FOOTNOTES:

“Thou shalt see, if such thy will, in spring,My ships shall sail to Hellespont.”

“Thou shalt see, if such thy will, in spring,

My ships shall sail to Hellespont.”

But the argument is contradicted in the following lines,

“Whose limits are the quick-flowing Hellespont.”

So that he would consider all people settled next to the Thracians as excluded from the Hellespont. For Ænos is situated in the district formerly called Apsynthis, but now Corpilice. The territory of the Cicones is next towards the west. E.

END OF VOL. I.

1The chapters and sectional divisions of Kramer’s edition of the Greek text have been generally followed in this translation.

2τὰ θεία καὶ ἀνθρώπεια, “the productions of nature and art.”

3Africa.

4Then indeed the sun freshly struck the fields [with its rays], ascending heaven from the calmly-flowing, deep-moving ocean. Iliad vii. 421; Odyssey xix. 433. These references relate to the Greek text; any one wishing to verify the poetic translation will find the place in Cowper, by adding a few lines to the number adapted to the Greek. The prose version is taken from Bohn’s edition.

5And the bright light of the sun fell into the ocean, drawing dark night over the fruitful earth. Iliad viii. 485.

6“Bright and steady as the starAutumnal, which in ocean newly bathed,Assumes fresh beauty.”Iliad v. 6.

“Bright and steady as the starAutumnal, which in ocean newly bathed,Assumes fresh beauty.”Iliad v. 6.

“Bright and steady as the star

Autumnal, which in ocean newly bathed,

Assumes fresh beauty.”

Iliad v. 6.

7Gosselin remarks that in his opinion Strabo frequently attributes to Homer much information of which the great poet was entirely ignorant: the present is an instance, for Spain was to Homer a perfectterra incognita.

8The Phœnician Hercules, anterior to the Grecian hero by two or three centuries. The date of his expedition, supposing it to have actually occurred, was about sixteen or seventeen hundred years before the Christian era.

9“But the immortals will send you to the Elysian plain, and the boundaries of the Earth, where is auburn-haired Rhadamanthus; there of a truth is the most easy life for men. There is nor snow, nor long winter, nor even a shower, but every day the ocean sends forth the gently blowing breezes of the west wind to refresh men.” Odyssey iv. 563.

10The Isles of the Blest are the same as the Fortunate Isles of other geographers. It is clear from Strabo’s description that he alludes to the Canary Islands; but as it is certain that Homer had never heard of these, it is probable that the passages adduced by Strabo have reference to the Elysian Fields of Baïa in Campania.

11The Maurusia of the Greeks (the Mauritania of the Latins) is now known as Algiers and Fez in Africa.

12The Ethiopians, who are divided into two divisions, the most distant of men. Odyssey i. 23.

13For yesterday Jove went to Oceanus, to the blameless Ethiopians, to a banquet. Iliad i. 423. The ancients gave the name of Ethiopians, generally, to the inhabitants of Interior Africa, the people who occupied the sea-coast of the Atlantic, and the shores of the Arabian Gulf. It is with this view of the name that Strabo explains the passage of Homer; but the Mediterranean was the boundary of the poet’s geographical knowledge; and the people he speaks of were doubtless the inhabitants of the southern parts of Phœnicia, who at one time were called Ethiopians. We may here remark too, that Homer’s ocean frequently means the Mediterranean, sometimes probably the Nile. See also p. 48,n.2.

14But it alone is free from the baths of the ocean. Iliad xviii. 489; Odyssey v. 275.

15We are informed by Diogenes Laertius, that Thales was the first to make known to the Greeks the constellation of the Lesser Bear. Now this philosopher flourished 600 years before the Christian era, and consequently some centuries after Homer’s death. The name of Φοινίκη which it received from the Greeks, is proof that Thales owed his knowledge of it to the Phœnicians. Conf. Humboldt’s Cosmos, vol. iii. p. 160, Bohn’s edition.

16Iliad xiii. 5. Gosselin says, Thrace (the present Roumelia) was indisputably the most northern nation known to Homer. He names the people Ἱππημόλγοι, or living on mares’ milk, because in his time they were a nomade race. Strabo evidently gives a forced meaning to the words of the poet, when he attempts to prove his acquaintance with the Scythians and Sarmatians.

