In the 16th book, he describes the westerly half of south Asia, viz. Assyria with Babylonia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Phœnicia, and Palestine, the Persian and Arabian Gulfs, the coast of Ethiopia, and lastly, Arabia. For the three first countries (the old Assyrian kingdom), his chief authorities are, besides some of Alexander’s historians, Eratosthenes, Poseidonius, and Herodotus; for the remainder he had, in addition to the same writers, Artemidorus, and probably also Nicolaus of Damascus. The account of Moses and the Jews, Heeren surmises, comes from Poseidonius, but it probably proceeds from oral communication had in Egypt; of these countries our author could describe nothing as an eye-witness, except the north-west of Syria. The accounts of Arabia, the Indian and the Red Seas, are from Agatharchides; and much that he describes of Arabia was obtained from his friends, Ælius Gallus and the Stoic, Athenodorus.
The 17th book concludes the work with the description of Egypt, Ethiopia, and the north coast of Africa. Strabo had travelled through the whole of Egypt, as far as Syene and Philæ, and writes with the decided tone of an eye-witness. Much verbal information, also, he collected at Alexandria. His most important written authorities are, for the Nile, Eratosthenes (who borrowed from Aristotle), Eudoxus, and Aristo. For the most remarkable events of Egyptian history, he had Polybius, and for later times probably Poseidonius, besides vivâ voce accounts.
For the oracle at Ammon, he had the historians of Alexander; for Ethiopia, the accounts of Petronius, who had carried on war there, Agatharchides, and Herodotus. Of Libya or Africa Proper he had nothing new or authentic to say. Besides Eratosthenes, Artemidorus, and Poseidonius, his chief authorities, he had Iphicrates, who wrote on the plants and animals of Libya. The whole concludes with a short notice of the Roman Empire.
The dates at which particular books were written, as attempted to be given by Groskurd and Coraÿ, must be received with caution.
In book iv. c. vi. § 9, Strabo says that the Carni and Taurisci had quietly paid tribute for thirty-three years; and both these tribes were reduced to subjection by Tiberius and Drusus, B. C. 14. This book was therefore written in A. D. 19.
In book vi. c. iv. § 2, Cæsar Germanicus is spoken of as still living. He died in Syria, A. D. 20 (19). This book was therefore written before that year.
In book xii. c. viii. § 11, Strabo says that Cyzicus was still a free state. It lost its liberty A. D. 25. This book was therefore written before A. D. 25. Whether Strabo was alive or dead at this date, we have no means of determining.
The codices or manuscripts which exist of Strabo’s work appear to be copies of a single manuscript existing in the middle ages, but now lost. From the striking agreement of errors and omissions in all now extant (with such differences only as can be accounted for, arising from the want of ability or carelessness of the copyist), it appears most probable that to this single manuscript we are indebted for the preservation of the work. Strabo himself describes the carelessness of bad scribes both at Rome and Alexandria,[17] in the following expressive language: “Some vendors of books, also, employed bad scribes and neglected to compare the copies with the originals. This happens in the case of other books, which are copied for sale both here and at Alexandria.” After what Kramer has done for the text, we can hope for little improvement, unless, what is beyond all expectation, some other manuscript should be discovered which is either derived from another source, or is a more correct copy.
The following is some account of those in existence:—
Codices in the Imperial Library, Paris: