Squinting Back at Strabo^*

* An earlier version of this essay was presented at the meeting of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers in Portland, Oregon on 20 September 2003. I wish to thank the session chair, Shaun Huston, and members of the audience for helpful comments at that session.

Abstract

Strabo of Amasia (ca. 64 B.c.‐ca. A.D. 23) wrote the first comprehensive geography of the world known to the Greeks and Romans. Interest in Strabo and his Geography, which survives nearly intact in seventeen books, has fluctuated over the centuries among both classicists and historians of geography. After some historical background on Strabo and his reception, this essay considers the contribution of two significant recent English‐language treatments, as well as Strabo's Geography itself, and suggests ways in which the Strabonic model may have renewed relevance to the geographer's task of interpreting the oikoumene in the contemporary world.

• history of geography
• oikoumene
• place
• Roman Empire
• Strabo of Amasia

Additional information

Notes on contributors

William A. Koelsch

Dr. Koelsch is a professor emeritus of geography at Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts 01610‐1477.