#Strabo

[katerinaaqu]

Helloo I hope you're doing well :) I was reading about Hector and realised I've never seen him outside of the Iliad. Does he appear in other texts ?

Hello and thank you very much for your sweet words and your ask! Oh yes of course. Hector appears in a plethora of ancient Greek and Roman texts but the real test is to see him outside the context of the Trojan war! Hahaha!

For example Hector appears in plenty of texts by Apollodorous in various contexts and he even mentions how Hector was the one to kill Protesilaus and that is mentioned in several sources more I believe Hyginus included as well as a writer called Philostratus mentions the death of Protesilaus by the hands of Hector. Pausanias mentions Hector in one painting or image sitting in a mourning manner next to the Ethipian king Memnon after the Thracian Thamyris. Plutarch also mentions Hector in various of his texts in the context of Trojan War. Eurypedes mentions Hector in many of his tragedies. Strabo makes mentions to Hector during his geographical expeditions. Plato mentions Hector a lot in his work (even in Apology), Pindar as well as Diodorus Siculus. Last but not least we have Aristotle who mentions Hector in various of his works.

For other roman sources we have of course the Aenead by Virgil and Ovid. Even Pliny the Elder makes mentions to Hector and of course P. Virgilius Maro as he makes commentary on Virgils' Aenead. P. Ovidius Naso also mentions him in his work among other written roman sources including Horace

For his physical description we again have the classic cases of Malalas and Dares the Phrygian. And of course again we have kinda contradictory accounts on him:

Dares the Phrygian: Hector spoke with a slight lisp. His complexion was fair, his hair curly. His eyes would blink attractively. His movements were swift. His face, with its beard, was noble. He was handsome, fierce, and high-spirited, merciful to the citizens, and deserving of love. Malalas: dark-skinned, tall, very stoutly built, strong, good nose, wooly-haired, good beard, squinting, speech defect, noble, fearsome warrior, deep-voiced.

To name a few writers who mention him! Happy to provide the passages you want in the future. Most of the contexts in which Hector is being mentioned is around the trojan war and the epic cycle or used as an example for rethorics. ^_^

And of course do not forget how Hector's name is being mentioned to Linear B tablets! ;)

I hope this helps!

[jeannereames]

This question usually comes up framed as “did Alexander know about China?” - but what I really want to ask is: how aware was Alexander of what was to the East of his conquests?

He reached India, so he must have known that there were kingdoms / civilizations / countries that form what we presently call India as well. Was he aware of say, Tibet? Or Southeast Asia? I’m fairly certain Alexander and China didn’t know about each other, but if Alexander initially wanted to expand to the east, what did he know about it?

I suspect this changed as he moved east. The wall of the Himalayas is pretty steep. I'm not sure the route that would become the Silk Road was really open yet; it dates to the first century BCE. Alexander did encounter silk, but I believe it was in India. Silk starts popping up in the West after Alexander, although, again, some limited silk coming via Persia (via India) is older.

That said, when the army hit Marakanda/Samarkand, which was ON the later Silk Road, it's entirely possible that he'd have heard something. I doubt it would have been very clear, however.

It's really in India that he'd have heard more. After the Battle of the Hydaspes, the army hung out in Poros's lands for a bit. That's where he heard enough about the extremely warlike nations further into India--as did the army--that led to the indiscipline at the Hyphasis. In fact, some scholars have suggested Alexander actually *staged* the indiscipline, to give him an excuse to turn around. He knew he didn't have enough troops to take on the kingdoms in central India.

How much he heard about China beyond that, I don't know. It would depend on how much was known in the Punjab region.

But certainly, Alexander's army returned with a lot more information about Central Asia, and further east, than had been known before.

Strabo's Geography (Roller has the complete collection translated) is probably the best place to look. He used a number of the now-lost Alexander historians, when writing, and even evaluates the reliability of these.

[duxfemina]

Okay I know what books I want to write I'm just struggling on where I should start. So poll time...

*Pompeia

In that first option bloody autocorrect hates me

Because like I know I want to start with either Pompeius Magnus for a chronological take or with Pompeia for a backwards order of some sort. Possibly having her compile her family history in her novel and then writing the novels about her predecessors like they're her work. I dunno. Starting a book is always the hardest but my head is so full of ideas.

