The Geography of Strabo, Volume 3 (of 3) Literally Translated, with Notes

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  | Transcriber's note:                                            |
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  | In this book many city names are spelled in different ways.    |
  | When the correct spelling is obvious these have been corrected |
  | for the sake of consistency. See the list of modern spellings  |
  | at the end of this volume.                                     |
  |                                                                |
  | Minor index errors have also been corrected.                   |
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   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,
   RECTOR OF BUSHEY, HERTFORDSHIRE.

   IN THREE VOLUMES.

   VOL. III.

   WITH A COMPLETE INDEX.

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

   JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PRINTERS.




PREFACE.


Strabo, the author of this work, was born at Amasia, or Amasijas, a town
situated in the gorge of the mountains through which passes the river
Iris, now the Ieschil Irmak, in Pontus, which he has described in the
12th book.[1] He lived during the reign of Augustus, and the earlier
part of the reign of Tiberius; for in the 13th book[2] he relates how
Sardes and other cities, which had suffered severely from earthquakes,
had been repaired by the provident care of Tiberius the present Emperor;
but the exact date of his birth, as also of his death, are subjects of
conjecture only. Coraÿ and Groskurd conclude, though by a somewhat
different argument, that he was born in the year B. C. 66, and the
latter that he died A. D. 24. The date of his birth as argued by
Groskurd, proceeds on the assumption that Strabo was in his
thirty-eighth year when he went from Gyaros to Corinth, at which latter
place Octavianus Cæsar was then staying on his return to Rome after the
battle of Actium, B. C. 31. We may, perhaps, be satisfied with following
Clinton, and place it not later than B. C. 54.

In the 17th book our author speaks of the death of Juba as a recent
occurrence. This event took place A. D. 21, or A. D. 18 or 19, according
to other chronologists; he, therefore, outlived that king, but for how
long a period we have no means of ascertaining.

The only information which we can obtain of the personal history of
Strabo is to be collected from the scanty references made to himself in
the course of this work;[3] for although a writer of the Augustan age,
his name and his works appear to have been generally unknown to his
contemporaries, and to have been passed over in silence by subsequent
authors who occupied themselves with the same branch of study. The work
being written in Greek, and the subject itself not of a popular kind,
would be hindrances to its becoming generally known; and its voluminous
character would prevent many copies being made; moreover, the author
himself, although for some time a resident at Rome, appears to have made
Amasia his usual place of residence, and there to have composed his
work. But wherever it was, he had the means of becoming acquainted with
the chief public events that took place in the Roman Empire.

It is remarkable that of his father and his father’s family he is
totally silent, but of his mother and her connexions he has left us some
notices. She was of a distinguished family who had settled at Cnossus in
Crete, and her ancestors had been intimately connected with Mithridates
Euergetes and Mithridates Eupator, kings of Pontus; their fortunes
consequently depended on those princes.

Dorylaüs, her great grandfather, was a distinguished officer, and friend
of Euergetes; but the latter being assassinated at Sinope, whilst
Dorylaüs was engaged in levying troops in Crete, he determined to remain
there. In that island he obtained the highest honours, having
successfully, as general of the Cnossians, terminated a war between that
people and the Gortynians. He married a Macedonian lady, of the name of
Sterope; the issue of which marriage was Lagetas, Stratarchas, and a
daughter. He died in Crete. Lagetas had a daughter, who, says Strabo,
was “the mother of my mother”.

Mithridates Eupator, who succeeded to the kingdom of Pontus on the death
of his father, had formed from infancy a close friendship with another
Dorylaüs, son of Philetærus (brother of the first-mentioned Dorylaüs),
and besides conferring on him distinguished honours, appointed him high
priest of Comana Pontica. The king extended also his protection to his
cousins, Lagetas and Stratarchas, who were recalled from Crete. The
prosperity of the family suddenly terminated by the discovery of an
intrigue carried on by Dorylaüs with the Romans, for the overthrow of
his benefactor.