A 15thcentury manuscript of the odyssey, book i, written by the scribe john rhosos for the tornabuoni family, florence, italy british museum greek text of the odyssey s opening passage the odyssey. I must therefore describe this country next, first dividing it, for the sake of clearness. This guide provides the first english analysis of and commentary on this long and difficult text, and serves as a companion to the authors the geography of strabo, the first english translation of the work in many years. At all events, it is above the coast this side the anas that turdetania lies, and through it flows the baetis river. The geography of the apologoi the tale that odysseus told to the phaeacians, forming books 912 of the odyssey, and the location of the phaeacians own island of scheria, pose quite different problems from those encountered in identifying troy, mycenae, pylos and ithaca. It was in this old smyrna that the famous greek poet homer, author of the epics the iliad and the odyssey, was probably born around 850 bc, and a shrine to homer stood in the roman period herodotus, histories. I refer not just to geographers like eratosthenes and strabo4. As we pass from europe to asia in our geography, the northern division is the first of the two divisions to which we come. Strabo s geography, completed in the early first century ad, is the primary source for the history of greek geography.
Each entry starts with the number of books of the geography translated, as translators sometimes stall out before completing all seventeen books. This is a selective summary of translations of strabos work from ancient greek into modern languages. The greeks who caused bactria to revolt grew so powerful on account of the fertility of the country that they became masters, not only of ariana. He began geography in 3025 bc and probably revised it in his old age around 1518 ad. The project gutenberg ebook of the geography of strabo, vol.
As for bactria, a part of it lies alongside aria towards the north, though most of it lies above aria and to the east of it. He gave it a latitude of 36,700 stadia, equivalent to 52 25. The odyssey is fundamental to the modern western canon. Lately, robert bittlestone, in his book odysseus unbound, has identified the paliki peninsula on cephalonia with homeric ithaca. In homers odyssey, calypso detained odysseus on ogygia for seven years and kept him from returning to his home of ithaca. Full text of strabo, geography, books 117 in 8 volumes loeb classical library see other formats.
Strabos historical work is lost, but his most important geography in seventeen books has survived. The companion, in twentyeight chapters written by an international group of scholars, examines several aspects of strabos personality, the political and scholarly environment in which he was active, his choices as an author, and his ideas of history and geography. Localization of the odysseys underworld openedition journals. Featured audio all audio latest this just in grateful dead netlabels old time radio 78 rpms and cylinder recordings. We learn that poseidon, god of the sea, holds a grudge though we dont know exactly why against odysseus and is making the guys voyage home a pretty difficult one. Strabo contrasts his own readings with other ancient. The annenberg cpbproject provided support for entering this text. Cambridge core classical studies general strabos cultural geography edited by. The roman writer strabo wrote what is often considered as the first attempt to synthesise a universal geography. Strabos geography, completed in the early first century ad, is the primary source for the history of greek geography. Ithica ithaca today is an island located in the ionian sea, in greece. The present translation of strabo, the great geographer of antiquity, is the first which has been laid before the english public. Purchase a copy of this text not necessarily the same edition from.
Document view map view annotation statistics download options log in new to recogito. West in the mythical geography of archaic greek epic, tapha 4 2004, p. Literally translated, with notes, in three volumes. The location of nestors pylos was disputed in antiquity. Asia is adjacent to europe, bordering thereon along the tanais river. A historical and topographical guide to the geography of. The first two books deal with the principals of geography. It is, in part, a sequel to the iliad, the other homeric epic. The geography of strabo is the only surviving work of its type in greek literature, and the major source for the history of greek scholarship on geography and the formative processes of the earth. Events in the main sequence of the odyssey take place in the peloponnese and in what are. Cappadocia,1 also, is a country of many parts and has undergone numerous changes. Cambridge core classical studies general strabos cultural geography edited by daniela dueck. Ancient origins articles related to strabo in the sections of history, archaeology, human origins, unexplained, artifacts, ancient places and myths and legends.
For the habitable earth is bounded to the west by two continents, namely, the extremities of europe and libya,10 which are inhabited respectively by the iberians and the maurusians. After two introductory books, numbers 3 and 4 deal with spain and gaul, 5 and 6 with italy and sicily, 7 with north and east europe, 810 with greek lands, 11 14 with the main regions of asia and with asia minor, 15 with india and iran, 16. Geography in perspective going strong for almost 3,000 years, few works in world literature, and even fewer in the western tradition, have made such a remarkable impact as the odyssey. The rest of the 15 books are a heavily romancentric description of the known world. He became a keen traveller who saw a large part of italy, various near eastern regions including the black sea, various parts of asia minor, egypt as far as ethiopia, and parts of greece. Not very far from castalo is also the mountain in which the baetis is said to rise. It has been thought that from these people the russians derived their name. The odyssey is vague about how odysseus reaches the underworld. Book viii indica at this siteadded 10 11 2000 pliny. Full text of strabo, geography, books 117 in 8 volumes loeb. Another part, called the telemachy, focuses on odysseus son, telemachus, who left home in search of his longlost father. Homer is the father of all geographers, and odyssey geography herself, as good questions about a fine story told by a traveller, about climates, people, landscapes, and certainly not about cartesian coordinates of the greenwich meridian. It is also a separate regional unit of the ionian islands region. Ce 24, a greek author writing at the prime of roman expansion and political empowerment.