17For I go to visit the limits of the fertile earth, and Oceanus, the parent of the gods. Iliad xiv. 200.

18The eighteenth book of the Iliad.

19Iliad xviii. 399; Odyss. xx. 65.

20Thrice indeed each day it lets loose its waves, and thrice it ebbs them back. Odyss. xii. 105.Gosselin remarks, “I do not find any thing in these different passages of Homer to warrant the conclusion that he was aware of the ebb and flow of the tide; every one knows that the movement is hardly perceptible in the Mediterranean. In the Euripus, which divides the Isle of Negropont from Bœotia, the waters are observed to flow in opposite directions several times a day. It was from this that Homer probably drew his ideas; and the regular current of the Hellespont, which carries the waters of the Black Sea into the Mediterranean, led him to think that the whole ocean, or Mediterranean, had one continued flow like the current of a river.”

20Thrice indeed each day it lets loose its waves, and thrice it ebbs them back. Odyss. xii. 105.

Gosselin remarks, “I do not find any thing in these different passages of Homer to warrant the conclusion that he was aware of the ebb and flow of the tide; every one knows that the movement is hardly perceptible in the Mediterranean. In the Euripus, which divides the Isle of Negropont from Bœotia, the waters are observed to flow in opposite directions several times a day. It was from this that Homer probably drew his ideas; and the regular current of the Hellespont, which carries the waters of the Black Sea into the Mediterranean, led him to think that the whole ocean, or Mediterranean, had one continued flow like the current of a river.”

21Iliad vii. 422.

22But when the ship left the stream of the river-ocean, and entered on the wave of the wide-wayed sea. Odyssey xii. 1.

23This direction would indicate a gulf, the sea-ward side of which should be opposite the Libo-notus of the ancients. Now the mutilated passage of Crates has reference to the opening of the twelfth book of the Odyssey, descriptive of Ulysses’ departure from Cimmeria, after his visit to the infernal regions. Those Cimmerians were the people who inhabited Campania, and the land round Baia, near to lake Avernus, and the entrance into Hades. As these places are situated close to the bay of Naples, which occupies the exact position described by Crates, it is probable this was the bay he intended.

24What Strabo calls the eastern side of the continent, comprises that portion of India between Cape Comorin and Tana-serim, to the west of the kingdom of Siam: further than which he was not acquainted.

25Strabo’s acquaintance with Western Africa did not go further than Cape Nun, 214 leagues distant from the Strait of Gibraltar.

26By the south is intended the whole land from the Arabian Gulf or Red Sea to Cape Comorin.

27From Cape Finisterre to the mouth of the Elbe.

28The rocks of Gibraltar and Ceuta.

29The mountaineers of the Taurus, between Lycia and Pisidia.

30A mountain of Ionia near to the Meander, and opposite the Isle of Samos.

31The Sea of Marmora.

32The Strait of Caffa, which connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azof.

33The Cimmerians, spoken of in Homer, were undoubtedly the inhabitants of Campania, not those of the Bosphorus.

34They are covered with shadows and darkness, nor does the shining sun behold them with his beams, ... but pernicious night is spread over hapless mortals. Odyssey xi. 15 and 19.

35The Danube.

36Ancient Thrace consisted of the modern provinces of Bulgaria and Roumelia.

37A river of Thessaly, named at present Salampria.

38Now the river Vardari.

39Thesprotis, in Epirus, opposite Corfu.

40Afterwards named Temsa. This town was in Citerior Calabria. Some think Torre de Nocera stands on the ancient site.

41This is a misstatement, as before remarked.