[pink-lemonade-rose]

In a well-known excursus in the tenth book of the Geography, Strabo explains the place of music in orgiastic ritual. He distinguishes types of festivals according to the role within them of divine possession, [mousike], and mystic elements. Mystic concealment, he argues, induces reverence, and [mousike] brings us in touch with the divine. Strabo goes on to speak of music as the foundation of education and also as a way of imitating the gods. The Muses themselves, he points out, are goddesses (10.3.10); and the Pythagoreans regarded all music as the work of the gods, teaching that the cosmos was constituted according to the principle of musical harmony. He asserts a common Greek association of "everything orgiastic, Bacchic, choric...and mystic," with Dionysus, Apollo, Hecate, the Muses, and Demeter; he notes choric activity as a feature common to all these cults [...].

Alex Hardie, "Muses and Mysteries"

[castilestateofmind]

“The Keltiberians, and their neighbours to the north, [sacrifice] to a nameless god, every full moon, at night, before their doors, the whole family passing the night in dancing and festival”.

- Strabo. Geography, 3.4.16.

[readyforevolution]

“Among the most beautiful ... Of all peoples” Strabo 1st Century BC

—

“The Greeks and Romans considered the people of Ethiopia to be among the most beautiful and civilized of all peoples." Strabo 1st Century BC

[whencyclopedfr]

L'histoire de la Cendrillon Égyptienne Démystifiée

L'histoire de Cendrillon est l'une des plus populaires au monde. En Occident, elle jouit d'une popularité continue depuis sa révision et sa publication par Charles Perrault en 1697, mais l'histoire de la jeune héroïne, injustement forcée à la servitude, qui accède à la royauté était déjà racontée des siècles auparavant en Chine, sous la dynastie Tang (618-907), dans l'histoire de Yeh Shen. Dans cette histoire, la belle-mère et la demi-sœur maléfiques tuent les amis animaux de Yeh Shen, mais elles finissent par être détruites et la jeune fille obtient la main du roi.

Lire la suite...

[promptuarium]

PELOPS was the son of Tantalus, king of the Phrygians, who pined for Hippodamia, daughter of the king of Pisa. Seeking to have her as a wife, he was rejected by Oenomaus, father of that most elegant of virgins, who had set unfair conditions. This matter led to war: Oenomaus, betrayed by his captain Myrtilus, was conquered.

Therefore Pelops, having acquired Hippodamia as his wife, held the kingship of Pisa, in the 2617th year since the founding of the world and the 1346th before Christ was born. Known for his strength and wisdom, since he led many of his neighbors into the Peloponnese, he named the land “Peloponnese” after himself. Diodorus book 5, around the end.

He reigned for 59 years in Pisa, which is in Elis, next to Arcadia, whose residents founded the city in Italy of the same name. See Strabo, Geography book 7 and 8, also Raphael of Volaterra, book 34 [actually 30].

[nulla-dies-sine-rosa]

Does anyone have the "bad work strabo" post saved? please

[uzunbacakadem]

Indian-Ambassador-to-Rome-Augustus-Zarmanos-Khagan

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Strabon-Geography-Book-15

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Strabon bundan 2000 yıl önce 'Coğrafya' adlı betiğinde şunu yazıyor: "Burada, Hintli atalarının geleneklerine uygun olarak kendini ölümsüzleştiren Bargosalı bir Hintli olan Zarmanochegas yatıyor." Peki, Hindistan Bargosa'dan İmparator Augustus'a gönderilen bu elçi kimin nesi?

ENGLISH:

Strabo writes this 2000 years ago in his book called 'Geography': 

"Here lies Zarmanochegas, an Indian from Bargosa who immortalized himself in accordance with the traditions of his Indian ancestors."

 So, who is this envoy sent from India Bargosa to Emperor Augustus?

*

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Strabons Erdbeschreibung: in siebzehn Büchern, Volume 3

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Adı Zarman-os/Sarman-os Khagan! Çoğu bilen adam, adamın namını zaten Türkçe Kağan ile açıklamı��. Ama niyeyse adın kökeninde zorlanmışlar biraz. Cahil cesareti gösterip diyeyim: Neden SARMAN olmasın? Sarman Türkçemizde bol: Azman, iri; sarı (ak) anlamları var.

ENGLISH:

Most scholars have already explained the man's title/nick as Turkish Kagan.

 But for some reason they had difficulty with the origin of his name ZARMANOS.

 Let me show ignorant courage and propose this:

 Why not Turkic SARMAN? 

