OXFORD CLASSICAL MONOGRAPHS Published under the supervision of a Committee of the Faculty of Literae Humaniores in the University of Oxford The aim of the Oxford Classical Monographs series (which replaces the Oxford Classical and Philosophical Monographs) is to publish books based on the best theses on Greek and Latin literature, ancient history, and ancient philosophy examined by the Faculty Board of Literae Humaniores. Between Geography and History Hellenistic Constructions of the Roman World KATHERINE CLARKE CLARENDON PRESS OXFORD This book has been printed digitally and produced in a standard specification in order to ensure its continuing availability OXPORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Sao Paulo Shanghai Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto with an associated company in Berlin Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Katherine Clarke 1999 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) Reprinted 2002 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer ISBN 0-19-924003-5 Cover illustration·. Silver coin of c.30 BC depicting Octavian with his foot on the globe; Ashmolean Museum, Oxford For Chris Preface This book started its official life as an Oxford D.Phil, thesis, written at St. John's College and Christ Church. As a student at St. John's I benefited enormously from the expert guidance and inspirational teaching of Michael Comber and Nicholas Purcell. Both have continued to provide support in all kinds of ways; and it was while I was an undergraduate at St. John's that the seeds of the idea to research ancient geography and conceptions of the wider world were sown in my mind. I was enabled to undertake research in the first place by postgraduate funding from the British Academy. The award of a Senior Scholarship at Christ Church in Michaelmas 1995, followed by a Junior Research Fellowship in 1997, provided the ideal, even idyllic, conditions for the final stages and completion of both thesis and book—a friendly and comfort• able environment, and freedom from financial worries. For this, and above all for the warm welcome which I received, in particular from Alan Bowman, Richard Rutherford, Peter Parsons, and Dirk Obbink, I am extremely grateful. My three years at Christ Church have been a source of great pleasure. Naturally the project has changed since the initial stages, often in unexpected directions. Having set out to study spatial conceptions in antiquity, I encountered Strabo's Geography, and decided that its startling historical content would make a more interesting topic. However, I have returned to incorp• orate many of the spatial notions which I thought I had left behind. In order to understand what kind of work Strabo was writing, I was drawn back to tackle the question of spatial models and their transformation. So, I have had the good fortune to pursue simultaneously the project that I first proposed, as well as the one on which I finally settled. In the course of the book's development, I have been greatly viii Preface helped by the comments and suggestions of many scholars, whose generous assistance has greatly enhanced my work at all stages. The list is too long for all to be mentioned by name, but I would like to thank in particular: Peter Derow, for his help with my work on Polybius; Donald Russell, for reading, commenting on, and greatly improving my chapter on Posido- nius; Jack Langton, for introducing me to the modern geo• graphical bibliography, which transformed my approach; Don Fowler, for his help with the first chapter; the participants in the Ancient History Work-in-Progress Seminar, where the combination of energy and tolerance provides a perfect forum in which to try out unformed ideas. Judith Pallot, James Ryan, and Eric Swyngedou helped with discussion of modern geo• graphical approaches. I have been delighted to unearth and benefit from the comments of Strabonian enthusiasts overseas, in particular Daniela Dueck and Yuval Shahar. Peter Wiseman and Chris Pelling examined the work as a D. Phil, thesis and their many suggestions for its future life were a great help. Simon Hornblower and Oswyn Murray were extremely gener• ous with their help as my 'Graduate Advisers'; the latter also oversaw the transformation from thesis into book, and con• tributed greatly with bibliography, ideas, and an excellent eye for the broader picture. However, I save my greatest debts until last. My supervisor, Fergus Millar, contributed expertise, encouragement, gener• osity, and