42This writer occupies so prominent a position in Strabo’s work, that no apology I think will be needed for the following extract from Smith’s dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.“Eratosthenes of Cyrene was, according to Suidas, the son of Aglaus, according to others, the son of Ambrosius, and was bornB. C.276. He was taught by Ariston of Chius, the philosopher, Lysanias of Cyrene, the grammarian, and Callimachus, the poet. He left Athens at the invitation of Ptolemy Euergetes, who placed him over the library at Alexandria. Here he continued till the reign of Ptolemy Epiphanes. He died at the age of eighty, aboutB. C.196, of voluntary starvation, having lost his sight, and being tired of life. He was a man of very extensive learning: we shall first speak of him as a geometer and astronomer.“It is supposed that Eratosthenes suggested to Ptolemy Euergetes the construction of the largearmillæ, or fixed circular instruments, which were long in use at Alexandria; but only because it is difficult to imagine to whom else they are to be assigned, for Ptolemy the astronomer, though he mentions them, and incidentally their antiquity, does not state to whom they were due. In these circles each degree was divided into six parts. We know of no observations of Eratosthenes in which they were probably employed, except those which led him to the obliquity of the ecliptic, which he must have made to be 23° 51′ 20″, for he states the distance of the tropics to be eleven times the eighty-third part of the circumference. This was a good observation for the times. Ptolemy the astronomer was content with it, and according to him Hipparchus used no other. Of his measure of the earth we shall presently speak. According to Nicomachus, he was the inventor of the κόσκινον, or Cribrum Arithmeticum, as it has since been called, being the well-known method of detecting the prime numbers by writing down all odd numbers which do not end with 5, and striking out successively the multiples of each, one after the other, so that only prime numbers remain.“We still possess under the name of Eratosthenes a work, entitled Καταστερισμοί, giving a slight account of the constellations, their fabulous history, and the stars in them. It is however acknowledged on all hands that this is not a work of Eratosthenes.... The only other writing of Eratosthenes which remains, is a letter to Ptolemy on the duplication of the cube, for the mechanical performance of which he had contrived an instrument, of which he seems to contemplate actual use in measuring the contents of vessels, &c. He seems to say that he has had his method engraved in some temple or public building, with some verses, which he adds. Eutocius has preserved this letter in his comment on book ii. prop. 2, of the sphere and cylinder of Archimedes.“The greatest work of Eratosthenes, and that which must always make his name conspicuous in scientific history, is the attempt which he made to measure the magnitude of the earth, in which he brought forward and used the method which is employed to this day. Whether or no he was successful cannot be told, as we shall see; but it is not the less true that he was the originator of the process by which we now know, very nearly indeed, the magnitude of our own planet. Delambre says that if it were he who advised the erection of the circular instruments above alluded to, he must be considered as the founder of astronomy: to which it may be added, that he was the founder of geodesy without anyifin the case. The number of ancient writers who have alluded to this remarkable operation (which seems to have obtained its full measure of fame) is very great, and we shall not attempt to combine their remarks or surmises: it is enough to say that the most distinct account, and one of the earliest, is found in the remaining work of Cleomedes.“At Syene in Upper Egypt, which is supposed to be the same as, or near to, the town of Assouan, (Lat. 24° 10′ N., Long. 32° 59′ E. of Greenwich,) Eratosthenes was told (that he observed is very doubtful) that deep wells were enlightened to the bottom on the day of the summer solstice, and that vertical objects cast no shadows. He concluded therefore, that Syene was on the tropic, and its latitude equal to the obliquity of the ecliptic, which, as we have seen, he had determined: he presumed that it was in the same longitude as Alexandria, in which he was out about 3°, which is not enough to produce what would at that time have been a sensible error. By observations made at Alexandria, he determined the zenith of that place to be distant by the fiftieth part of the circumference from the solstice, which was equivalent to saying that the arc of the meridian between the two places is 7° 12´. Cleomedes says that he used the σκάφη, or hemispherical dial of Berosus, in the determination of this latitude. Delambre rejects the idea with infinite scorn, and pronounces Cleomedes unworthy of credit; and indeed it is not easy to see why Eratosthenes should have rejected the gnomon and the large circular instruments, unless, perhaps, for the following reason. There is a sentiment of Cleomedes which seems to imply that the disappearance of the shadows at Syene on the day of the summer solstice was noticed to take place for 300 stadia every way round Syene. If Eratosthenes took his report about the phenomenon (and we have no evidence that he went to Syene himself) from those who could give no better account than this, we may easily understand why he would think the σκάφη quite accurate enough to observe with at his own end of the arc, since the other end of it was uncertain by as much as 300 stadia. He gives 500 stadia for the distance from Alexandria to Syene, and this round number seems further to justify us in concluding that he thought the process to be as rough as in truth it was. Martianus Capella states that he obtained this distance from the measures made by order of the Ptolemies (which had been commenced by Alexander): this writer then implies that Eratosthenes did not go to Syene himself.