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Strabo
Strabo wrote in Greek, during the time of the early Roman empire.
His book on geography and history was probably intended as a manual for
Roman officials and military officers.
Strabo goes through a very thorough itinerary, linking political history and
mythology to particular places along the way.
At times his text is a tedious recitation of factoids and folklore, but at
other moments, he tells gory tales of tyrants, and strange stories of
bizarre natural phenomena.
For someone like Coleridge, who had immersed himself in the Greek and Roman
classics, Strabo was probably an amusing tour guide to familiar territory.
Lowes argues that Coleridge may have read Strabo's Geography in the original
Greek when studying as a medical student at Christ's Hospital.
And
Coleridge
knew Strabo well enough to quote the Greek in 1806 or 1807 in his Omniana,
recognizing Strabo behind a phrase in Jonson's play Volpone.
Strabo's Geography, in translation of H. I. Jones, in Loeb Classical
Library. |
 Other sources
William Bartram |