In addition, this lengthy and complex work contains a vast amount of information on other topics, including the journey of alexander the great, cultic history, the history of the eastern. Approximately eight centuries after homer, the geographer strabo criticized polybius on the geography of the odyssey. It is curious that a classic of so much renown and intrinsic value should have remained a comparatively sealed book to this country for so many centuries. Book 1 book 2 book 3 book 4 book 5 book 6 book 7 book 8 book 9 book 10 book 11 book 12 book book 14 book 15 book 16 book 17 book 18 book 19 book 20 book 21 book 22 book 23 book 24 themes all themes fate, the gods, and free will piety, customs, and justice cunning, disguise, and selfrestraint memory and grief glory and honor. Spartan women at this siteadded 10 11 2000 letter of pabi, prince of lachish, to akhnaton, king of kemet i. Dec 24, 2018 it was in this old smyrna that the famous greek poet homer, author of the epics the iliad and the odyssey, was probably born around 850 bc, and a shrine to homer stood in the roman period herodotus, histories. The geography of strabo, books 15 translated by hamilton and falconer, text taken from the bell edition of 1903, now in the public domain, and books 614 translated by horace leonard jones, the geography of strabo harvardheinemann 1924 digitized by the perseus project, licensed under a creative commons attributionsharealike 3. While his earlier historiographical composition is almost entirely lost, his major opus of the geography includes an encyclopaedic look at the entire world known. The poet invokes the muse to help him tell the story of odysseus. Strabo on iberia geography s book iii strabos geography. Personally, i would be just as happy with fictional geography of the odyssey but i fear that would offend all the people who dedicate their lives to showing that the places are real. As with most ancient authors, not that much is known of strabo, and the loeb editions introductory material, by the translator horace leonard jones, is about as good as one can get. The odyssey is one of two major ancient greek epic poems attributed to homer. After odysseus had gone out of oceanus, he came into oceanus.
Project gutenbergs the geography of strabo, volume iii of 3, by strabo this. It lies off the northeast coast of kefalonia and to the west and within sight of continental greece. The journey of telemachus to pylos and sparta no longer raises geographical problems. At another instance he polybius suppresses statements. The routledge companion to strabo daniela dueck download. Strabo proposed that scheria and ogygia were located in the middle of the atlantic ocean.
The travels of odysseus form just one part of the odyssey. The final section of the odyssey is called the nostos homecoming in greek. Locating the odysseys underworld would seem to be a ridiculous endeavor. Scholars believe the odyssey was composed near the end of the 8th century bc, somewhere in ionia, the greek. Eratosthenes who raised geography to the rank of a science. Book i athena inspires the prince sing to me of the man, muse, the man of twists and turns driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of troy. Full text of strabo, geography, books 117 in 8 volumes. Its numerous quotations from technical literature, moreover, provide a remarkable. The routledge companion to strabo explores the works of strabo of amasia c. Indeed, those intent on following in the wake of odysseus, no matter how enthusiastic, often steer clear of the underworld. The 11th book commences with the description of the countries separated from. However, the reader of this book should not be so simpleminded or indifferent as. Now that i have given the first general outline of geography, it is proper for me to discuss next the several parts of the inhabited world.
Geography of the odyssey project gutenberg selfpublishing. Geography of the odyssey wikimili, the free encyclopedia. The bibliographies included on this website will be of particular help to those doing research for a paper or for fun. Approximately seven centuries after homer, the alexandrian geographer strabo criticized polybius on the geography of the odyssey. For an overview of all advanced features, see the instructions page. The nostos addresses odysseus adventures once he returns to ithaca. After two introductory books, numbers 3 and 4 deal with spain and gaul, 5 and 6 with italy and sicily, 7 with north and east europe, 810 with greek lands, 11 14 with the main regions of asia and with asia minor, 15 with india and iran, 16 with. Its numerous quotations from technical literature, moreover, provide a remarkable account of the state of greek geographical science. Odysseus is continually spoken of as the sacker of cities and as the.
Dec 14, 2019 the book, translated into several languages, submits a revolutionary idea about the geographical setting of the iliad and odyssey. We would like to show you a description here but the site wont allow us. Its numerous quotations from technical literature, moreover, provide a remarkable account of the state of greek geographical. Throughout the site we have used the common abbreviations for both authors and titles, so please refer to the table of abbreviations below. After two introductory books, numbers 3 and 4 deal with spain and gaul, 5 and 6 with italy and sicily, 7 with north and east europe, 8 10 with greek lands, 11 14 with the main regions of asia and with asia minor, 15 with india and iran, 16 with.
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