“The result is 250,000 stadia for the circumference of the earth, which Eratosthenes altered into 252,000, that his result might give an exact number of stadia for the degree, namely, 700; this of course should have been 694-4/9. Pliny calls this 31,500 Roman miles, and therefore supposes the stadium to be the eighth part of a Roman mile, or takes for granted that Eratosthenes used the Olympic stadium. It is likely enough that the Ptolemies naturalized this stadium in Egypt; but nevertheless, it is not unlikely that an Egyptian stadium was employed. If we assume the Olympic stadium, (202¼ yards,) the degree of Eratosthenes is more than 79 miles, upwards of 10 miles too great. Nothing is known of any Egyptian stadium. Pliny asserts that Hipparchus, but for what reason he does not say, wanted to add 25,000 stadia to the circumference as found by Eratosthenes. According to Plutarch, Eratosthenes made the sun to be 804 millions of stadia from the earth, and the moon 780,000. According to Macrobius, he made the diameter of the sun to be 27 times that of the earth. With regard to the other merits of Eratosthenes, we must first of all mention what he did for geography, which was closely connected with his mathematical pursuits. It was Eratosthenes who raised geography to the rank of a science; for previous to his time it seems to have consisted, more or less, of a mass of information scattered in books of travel, descriptions of particular countries, and the like. All these treasures were accessible to Eratosthenes in the libraries of Alexandria; and he made the most profitable use of them, by collecting the scattered materials, and uniting them into an organic system of geography, in his comprehensive work entitled Γεωγραφικά, or as it is sometimes but erroneously called, γεωγραφούμενα or γεωγραφία. It consisted of three books, the first of which, forming a sort of Introduction, contained a critical review of the labours of his predecessors from the earliest to his own times, and investigations concerning the form and nature of the earth, which, according to him, was an immoveable globe, on the surface of which traces of a series of great revolutions were still visible. He conceived that in one of these revolutions the Mediterranean had acquired its present form; for according to him it was at one time a large lake covering portions of the adjacent countries of Asia and Libya, until a passage was forced open by which it entered into communication with the ocean in the west. The second book contained what is now called mathematical geography. His attempt to measure the magnitude of the earth has been spoken of above. The third book contained the political geography, and gave descriptions of the various countries, derived from the works of earlier travellers and geographers. In order to be able to determine the accurate site of each place, he drew a line parallel with the equator, running from the Pillars of Hercules to the extreme east of Asia, and dividing the whole of the inhabited earth into two halves. Connected with this work was a new map of the earth, in which towns, mountains, rivers, lakes, and climates were marked according to his own improved measurements. This important work of Eratosthenes forms an epoch in the history of ancient geography; but unfortunately it is lost, and all that has survived consists in fragments quoted by later geographers and historians, such as Polybius, Strabo, Marcianus, Pliny, and others, who often judge of him unfavourably, and controvert his statements; while it can be proved that in a great many passages they adopt his opinions without mentioning his name. Marcianus charges Eratosthenes with having copied the substance of the work of Timosthenes on Ports, (περὶ λιμένων,) to which he added but very little of his own. This charge may be well-founded, but cannot have diminished the value of the work of Eratosthenes, in which that of Timosthenes can have formed only a very small portion. It seems to have been the very overwhelming importance of the geography of Eratosthenes, that called forth a number of opponents, among whom we meet with the names of Polemon, Hipparchus, Polybius, Serapion, and Marcianus of Heracleia.... Another work of a somewhat similar nature, entitled Ἑρμῆς, was written in verse, and treated of the form of the earth, its temperature, the different zones, the constellations, and the like.... Eratosthenes distinguished himself also as a philosopher, historian, grammarian, &c.”

