Strabo
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Strabo. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a noted geographer; born in Amasea, Pontus, about 63 b. c. On the mother's side he was descended from a Greek family closely connected with the kings of Pontus. Of his father we know nothing. The dates of his visits to most of the countries through which he traveled are very doubtful. The name Strabo, "squint-eyed," is originally Greek, and its origin is obvious, but whether any of his ancestors bore it is uncertain. His preceptors were Tyrannio of Amisus, Aristodemus of Nysa, and Xenarchus of Seleucia. He seems to have been possessed of ample means which he expended on travel, the results of which, after a lifetime's lifetime's toil, he has bequeathed to us in his "Geography." ." But he also devoted himself to philosophy, and is cited by Plutarch (Lucullus 28, Sulla 26) as Strabo, the philosopher. His work entitled "Historica Hypomnémata" in 43 books is supposed to have contained a narrative of the events from the close of the "History" of Polybius to the battle of Actium. The facts recorded in the "Geography" of Strabo are in great measure the result of his own observation. The range of his travels is a wide one, embracing the territories from Armenia to Tyrrhenia W., and from the Euxine to Ethiopa S. In his work he is largely indebted to the geographers who preceded him Eratosthenes, Artemidorus, Polybius, Posidonius, Aristotle, Theopompus, Thucydides, Aristobulus, and others. Of Greece he seems to have seen less than of almost any country. He appears, however, to have obtained in Rome much information regarding the Transalpine regions. Strangely, he disparages the discoveries of Herodotus, and undervalues the works of Roman writers, quoting almost none save Fabius Pictor, Asinius Pollio, and Julius Cæsar. The principal value of his works lies in his method. The number of historical facts recorded by him is enormous. The date of his death is unknown, but it must be placed between A. D. 21 and 25. As a writer, Strabo is always clear, simple, and unaffected. His "Geography" comprises 17 books; 2 introductory, 8 devoted to Europe, 6 to Asia, and 1 to Africa. The editio princeps is the "Aldine" (1516). In 1875 a MS. of the "Geography" was discovered in the abbey of Grotta Ferrata near Frascati, older than any of the 28 previously known MSS., and supplying many lucunæ. The best translations are those in German by C. J. Grosskurd (3 vols. 8 vo. 1831-1834). A fair English version with copious notes and a complete index was published in Bohn's "Classical Library" (1854, 3 vols. post. 8vo.). An excellent edition of the text is that of Aug. Meineke (1852-1853, 3 vols. 8vo., 2d ed. 1866).
1000 Classical Characters (1900)
A celebrated geographer, born at Amasia, on the borders of Cappadocia . He flourished in the age of Augustus. His work on geography consists of seventeen books, and is admired for its purity of diction.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Almost everything Collier's said in 1921 still holds: seventeen books of the Geography survive, the 43-book history is lost, and the date of Strabo's death is still only fixed as after AD 21. What has moved is the scholarly apparatus. Collier's best English recommendation was the Bohn version of 1854; readers now use the eight-volume Loeb translation by Horace Leonard Jones, begun in 1917 and completed in 1932, and Duane Roller's complete English translation of 2014, while Stefan Radt's ten-volume critical edition and commentary, published between 2002 and 2011, has replaced Meineke's text of the 1850s. The old palimpsest Collier's reports as found at Grottaferrata in 1875 is indeed still valued as an unusually early witness, and Strabo himself is now read less as a stylist admired for purity of diction and more as a working source for archaeologists locating ancient sites.
Written for this edition, 2026.