Strabo
Greek geographer whose seventeen-book Geography records mythological traditions alongside physical descriptions
The Meaning of Strabo
Strabo of Amaseia (c. 64 BCE - 24 CE) was a Greek geographer and historian who composed the Geographica in seventeen books, covering the known world from Iberia to India. While primarily a geographical work, the Geographica is rich in mythological content: Strabo records local cult traditions, rationalises mythological narratives, debates the historical reality behind legends of the Argonauts and the Trojan War, and preserves quotations from lost authors. He engaged seriously with the question of whether Homer's geography was real or fictional, defending the poet's accuracy. His work provides crucial context for understanding how myths were anchored to specific landscapes, rivers, and cities across the Greek world.
Parents
None recorded
Symbols
Fun Fact
Strabo argued that Homer was a reliable geographer, a scholarly debate that continues to this day
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Herodotus
💭 conceptHistory, ethnography, Persia
Father of History whose Histories records mythological traditions alongside the Persian Wars narrative
Pausanias
💭 conceptTravel writing, topography
Second-century traveller whose Description of Greece preserves invaluable accounts of myths, monuments, and rituals
Geography
💭 conceptLanguage and science
An English word for the study of the earth's surface, places, and peoples, derived from the Greek geographia meaning earth-writing or earth-description
The Greek World
💭 conceptSacred geography, divine landscape
The mountains, islands, rivers, and cities of the Greek mythological world — every place charged with divine meaning, from Olympus in the clouds to the rivers of the dead beneath the earth.
Eratosthenes
💭 conceptAstronomy, geography, mathematics
Alexandrian polymath who calculated Earth's circumference and linked constellations to myths in his Catasterisms
Hyginus
💭 conceptMythography, fables
Roman-era mythographer whose Fabulae preserves hundreds of concise Greek myth summaries
Diodorus Siculus
💭 conceptHistory, universal chronicle
Sicilian historian who compiled a universal history preserving many otherwise lost mythological traditions
Apollodorus
💭 conceptMythography, compilation
Author of the Bibliotheca, the most comprehensive surviving handbook of Greek mythology
Bibliotheca
💭 conceptLiterature
An alternative title for the mythological handbook attributed to Apollodorus, cataloguing the full scope of Greek myth
Library of Apollodorus
💭 conceptLiterature
A comprehensive ancient handbook cataloguing Greek myths, genealogies, and heroic narratives
Ptolemy Hephaestion
💭 conceptParadoxography, obscure myth
Alexandrian writer whose New History preserved bizarre and otherwise unknown mythological variants
Hesiod
💭 conceptDidactic poetry, cosmogony
Boeotian poet who composed the Theogony and Works and Days in the archaic period