 There are many "Sarman"s in our Turkish: 

It means very big, great; yellow (white).

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Eski Türkçe +man/men eki karşımıza çok çıkan bir ek. Renk adlarından ad yapar: >Alman, Akman, Karaman... * Bu elçinin adı niye bu şekilde açıklanmasın? Yani Ak/Sarı saçlı adam > SARMAN KAĞAN * 2000 yıl önce Hindistan'dan Roma'ya gelen elçi Türk. Daha ne yazayım bre?

*

ENGLISH:

The old Turkish +man/men suffix is a very common suffix. 

Makes names from color names like: 

>Al(RED)man, Ak(WHITE)man, Kara(BLACK)man... 

* 

Why shouldn't this ambassador's name be revealed in this way? 

SARMAN-OS/ZARMAN-OS = white/blonde haired

 > SARMAN KAGAN 

* 

Turkish ambassador who came to Rome from India 2000 years ago. A Turk who should visit Rome as Indian ambassador... 

 What else should I write?

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Bargosa - India

*

Uzunbacak Adem

[jeannereames]

Hi! I've just started getting into Alexander the Great and I appreciate the time you take to reply and also for the many book recs! If Alexander was interested in trade and had he lived to do as he planned in the West, do you think he would've been interested in trade with China? Also this is a dumb question, but how big did people back then think Asia was? Because I was wondering why Alexander was named the King of Asia when he didn't hold that much of what we consider Asia. Or did they not consider the countries we consider Asia as part of Asia? I'm waffling and I'm not how much that made sense, but thanks for your time ❤️

Alexander and the Size of Asia

Previously, I had a question about China and whether Alexander knew it existed. In that post, I discuss ancient Greek ideas about the size of the world and where they thought the world ended. It’s hard to find anything consistently these days via Tumblr search, but sometimes it still works.

But yes, he called himself “King of Asia” because he had no idea there was a whole lot more to Asia. They thought the Himalayas (“The Wall of the World”) was the end and Encircling Ocean lay on the other side. They also had no idea how big Siberia was…or that it was even there. They knew about the steppes, but that was about it. Here’s a map of the world as Herodotus conceived of it. They’d advanced a little from this image, but it was still pretty much how they understood it. He had no idea how big India actually was till he got there.

In fact, it was Alexander’s campaigns that really expanded Greek knowledge of Asia. When Strabo wrote his Geography later, he made a LOT of use of Alexander historians (now lost to us), including Nearchus and Ptolemy. You wouldn’t know it from Arrian, but apparently, Ptolemy had an interest in flora and trees!

Prior to Alexander’s march, however, most of what the Greeks knew about Asia was hearsay. Travel was expensive, and there were other barriers of language, access, safety/having local patrons or friends to protect you, etc. Not everybody goes exploring with an army for backup. 😂

The Greeks DID know that the world was round, but not how big it was. Plato got it 60% too BIG, ironically. It wasn’t until after Alexander that Eratosthenes in the late 200s BCE finally got within spitting distance—about a hundred years after Alexander died. Another 150 years later, Posidonius got it almost exactly. Unfortunately, Ptolemy the Geographer screwed things up much later under the Romans and shrank the size, which calculation persisted into the Renaissance. That’s why Columbus got his plans wrong; he used Ptolemy’s calculations, so he missed about 30% of the globe.

But all that said, and even assuming Alexander thought the world was bigger than it actually is, it seems the Greeks assumed most of it was water: Encircling Ocean, which was a persistent notion all the way back into Mesopotamia in the Bronze Age.

I’m by no means a specialist of any kind on Greek ideas about geography and the world. But Brill’s Companion to Ancient Geography would probably be a good place to start. It’s bloody expensive (as are all Brill books), but you can probably find it in a university library or ask to borrow it via ILL (interlibrary loan).