“Eratosthenes of Cyrene was, according to Suidas, the son of Aglaus, according to others, the son of Ambrosius, and was bornB. C.276. He was taught by Ariston of Chius, the philosopher, Lysanias of Cyrene, the grammarian, and Callimachus, the poet. He left Athens at the invitation of Ptolemy Euergetes, who placed him over the library at Alexandria. Here he continued till the reign of Ptolemy Epiphanes. He died at the age of eighty, aboutB. C.196, of voluntary starvation, having lost his sight, and being tired of life. He was a man of very extensive learning: we shall first speak of him as a geometer and astronomer.

“It is supposed that Eratosthenes suggested to Ptolemy Euergetes the construction of the largearmillæ, or fixed circular instruments, which were long in use at Alexandria; but only because it is difficult to imagine to whom else they are to be assigned, for Ptolemy the astronomer, though he mentions them, and incidentally their antiquity, does not state to whom they were due. In these circles each degree was divided into six parts. We know of no observations of Eratosthenes in which they were probably employed, except those which led him to the obliquity of the ecliptic, which he must have made to be 23° 51′ 20″, for he states the distance of the tropics to be eleven times the eighty-third part of the circumference. This was a good observation for the times. Ptolemy the astronomer was content with it, and according to him Hipparchus used no other. Of his measure of the earth we shall presently speak. According to Nicomachus, he was the inventor of the κόσκινον, or Cribrum Arithmeticum, as it has since been called, being the well-known method of detecting the prime numbers by writing down all odd numbers which do not end with 5, and striking out successively the multiples of each, one after the other, so that only prime numbers remain.

“We still possess under the name of Eratosthenes a work, entitled Καταστερισμοί, giving a slight account of the constellations, their fabulous history, and the stars in them. It is however acknowledged on all hands that this is not a work of Eratosthenes.... The only other writing of Eratosthenes which remains, is a letter to Ptolemy on the duplication of the cube, for the mechanical performance of which he had contrived an instrument, of which he seems to contemplate actual use in measuring the contents of vessels, &c. He seems to say that he has had his method engraved in some temple or public building, with some verses, which he adds. Eutocius has preserved this letter in his comment on book ii. prop. 2, of the sphere and cylinder of Archimedes.

“The greatest work of Eratosthenes, and that which must always make his name conspicuous in scientific history, is the attempt which he made to measure the magnitude of the earth, in which he brought forward and used the method which is employed to this day. Whether or no he was successful cannot be told, as we shall see; but it is not the less true that he was the originator of the process by which we now know, very nearly indeed, the magnitude of our own planet. Delambre says that if it were he who advised the erection of the circular instruments above alluded to, he must be considered as the founder of astronomy: to which it may be added, that he was the founder of geodesy without anyifin the case. The number of ancient writers who have alluded to this remarkable operation (which seems to have obtained its full measure of fame) is very great, and we shall not attempt to combine their remarks or surmises: it is enough to say that the most distinct account, and one of the earliest, is found in the remaining work of Cleomedes.

“At Syene in Upper Egypt, which is supposed to be the same as, or near to, the town of Assouan, (Lat. 24° 10′ N., Long. 32° 59′ E. of Greenwich,) Eratosthenes was told (that he observed is very doubtful) that deep wells were enlightened to the bottom on the day of the summer solstice, and that vertical objects cast no shadows. He concluded therefore, that Syene was on the tropic, and its latitude equal to the obliquity of the ecliptic, which, as we have seen, he had determined: he presumed that it was in the same longitude as Alexandria, in which he was out about 3°, which is not enough to produce what would at that time have been a sensible error. By observations made at Alexandria, he determined the zenith of that place to be distant by the fiftieth part of the circumference from the solstice, which was equivalent to saying that the arc of the meridian between the two places is 7° 12´. Cleomedes says that he used the σκάφη, or hemispherical dial of Berosus, in the determination of this latitude. Delambre rejects the idea with infinite scorn, and pronounces Cleomedes unworthy of credit; and indeed it is not easy to see why Eratosthenes should have rejected the gnomon and the large circular instruments, unless, perhaps, for the following reason. There is a sentiment of Cleomedes which seems to imply that the disappearance of the shadows at Syene on the day of the summer solstice was noticed to take place for 300 stadia every way round Syene. If Eratosthenes took his report about the phenomenon (and we have no evidence that he went to Syene himself) from those who could give no better account than this, we may easily understand why he would think the σκάφη quite accurate enough to observe with at his own end of the arc, since the other end of it was uncertain by as much as 300 stadia. He gives 500 stadia for the distance from Alexandria to Syene, and this round number seems further to justify us in concluding that he thought the process to be as rough as in truth it was. Martianus Capella states that he obtained this distance from the measures made by order of the Ptolemies (which had been commenced by Alexander): this writer then implies that Eratosthenes did not go to Syene himself.

