Strabo Geography front.preface.3

[3] Dorylaüs made overtures to Lucullus for the revolt of the kingdom of Pontus to the Romans, and in return received great promises of reward, which were never fulfilled. Lucullus ceased to command in the war, and was succeeded by Pompey, who, through enmity and jealousy, prevailed on the senate not to confirm the conditions entered into by his predecessor. As before observed, there is no mention of Strabo’s father in the works which have come down to us. Malte-Brun, in his Life of Strabo in the Biographie Universelle, collects several passages tending to show that he was a Roman. The name of Strabo, or squinting, originally Greek, was used by the Romans, and applied to the father of Pompey the Great, among others. How the geographer acquired this name is not related.

When a very young man, he received instruction in grammar and rhetoric from Aristodemus, at Nysa in Caria. ¹ He afterwards studied philosophy under Xenarchus of Seleucia, the Peripatetic philosopher. ² Strabo does not say whether he heard him at Seleucia in Cilicia, or at Rome, where he afterwards taught.

Strabo also attended the lessons of Tyrannio of Amisus, ³ the grammarian. This must have been at Rome; for Tyrannio was made prisoner by Lucullus, B. C. 71, and carried to Rome. probably not later than B. C. 66.

In book xvi., ⁴ Strabo states that he studied the philosophy of Aristotle with Boethus of Sidon, who afterwards became a Stoic philosopher. Notwithstanding all these advantages, Strabo was not possessed of all the knowledge of his times, particularly in astronomy and mathematics, but he was well acquainted with history and the mythological traditions of his nation. He was a devout admirer of Homer, and acquainted with the other great poets.

The philosophical sect to which he belonged was the Stoic, as plainly appears from many passages in his Geography.

He wrote a History, which he describes (vol. i. p. 21) as composed in a lucid style; it is cited by Plutarch, and also by Josephus in his Jewish Antiquities, xiv. 7. It consisted of forty-three books, which began where the history of Polybius ended, and was probably continued to the battle of Actium This valuable History is lost.