[duxfemina]

Timeline of Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo

103 - Strabo serves as Quaestor in Sardinia

102 - Strabo seeks to prosecute Titus Albucius the pro Praetor he served under in Sardinia 

94 - Strabo serves as Praetor 

93 - Strabo made Governor of Sicily 

90 - probably spring - Strabo defeated at Mount Falernus by Ventidus & Scato 

90 - Strabo besieged in Firmum 

90 - Strabo breaks out and attacks Lafrenius’ army and L. Is slain and his troops flee to Asculum 

90 - Siege of Asculum begins

90 - winter - Strabo returns to Rome to stand for consul 

89 - Strabo elected consul 

89 - Strabo intercepts an Italian army heading across the Apennines from the Adriatic to Etruria trying to spread the revolt

89 - Fall - Siege of Asculum breaks Strabo orders the prominent men of the city beaten and beheaded, slaves sold and all others to leave the city

89 - Strabo proposes Latin Rights to Cisalpine Gaul 

89 - December - Strabo given triumph 

88 - Strabo fails reelection to consulship 

88 - Outbreak of Sullan Civil War and Rome is seized 

88 - Quintus Pompeius Rufus sent to take command of Strabo’s army and murdered by some of his men 

87 - Strabo and his army come to Rome but their allegiances are not known 

87 - Cinna recruits Lucius Terentius the tent mate of Pompeius Magnus to lead an assassination and coup in Strabo’s camp

87 - assassination of Strabo foiled by Pompeius Magnus 

87 - 800 of Strabo's men do leave but most are convinced to remain by Pompeius Magnus 

87 - Cinna’s actions force Strabo to choose the side of Octavius and the Senate

87 - Strabo and Octavius expel Marius and Cinna's forces from the city of Rome

87 - Strabo is killed by lightning strike and his body is drug from its bier and disrespected 

---------------------------------------------------

This is going to be edited with links to posts about other figures referenced as I make them. I'm using this for my research but figured I would share for those interested in the Pompeius gens. I will be making timelines for other family members as I research and adding any new information I find on Strabo to this one

[blogdemocratesjr]

Strabo the Geographer (photo by Spaksu)

The science of Geography, which I now propose to investigate, is, I think, quite as much as any other science, a concern of the philosopher; and the correctness of my view is clear for many reasons. In the first place, those who in earliest times ventured to treat the subject were, in their way, philosophers — Homer, Anaximander of Miletus, and Anaximander's fellow-citizen Hecataeus — just as Eratosthenes has already said; philosophers, too, were Democritus, Eudoxus, Dicaearchus, Ephorus, with several others of their times; and further, their successors — Eratosthenes, Polybius, and Poseidonius — were philosophers. In the second place, wide learning, which alone makes it possible to undertake a work on geography, is possessed solely by the man who has investigated things both human and divine — knowledge of which, they say, constitutes philosophy. And so, too, the utility of geography — and its utility is manifold, not only as regards the activities of statesmen and commanders but also as regards knowledge both of the heavens and of things on land and sea, animals, plants, fruits, and everything else to be seen in various regions — the utility of geography, I say, presupposes in the geographer the same philosopher, the man who busies himself with the investigation of the art of life, that is, of happiness.

—Strabo, Geography: Book I

[indo-europeans]

dards - war-like north westernmost “indo” aryans & asvas

- Strabo and Pliny mentioned war-like people Dardae.

- The term "Dardic" is only a geographic convention used to denote the northwesternmost group of Indo-Aryan languages (spoken in northern Pakistan, northwestern India and parts of northeastern Afghanistan)

- Usage of the term is curiously parallel to the Sanskrit usage, where it connoted nonspecific ferocious outsiders living in the mountains beyond the borders of the region.

- Dardic languages contain absolutely no features which cannot be derived from old [Indo-Aryan language]. They have simply retained a number of striking archasisms, which had already disappeared in most Prakrit dialects... There is not a single common feature distinguishing Dardic, as a whole, from the rest of the [Indo-Aryan] languages... Dardic is simply a convenient term to denote a bundle of aberrant [Indo-Aryan] hill-languages which, in their relative isolation, accented in many cases by the invasion of Pathan tribes, have been in varying degrees sheltered against the expand influence of [Indo-Aryan] Midland (Madhyadesha) innovations, being left free to develop on their own

- Due to their geographic isolation, many Dardic languages have preserved archaisms and other features of Old Indo-Aryan. These features include three sibilants, several types of clusters of consonants, and archaic or antiquated vocabulary lost in other modern Indo-Aryan languages.