“The result is 250,000 stadia for the circumference of the earth, which Eratosthenes altered into 252,000, that his result might give an exact number of stadia for the degree, namely, 700; this of course should have been 694-4/9. Pliny calls this 31,500 Roman miles, and therefore supposes the stadium to be the eighth part of a Roman mile, or takes for granted that Eratosthenes used the Olympic stadium. It is likely enough that the Ptolemies naturalized this stadium in Egypt; but nevertheless, it is not unlikely that an Egyptian stadium was employed. If we assume the Olympic stadium, (202¼ yards,) the degree of Eratosthenes is more than 79 miles, upwards of 10 miles too great. Nothing is known of any Egyptian stadium. Pliny asserts that Hipparchus, but for what reason he does not say, wanted to add 25,000 stadia to the circumference as found by Eratosthenes. According to Plutarch, Eratosthenes made the sun to be 804 millions of stadia from the earth, and the moon 780,000. According to Macrobius, he made the diameter of the sun to be 27 times that of the earth. With regard to the other merits of Eratosthenes, we must first of all mention what he did for geography, which was closely connected with his mathematical pursuits. It was Eratosthenes who raised geography to the rank of a science; for previous to his time it seems to have consisted, more or less, of a mass of information scattered in books of travel, descriptions of particular countries, and the like. All these treasures were accessible to Eratosthenes in the libraries of Alexandria; and he made the most profitable use of them, by collecting the scattered materials, and uniting them into an organic system of geography, in his comprehensive work entitled Γεωγραφικά, or as it is sometimes but erroneously called, γεωγραφούμενα or γεωγραφία. It consisted of three books, the first of which, forming a sort of Introduction, contained a critical review of the labours of his predecessors from the earliest to his own times, and investigations concerning the form and nature of the earth, which, according to him, was an immoveable globe, on the surface of which traces of a series of great revolutions were still visible. He conceived that in one of these revolutions the Mediterranean had acquired its present form; for according to him it was at one time a large lake covering portions of the adjacent countries of Asia and Libya, until a passage was forced open by which it entered into communication with the ocean in the west. The second book contained what is now called mathematical geography. His attempt to measure the magnitude of the earth has been spoken of above. The third book contained the political geography, and gave descriptions of the various countries, derived from the works of earlier travellers and geographers. In order to be able to determine the accurate site of each place, he drew a line parallel with the equator, running from the Pillars of Hercules to the extreme east of Asia, and dividing the whole of the inhabited earth into two halves. Connected with this work was a new map of the earth, in which towns, mountains, rivers, lakes, and climates were marked according to his own improved measurements. This important work of Eratosthenes forms an epoch in the history of ancient geography; but unfortunately it is lost, and all that has survived consists in fragments quoted by later geographers and historians, such as Polybius, Strabo, Marcianus, Pliny, and others, who often judge of him unfavourably, and controvert his statements; while it can be proved that in a great many passages they adopt his opinions without mentioning his name. Marcianus charges Eratosthenes with having copied the substance of the work of Timosthenes on Ports, (περὶ λιμένων,) to which he added but very little of his own. This charge may be well-founded, but cannot have diminished the value of the work of Eratosthenes, in which that of Timosthenes can have formed only a very small portion. It seems to have been the very overwhelming importance of the geography of Eratosthenes, that called forth a number of opponents, among whom we meet with the names of Polemon, Hipparchus, Polybius, Serapion, and Marcianus of Heracleia.... Another work of a somewhat similar nature, entitled Ἑρμῆς, was written in verse, and treated of the form of the earth, its temperature, the different zones, the constellations, and the like.... Eratosthenes distinguished himself also as a philosopher, historian, grammarian, &c.”

