Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 22.djvu/605

 S T K A B 581 in a successful war of the Cnossians against Gortyn, settled at Cnossus. By Sterope, a Macedonian, he had a daughter and two sons, Lagetas and Stratarchus. Dorylaus had a brother Philetaerus, whose son Dorylaus was brought up with Mithradates Eupator. This king, at the instance of his friend invited back to Pontus the family of Dorylaus, who was himself now dead, as was also his son Lagetas. Strabo saw Stratarchus in extreme old age. The daughter of Lagetas was the mother of Strabo's mother. Moaphernes, an uncle of Strabo's mother, probably on the father's side, was governor of Colchis under Mithradates Eupator. His mother's father must have held an important position, for, seeing the impending downfall of the king, and also in anger against him for having put to death his kinsmen Tibius and Theophilus, he handed over fifteen forts to Lucullus. In spite of this, with the ruin of the king the fortunes of the family fell, since Pompey refused to ratify the rewards promised by Lucullus. Life. Though the exact date of Strabo's birth is unknown, a close approximation is possible. Clinton places it not later than 54 B.C. The most probable date lies between 64 and 62, since he speaks of certain events occurring at the former as "a little before my time," whilst he describes an occurrence in the latter year as " in my own time," phrases which he uses elsewhere with great exactness in speaking of persons and events. He received a good education in the Greek poets, especially Homer ; he studied at Nysa under the grammarian Aristodemus, under Tyrannio the grammarian at Rome, under the philosopher Xenarchus either at Rome or Alexandria, and he had studied Aristotle along with Boethus (possibly at Rome under Tyrannio, who had access to the Aristotelian writings in Sulla's library). It is to be noted that from none of those teachers was he likely to learn mathematics or astronomy. He was at Corinth in 29 B.C., where he saw Octavian on his return from Egypt to celebrate his triumph for Actium. He was in Egypt in 24 B.C., and took the opportunity of ascending the Nile in company with the prefect ^Elius Gallus. He was at Rome after 14 A.D., for he describes (v. 236) as an eyewitness the place where the body of Augustus was burnt in the Campus. He was still writing in 21 A.D. The date of his death is unknown. Strabo's statement that he saw P. Servilius Isauricus has caused some difficulty. This Servilius died at Rome in 44 B.C. at an advanced age. Some suppose that Strabo confused him with P. Servilius Casca, also called Isauricus, or some other distinguished Roman whom he had seen in Asia, but by his words he clearly means the conqueror of the Isaurians. This difficulty only arises from an entirely unwarranted assumption that Strabo was on his way to Rome for the first time in 29 B.C. We have seen that he studied under Tyrannio in that city ; if he did so after 29 B.C. Tyrannio must have been very old, which Strabo would probably have men- tioned, as he does in the case of Aristodemus. Although he had seen a comparatively small portion of the regions which he describes, he had travelled much, as he states himself: "Westward I have journeyed to the parts of Etruria opposite Sardinia ; towards the south from the Euxine to the borders of Ethiopia ; and perhaps not one of those who have written geographies has visited more places than I have between those limits. For those who have gone farther west have not gone so far eastward, and the case is the same with the regions between the northern and southern limits." The fulness of his descrip- tion in certain places, contrasted with the meagreness and inaccuracy in others, seems to indicate that in the former cases he had actually visited the places, but that he is dependent on second-hand information for the latter. He tells us that he had seen Egypt as far south as Syene and Philse, Comana in Cappadocia, Ephesus, Mylasa, ISTysa and Hierapolis in Phrygia, Gyarus, and Populonia. Of Greece proper he saw but little; he visited Corinth, Athens, Megara, and places in their vicinity, and perhaps Argos, although he was not aware that the ruins of Mycenae still existed ; he had seen Gyrene from the sea, probably on his voyage from Puteoli to Alexandria. He remained at the latter place a long time, probably amassing materials, and studying astronomy and mathematics. For nowhere could he have had a better means of consulting the works of historians, geographers, and astronomers, such as Eratosthenes, Posidonius, Hipparchus, and Apollodorus. When and where he went from Egypt we know not. It has been commonly assumed that he returned home to Amasea. For this there are no grounds. Probabilities are in favour of his having returned to Rome, where he undoubtedly resided in his old age. The place of his death is unknown; but, since we find him at Rome in what must in the course of nature have been the closing years of his life, it is not unreasonable to suppose that there he died. Various passages in his work indicate that he held by the Stoic rule. Works. His earliest writings were two (not one, as commonly stated) historical works now lost, which he himself describes (XL 515) as his Historical Memoirs and his Continuation of Polybius. There can be no doubt but that these were two distinct works ; for he speaks (ii. 70) of having treated of the exploits of Alexander in his Memoirs, a topic which could not have found a place in a work which began where that of Polybius ended (146 B.C.). According to Suidas, the continuation of Polybius was in forty-three books. Plutarch, who calls him "the Philosopher," quotes Strabo's Memoirs (Zc., 28), and cites him as an historian (Sulla, 26). Josephus, who constantly calls him " the Cappadocian," often quotes from him, but does not mention the title of the work. The Geography is the most important work on that science which antiquity has left us. It was, as far as we know, the first attempt to collect all the geographical knowledge at the time attainable, and to compose a general treatise on geography. It must not be regarded as nothing more than a new edition of Eratosthenes. In general outline it follows necessarily the work of the last-named geographer, who had first laid down a scientific basis for geography on which his successors could not help building. Strabo made considerable alterations, but not always for the better. The three books of the older work formed a strictly technical geographical treatise. Its small size prevented it from containing any such general description of separate countries as Strabo rightly conceived to fall within the scope of the geographer. "Strabo indeed appears to be the first who conceived a complete geo- graphical treatise as comprising the four divisions of mathematical, physical, political, and historical geography, and he endeavoured, however imperfectly, to keep all these objects in view." Moreover, the incidental historical notices, which are often of great value and interest, are all his own. These digressions at times interrupt the sym- metry of his plan ; but Strabo had all the Greek love of legendary lore, and he discusses questions relating to the journeyings of Heracles as earnestly as if they were events within recent history. He regarded Homer as the source of all wisdom and knowledge, and consequently accepted the Homeric geography in its entirety, as needing only proper explanation for the removal of all difficulties. On the other hand, he treats the work of Herodotus with undeserved contempt, and classes him with Ctesias and other " marvel-mongers " ; and yet in some _ respects Herodotus had better information for instance, in regard to the Caspian than that possessed by Strabo himself.