- Kalasha and Khowar are the most archaic of all modern Indo-Aryan languages, retaining a great part of Sanskrit case inflexion, and retaining many words in a nearly Sanskritic form.[29][30] For example at’hi "bone" in Kalasha is nearly identical to asthi in Sanskrit[31] and ašrú "tear" in Khowar is identical to the Sanskrit word

- The Sanskrit term aśva, Avestan aspa, and Prakrit assa means horse. The name Aśvaka/Aśvakan or Assaka is derived from the Sanskrit Aśva or Prakrit Assa and it denotes someone connected with the horses, hence a horseman, or a cavalryman or horse breeder. The Aśvakas were especially engaged in the occupation of breeding, raising and training war horses, as also in providing expert cavalry services.[citation needed]

- The name of the Aśvakan or Assakan has been preserved in that of the modern Afghān.

- According to philologist J.W. McCrindle, the name Aśvaka is also "distinctly preserved" in the name of the Esapzai (or Yusufzai) tribe of Pashtuns. McCrindle noted: "The name of the Aśvaka indicates that their country was renowned in primitive times, as it is at the present day, for its superior breed of horses.

- The fact that the Greeks translated their name into "Hippasioi" (from ἵππος, a horse) shows that they must have been aware of its etymological signification."

- Ancient Greek historians who documented the exploits of Alexander the Great refer to the Aspasioi and Assakenoi (Ἀσσακηνοί) tribes among his opponents. The Assakenoi fielded 2,000 cavalry, 30 elephants and 30,000 infantry against Alexander during his campaign in India, which began in 327 BCE, but they eventually had to surrender after losses at places such as Beira, Massaga and Ora

-  Diodorus recorded the strength of the Aśvaka opposition, noting that the women took up arms along with the men, preferring "a glorious death to a life of dishonour".[21]Queen Cleophis was the main leader of Ashvaka during their war against Alexander.

- The Asvayanas have been attested to be good cattle breeders and agriculturists by classical writers. Arrian said that, during the time of Alexander, there were a large number of bullocks - 230,000 - of a size and shape superior to what the Macedonians had known, which Alexander captured from them and decided to send to Macedonia for agriculture

[rainbeausworld]

A Poem Mentions Cotytian Rites Again (or the Goddess Cotys in the Written Sources), pt 4

Read from the beginning

So next I'll be looking at Virgil's Catalepton. This is annoyingly the only free English version I could find. Anyway, we're looking at section 13 in this one. The entire segment seems to be about what some might call infidelity and is rather overt sexually.

The section that specifically mentions Cotytia is this...

Throughout the beautiful Cotyttia

Thou'lt not invite me to the festal p. . . . s,

(I couldn't find the Latin but I'm convinced that hidden word is penis)

And then goes on to describe other places where the narrator is not going to, ahem, enjoy themselves with the subject of the poem.

Anyway, there's not much more to work with this one, but it does reinforce a theme of sexuality playing a role in her worship, as discussed here.

Taking a moment to backtrack on the Strabo discussion,

The description he gives of the parade also mentioned participants creating fearful noises on top of the war-cry-like music. Unfortunately, I don't think we can properly reconstruct whether the music was supposed to "defeat" the scary noises so to speak (though it's not something to rule out either), but I think we can connect these themes of sexuality and warband and terror into a theme of extreme emotions (or perhaps as the gentlemen scholars might say "excitement of the senses"). Fully embracing and reveling in these states of excitement seems crucial to the Cotytian experience.

Thinking back on Horace's poem,

With all of this in mind, the allusion to "Cupid's worship" may have been a sexual reference, given that he is a god of passionate desire, erotic love, attraction, etc. If that's the case, then we have three poets giving Cotytian worship very sexual traits, which I think is enough to make this a pretty solid association.

Continue to pt. 5

[risingoftime]

AGAINST ALL ODDS | CORIOLANUS SNOW X PLINTH!READER

As the last heir to the Plinth family, you're caught up in an arranged marriage with no one other than Coriolanus Snow. In a civilization that relies on power and survival, Strabo Plinth, for once, has obtained his ultimate desire - something that money can't buy - to secure his position within the Capital's commonwealth and establish the Plinth family as an influential figure in Panem.

You've always dreamed of a life beyond societal expectations and political alliances, where you can make your own choices in life and love. On the other hand, Coriolanus Snow is a cold and calculated individual known for his ruthless nature and thirst for power.

Tasked with redeeming the tarnished Plinth name after your brother Sejanus's death - you'll stop at nothing to ensure that you get the life you've yearned for and do not meet the same fate as your brother.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

chapter one

chapter two

chapter three

chapter four

chapter five

chapter six

all chapters will also be posted on AO3