43The ancients portioned out the globe by bands or zones parallel to the equator, which they named κλίματα. The extent of each zone was determined by the length of the solstitial day, and thus each diminished in extent according as it became more distant from the equator. The moderns have substituted a mode of reckoning the degrees by the elevation of the pole, which gives the latitudes with much greater accuracy.

44Literally, the heat, cold, and temperature of the atmosphere.

45Tartary.

46France.

47Xylander and Casaubon remark that Strabo here makes an improper use of the term antipodes; the antipodes of Spain and India being in the southern hemisphere.

48Meteorology, from μετέωρος, aloft, is the science which describes and explains the various phenomena which occur in the region of the atmosphere.

49Homer, Iliad viii. 16.

50A people of Thessaly, on the banks of the Peneus.

51The former name of the Morea, and more ancient than Peloponnesus. Iliad i. 270.

52Having wandered to Cyprus, and Phœnice, and the Egyptians, I came to the Ethiopians, and Sidonians, and Erembi, and Libya, where the lambs immediately become horned. Odyssey iv. 83.

53Odyssey iv. 86.

54Homer says,——τῇ πλεῖστα φέρει ζείδωρος ἄρουραΦάρμακα.Odyssey iv. 229.Which Cowper properly renders:—“Egypt teemswithdrugsof various powers.”Strabo, by omitting the word φάρμακα from his citation, alters to a certain degree the meaning of the sentence.

54Homer says,

——τῇ πλεῖστα φέρει ζείδωρος ἄρουραΦάρμακα.Odyssey iv. 229.

——τῇ πλεῖστα φέρει ζείδωρος ἄρουρα

Φάρμακα.

Odyssey iv. 229.

Which Cowper properly renders:—

“Egypt teemswithdrugsof various powers.”

“Egypt teems

withdrugsof various powers.”

Strabo, by omitting the word φάρμακα from his citation, alters to a certain degree the meaning of the sentence.

55Iliad ix. 383, et seq.

56Odyssey xxi. 26.

57Chorography, a term used by Greek writers, meaning the description of particular districts.

58Iliad ii. 496. Four cities of Bœotia. The present name of Aulis is Vathi, situated on the Strait of Negropont. The modern names of the other three cities are unknown.

59By Libyans are here intended Carthaginians. The events alluded to by Strabo may be found in Pomponius Mela and Valerius Maximus, whose accounts however do not entirely accord. That of Valerius Maximus, who is followed by Servius, tells us that Hannibal, on his return to Africa, observed his pilot Pelorus was taking the ships by the coast of Italy, and suspecting him therefore of treachery, caused him to be executed. He did not know at the time the intention of Pelorus to take him through the Strait of Messina, but afterwards, when aware of the excellence of the passage, caused a monument to be raised to the memory of the unfortunate pilot. Strabo, in his ninth book, gives us the history of Salganeus, and the monument erected to him on the shores of Negropont.

60The Gulf of Zeitun.

61Vide preceding note on this word p. 13, n. 1.

62Odyssey v. 393.

63Allusion is here made to the theory of Xenophanes of Colophon and Anaximenes his disciple, who imagined the earth bore the form of a vast mountain, inhabited at the summit, but whose roots stretched into infinity. The Siamese at the present day hold a similar idea.

64See note1, p. 13.

65Περὶ τῶν οἰκήσεων.

66Meaning, the different appearances of the heavenly bodies at various parts of the earth.

67Odyssey x. 190.

68This sentence has been restored to what was evidently its original position. In the Greek text it appears immediately before section 23, commencing, “Having already compiled,” &c. The alteration is borne out by the French and German translators.

69Strabo here alludes to his Ἱστορικὰ Ὑπομνήματα, cited by Plutarch (Lucullus, 28, Sulla, 26). This work, in forty-three books, began where the History of Polybius ended, and was probably continued to the battle of Actium. Smith, Gr. and Rom. Biog.

70The Sea of Azof.

71Mingrelia; east of the Euxine.

72A large country of Asia to the south of the eastern part of the Caspian Sea. It became much restricted during the Parthian rule, containing only the north of Comis, east of Masanderan, the country near Corcan or Jorjan, (Dshiordshian.) and the west of the province of Khorassan.