enthusiasm for the project, and has been a constant source of support, I should also like to thank my mother for painstakingly proof-reading the work, and for much else besides. Finally Chris, for innumerable discussions, for the time-consuming, but invaluable, task of reading the entire manuscript in minute detail and making many illuminating observations and criticisms, for providing moral support at every stage, and for everything else that he has been to me throughout the whole period of my research. Contents List of abbreviations X 1. Geographical and Historiographical Traditions I II. Polybius and the 'Geographical' History 77 III. Posidonius: Geography, History, and Stoicism 129 IV. Strabo and Space 193 V. Strabo and Time 245 VI. Strabo's Universalism: Geography, History, Rewriting the Roman World 294 Epilogue 337 APPENDIX A: The Arrangement of Posidonius* Histories 346 APPENDIX B: The Fragments of Posidonius' Histories 347 APPENDIX c: Strabo's Acknowledged Sources Arranged Region by Region 374 Bibliography 379 Index of passages 395 Index of subjects 400 List of Abbreviations The following abbreviations have been used throughout. AJA American Journal of Archaeology AJP American Journal of Philology ANRW Aufstieg und Niedergang der Romischen Welt AR Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities CJSA Contributi delVIstituto di Storia Antica Class. Phil. Classical Philology CQ Classical Quarterly E-K L. Edelstein and I. G. Kidd (eds.), PosidoniuSy 3 vols.: /. The Fragments; II (i). Testimonia and Fragments 1— 149; II(it). Fragments 150-293 (Cam­ bridge Classical Texts and Comment­ aries, 13 and 14; Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1972 and 1988) FGrH F. Jacoby (ed.)> Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker (15 vols.; Berlin, 1923-30; Leipzig, 1940-58) GGMI C. Muller (ed.), Geographici Graeci Minores, i (Paris, Firmin-Didot, 1855) GRBS Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies Italia Antic a G. Maddoli (ed.), Strabone e Vltalia Antica (Perugia, Universita degli Studi, 1988) JHS Journal of Hellenic Studies JRS Journal of Roman Studies LSJ H. G. Liddell and R. Scott, with H. S. Jones and R. McKenzie, A Greek- List of Abbreviations xi English Lexicon, rev. 9th edn. (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1996) Making Sense of Time T. Carlstein, D. Parkes, and N. Thrift (eds.)> Making Sense of Time (Timing Space and Spacing Time I; London, Arnold, 1978) PCPS Proceedings of the Cambridge Philologi­ cal Society Purposes of History H. Verdin, G. Schepens, and E. de Keyser (eds.)> Purposes of History: Studies in Greek Historiography from the 4th to the 2nd Centuries B.C. (Studia Hellenistica 30; Leuven, Dack and Dessel, 1990) R-E A. Pauly and G. Wissowa, Real-Ency- clopadie der classischen Altertumszvis- senschaft Strabone I F. Prontera (ed.), Strabone. Contributi alio studio della personalita e dell Opera I (Perugia, Universita degli Studi, 1984) Strabone II G. Maddoli (ed,), Strabone. Contributi alio studio della personalita e dell 'Opera II (Perugia, Universita degli Studi, 1986) ΤΑΡΑ Transactions and Papers of the Amer­ ican Philological Association TIBG Transactions and Papers of the Institute of Bntish Geographers I Geographical and Historiographical Traditions 'Where are you going from here?* Gilles asked. 'South, to Sartene and Bonifacio.1 'Bonifacio is a very pretty place. You know Homer's Odyssey} Bonifacio is where the Laestrygonians live.* That was beautiful, that he referred to the distant little port, not for a good restaurant or a luxury hotel or its fortress or a trivial event, but as the place where a group of savage giants had interfered with Ulysses. When it comes to literary allusions you can't do much better than use the authority of the Odyssey to prove that your home town was once important. In Gibraltar Sir Joshua Hassan had jerked his thumb sideways towards the Rock and said to me 'That's one of the Pillars of Hercules'.1 IDENTIFYING THE ISSUE Theroux's modern account of a journey around the Medi• terranean perfectly illustrates the interaction between geo• graphy and history, in which the world of the present day is best described by reference to its remote past, and in which the temporal aspect of a place forms an integral part of the spatial description. The example is an extreme one—covering a span of several millennia—but particularly apposite, given the pre• dominance of the Homeric epics in the formation of views about the world in antiquity.