo\_of\_Amasia/](https://www.worldhistory.org/Strabo_of_Amasia/). ## License & Copyright Submitted by [Rosie Sykes](https://www.worldhistory.org/user/rosiesykes/ "User Page: Rosie Sykes"), published on 19 August 2026. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en). This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.