73A country of Asia, on the west bounded by Aria, south by the mountains of Paropamisus, east by the Emodi montes, north by Sogdiana, now belongs to the kingdom of Afghanistan. Bactriana was anciently the centre of Asiatic commerce.

74A general name given by the Greeks and Romans to a large portion of Asia, and divided by them into Scythia intra et extra Imaum, that is, on either side of Mount Imaus. This mountain is generally thought to answer to the Himalaya mountains of Thibet.

75This seems to be a paraphrase of Homer’s verse on Ulysses, Odyssey xviii. 74.Οἵην ἐκ ῥακέων ὁ γέρων ἐπιγουνίδα φαίνει.What thewsAnd what a haunch the senior’s tatters hide.Cowper.

75This seems to be a paraphrase of Homer’s verse on Ulysses, Odyssey xviii. 74.

Οἵην ἐκ ῥακέων ὁ γέρων ἐπιγουνίδα φαίνει.What thewsAnd what a haunch the senior’s tatters hide.Cowper.

Οἵην ἐκ ῥακέων ὁ γέρων ἐπιγουνίδα φαίνει.

What thews

And what a haunch the senior’s tatters hide.

Cowper.

76Zeno, of Citium, a city in the island of Cyprus, founded by Phœnician settlers, was the son of Mnaseas.

77Περὶ τῶν 'Αγαθῶν is the title given by Strabo, but we find from Harpocrates and Clemens Alexandrinus, that properly it was Περὶ 'Αγαθῶν καὶ Κακῶν, or “Concerning Good and Evil Things,” which we have rendered in the text “Moral Philosophy.”

78Odyssey iii. 267.

79Ib. iii. 270.

80Ib. iii. 272.

81Thisbe, Haliartus, Anthedon, cities of Bœotia; Litæa, a city of Phocis. The Cephissus, a large river, rising in the west of Phocis.

82A harvest-wreath of laurel or olive wound round with wool, and adorned with fruits, borne about by singing-boys at the Πυανέψια and Θαργήλια, while offerings were made to Helios and the Hours: it was afterwards hung up at the house-door. The song was likewise called eiresionè, which became the general name for all begging-songs.

83Auditors, ἀκροωμένοις. In Greece there was a class of lectures where the only duty of the professors was to explain the works of the poets, and point out the beauties which they contained. The students who attended these lectures were styled ἀκροάται, or auditors, and the method of instruction ἀκρόασις.

84Odyssey i. 3.

85Iliad iii. 202.

86Ib. x. 246.

87Odyssey xviii. 367.

88Ib. xviii. 374.

89The second book of the Iliad.

90The ninth book of the Iliad.

91The deputation of Menelaus and Ulysses to demand back Helen, alluded to by Antenor, in the third book of the Iliad.

92But when he did send forth the mighty voice from his breast, and words like unto wintry flakes of snow, no longer then would another mortal contend with Ulysses. Iliad iii. 221.

93So much of the meaning of this sentence depends upon the orthography, that its force is not fully perceptible in English; the Greek is as follows: τοῦτο δ’ ἦν ἡ ᾠδὴ λόγος μεμελισμένος· ἀφ' οὗ δὴ ῥαψῳδίαν τ’ ἔλεγον καὶ τραγῳδίαν καὶ κωμῳδίαν.

94This last sentence can convey little or no meaning to the English reader; its whole force in the original depending on verbal association. Its general scope however will be evident, when it is stated that in Greek, the same word, πεζὸς, which means a “foot-soldier,” signifies also “prose composition.” Hence Strabo’s allusion to the chariot. The Latins borrowed the expression, and used sermo pedestris in the same sense.

95A female phantom said to devour children, used by nurses as a bug-bear to intimidate their refractory charges.

96In later times there were three Gorgons, Stheino, Euryale, and Medusa, but Homer seems to have known but one.

97One of the giants, who in the war against the gods was deprived of his left eye by Apollo, and of the right by Hercules.

98The same phantom as Mormo, with which the Greeks used to frighten little children.

99Odyssey vi. 232.

100Odyssey xix. 203.

101The mountains of Chimera in Albania.

102The Gulf of Venice.

Back to Index Next