Strabo was a Greek geographer, philosopher, and historian who lived in Asia Minor during the transitional period of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire.
14 Facts About Strabo
2.
Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus in around 64BC.
3.
Strabo's family had been involved in politics since at least the reign of Mithridates V Strabo was related to Dorylaeus on his mother's side.
4.
Strabo wrote that "great promises were made in exchange for these services", and as Persian culture endured in Amaseia even after Mithridates and Tigranes were defeated, scholars have speculated about how the family's support for Rome might have affected their position in the local community, and whether they might have been granted Roman citizenship as a reward.
5.
Strabo journeyed to Egypt and Kush, as far west as coastal Tuscany and as far south as Ethiopia in addition to his travels in Asia Minor and the time he spent in Rome.
6.
Strabo probably worked on the Geography for many years and revised it steadily, but not always consistently.
7.
Strabo studied under several prominent teachers of various specialities throughout his early life at different stops during his Mediterranean travels.
8.
Strabo was an admirer of Homer's poetry, perhaps as a consequence of his time spent in Nysa with Aristodemus.
9.
Unlike the Aristotelian Xenarchus and Tyrannion who preceded him in teaching Strabo, Athenodorus was a Stoic and almost certainly the source of Strabo's diversion from the philosophy of his former mentors.
10.
Strabo is best known for his work Geographica, which presented a descriptive history of people and places from different regions of the world known during his lifetime.
11.
In India, a country he never visited, Strabo described small flying reptiles that were long with a snake-like body and bat-like wings, winged scorpions, and other mythical creatures along with those that were actually factual.
12.
Strabo therefore conceived that, originally, when the Euxine was an inland sea, its level had by this means become so much elevated that it burst its barrier near Byzantium, and formed a communication with the Propontis, and this partial drainage had already, he supposed, converted the left side into marshy ground, and that, at last, the whole would be choked up with soil.
13.
Strabo commented on fossil formation mentioning Nummulite :.
14.
Strabo commented on volcanism which he observed at Katakekaumene.