Strabo, Geography, Horace Leonard Jones (Translator), 13.1.1

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[1] Let this, then, mark the boundary of Phrygia.¹ I shall now return again to the Propontis and the coast that comes next after the Aesepus River, and follow the same order of description as before. The first country on this seaboard is the Troad, the fame of which, although it is left in ruins and in desolation, nevertheless prompts in writers no ordinary prolixity. With this fact in view, I should ask the pardon of my readers and appeal to them not to fasten the blame for the length of my discussion upon me rather than upon those who strongly yearn for knowledge of the things that are famous and ancient. And my discussion is further prolonged by the number of the peoples who have colonized the country, both Greeks and barbarians, and by the historians, who do not write the same things on the same subjects, nor always clearly either; among the first of these is Homer, who leaves us to guess about most things. And it is necessary for me to arbitrate between his statements and those of the others, after I shall first have described in a summary way the nature of the region in question.

Geography. Strabo. Horace Leonard Jones (Translator). London. 1924-1929.

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Current edition Perseus

Geography (Books 6-14) (English) (Strabo. The Geography of Strabo, Vols. 3-6. Jones, Horace Leonard, translator. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd., 1924-1929 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Γεωγραφικά Perseus (Strabo. Strabonis Geographica, Vols. 1-3. Meineke, August, editor. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877.) — 13.1.1 focus

[1] μέχρι μὲν δεῦρο ἀφωρίσθω τὰ περὶ τῆς Φρυγίας ἐπανιόντες δὲ πάλιν ἐπὶ τὴν Προποντίδα καὶ τὴν ἐφεξῆς τῷ Αἰσήπῳ παραλίαν τὴν αὐτὴν τῆς περιοδείας τάξιν ἀποδώσομεν. ἔστι δὲ Τρῳὰς πρώτη τῆς παραλίας ταύτης, ἧς τὸ πολυθρύλητον καίπερ ἐν ἐρειπίοις καὶ ἐν ἐρημίᾳ λειπομένης ὅμως πολυλογίαν οὐ τὴν τυχοῦσαν παρέχει τῇ γραφῇ. πρὸς τοῦτο δὲ συγγνώμης δεῖ καὶ παρακλήσεως, ὅπως τὴν αἰτίαν τοῦ μήκους μὴ ἡμῖν μᾶλλον ἀνάπτωσιν οἱ ἐντυγχάνοντες ἢ τοῖς σφόδρα ποθοῦσι τὴν τῶν ἐνδόξων καὶ παλαιῶν γνῶσιν· προσλαμβάνει δὲ τῷ μήκει καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐποικησάντων τὴν χώραν Ἑλλήνων τε καὶ βαρβάρων, καὶ οἱ συγγραφεῖς οὐχὶ τὰ αὐτὰ γράφοντες περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν οὐδὲ σαφῶς πάντα· ὧν ἐν τοῖς πρώτοις ἐστὶν Ὅμηρος εἰκάζειν περὶ τῶν πλείστων παρέχων. δεῖ δὲ καὶ τὰ τούτου διαιτᾶν καὶ τὰ τῶν ἄλλων ὑπογράψαντας πρότερον ἐν κεφαλαίῳ τὴν τῶν τόπων φύσιν.

Translations (1)

Geography Perseus (Strabo. The Geography of Strabo, Vols. 1-3. Hamilton, Hans Claude, translator; Falconer, William, translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854-1857.) — 13.1.1 focus

[1] THESE are the limits of Phrygia. We return again to the Propontis, and to the sea-coast adjoining the Aesepus,¹ and shall observe, in our description of places, the same order as before.

The first country which presents itself on the sea-coast is the Troad.² Although it is deserted, and covered with ruins, yet it is so celebrated as to furnish a writer with no ordinary excuse for expatiating on its history. But we ought not only to be excused, but encouraged, for the reader should not impute the fault of prolixity to us, but to those whose curiosity and desire of information respecting the celebrated places of antiquity is to be gratified. The prolixity is greater than it would be otherwise, from the great number of nations, both Greeks and Barbarians, who have occupied the country, and from the disagreement among writers, who do not relate the same things of the same persons and places, nor even do they express themselves with clearness. Among these in particular is Homer, who suggests occasions for conjecture in the greatest part of his local descriptions. We are therefore to examine what the poet and other writers advance, premising a summary description of the nature of the places.

Notes on the current edition

Geography

1. The translator must here record his obligations to Dr. Walter Leaf for his monumental works on the Troad: his Troy, Macmillan and Co., 1912, and his Strabo on the Troad, Cambridge, 1923, and his numerous monographs in classical periodicals. The results of his investigations in the Troad prove the great importance of similar investigations, on the spot, of various other portions of Strabo’s “Inhabited World.” The reader will find a map of Asia Minor in Vol. 5. of the Loeb edition.

Strabo Geography 13.1.1

Horace Leonard Jones (Translator)

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