Comments? Contact
spothecary@strabo.ca

Author’s website: sarahpothecary.com

© 2005 Sarah Pothecary

Web design by
forbiddencolour

 

Back to

 

 

 

Updated March 2013

An ‘edition’ contains the Greek text of the Geography. Most of the editions listed below are critical editions, i.e. are based on a comparison of the thirty or so manuscripts of the Geography which still exist. Critical editions are necessary because the process of copying and recopying the text, from antiquity to the Middle Ages, has inevitably produced errors of transcription. The editor of a critical edition notes how and where the wording of one manuscript differs from the wording in other manuscripts; and decides which form of words is more likely to have featured in the original. The edited text reflects these decisions, with a record of rejected wording provided at the foot of each page in the critical apparatus. In the case of verbal infelicities, even where manuscripts agree with each other, the editor may believe that the wording of the original text was different from that of the manuscripts. Conversely, some verbal infelicities may date back to Strabo himself. For the history of attempts, over the last century and a half, to produce a critical edition of all seventeen books of the Geography, see Radt (1991) and Brodersen (2003).

This following list begins with the most recently completed critical edition, by S.L. Radt. This edition, published at a rate of one volume per year throughout the first decade of the millennium, supersedes previous editions. Radt presents Strabo’s work in its entirety, in contrast to several previous editors who, despite intending to edit and publish all seventeen books, stalled out or died before reaching their goal: Aujac et al. reached Book 12, Aly reached Book 6, and Sbordone reached Book 9. Furthermore, Radt makes use of some fragmentary manuscripts of early date which were unavailable, or only partially available, to earlier editors.

RADT, S.L. (2002-11), ed. and tr.  Strabons Geographika. Vols. 1-10. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht. Greek text, with full critical apparatus and German translation, and commentary. For articles explaining the editor’s methodology, see Radt (1991), (1993), (1994), (1995) and (1996).

Vol. 1 (2002), Greek text and German translation of Books 1-4. Reviewed.
Vol. 2 (2003), Greek text and German translation of Books 5-8
Vol. 3 (2004), Greek text and German translation of Books 9-13
Vol. 4 (2005), Greek text and German translation of Books 14-17. Reviewed.
Vol. 5 (2006), commentary on Books 1-4
Vol. 6 (2007), commentary on Books 5-8
Vol. 7 (2008), commentary on Books 9-13
Vol. 8 (2009), commentary on Book 14-17
Vol. 9 (2010), Greek text of the Epitome and Chrestomathy. See pp. 65, 290 of this volume for excluded sections, used instead to replace the lost end of Book 7 in Vol. 2 (pp. 342-382). The fourteenth century Epitome and the ninth century Chrestomathy are abbreviated versions of the Geography.
Vol. 10 (2011), indices to Vols 1-9
Corrigenda are included at the end of Vols 2-10. Review by Dorandi (2005).

BIRASCHI; TROTTA; NICOLAI and TRAINA (1988-2001). For this partial edition, with Greek text and Italian translation, go to Texts of individual books.

AUJAC, GERMAINE; LASSERRE, FRANÇOIS; and BALADIÉ, RAOUL (1966-96), eds and trs. Strabon. Géographie. Vols 1-9, containing Books 1-12. Paris: Les Belles Lettres [Association Guillaume Budé]. Greek text with full critical apparatus, French translation and notes. Note that the volumes were published out of sequence: Vol. 1, part 1, containing Book 1, and Vol. 1, part 2, containing Book 2, were published in 1969; Vol. 2, containing Books 3-4, was published in 1966; Vol. 3, containing Books 5-6, was published in 1967; Vol. 4, containing Book 7, was published in 1989; Vol. 5, containing Book 8, was published in 1978; Vol. 6, containing Book 9, was published in 1996; Vol. 7, containing Book 10, was published in 1971; Vol. 8, containing Book 11, was published in 1975; Vol. 9, containing Book 12, was published in 1981.
 

SBORDONE, FRANCISCUS (1963-2002), ed. Strabonis Geographica. Vols 1-3, containing Books 1-9. Rome: Typis publicae officinae polygraphicae [Scriptores Graeci et Latini Consilio Academiae Lynceorum editi]. Greek text with full critical apparatus. Vol. 1, containing Books 1-2, was published in 1963; Vol. 2, containing Books 4-6, was published in 1970. Sbordone died before completing his project. Vol. 3, containing Books 7-9, appeared posthumously in 2002, prepared for publication by S.M. Medaglia. Vol. 3 reviewed by Brodersen (2003).

ALY, WOFGANG (1957-72), ed. Strabonis Geographica. Vols 1-2, containing books 1-6, and Vol. 4. Greek text with full critical apparatus. The volumes were published out of sequence. Vol. 4 Strabon von Amaseia, Bonn: Rudolph Habelt [Antiquitas 1:5], was published first, in 1957: it is a commentary by Aly on textual questions, and deals with the sources and composition of the Geography. Aly died before publishing the volumes containing his edited Greek text. Of these, Vols 1-2, containing Books 1-6, appeared posthumously in 1968-72, prepared for publication by E. Kirsten and F. Lapp. Bonn: Rudolph Habelt [Antiquitas 1:9 and 1:19].

JONES, HORACE L. (1917-32, revised and reprinted several times), ed. and tr. The Geography of Strabo. Vols 1-8, containing Books 1-17. Harvard University Press and Heinemann [Loeb Classical Library]. Greek text (based on Meineke 1852-53), with some textual notes, and an English translation originally undertaken by J.R. Sitlington Sterrett but completed by Jones after Sterrett’s death. The translation of Books 1-17 is available online at LacusCurtius; Books 6-14, through Perseus.

Vol. 1 (1917), Greek text and English translation of Books 1-2. Available as an e-book.
Vol. 2 (1923), Greek text and English translation of Books 3-4.
Vol. 3 (1924), Greek text and English translation of Books 5-7.
Vol. 4 (1927), Greek text and English translation of Books 8-9.
Vol. 5 (1928), Greek text and English translation of Books 10-12.
Vol. 6 (1929), Greek text and English translation of Books 13-14. Available as an e-book.
Vol. 7 (1930), Greek text and English translation of Books 15-16. Available e-book.
Vol. 8 (1932), Greek text and English translation of Book 17. Available e-book.

MÜLLER, CARL; and DÜBNER, FRIEDRICH (1853-58), eds and trs. Strabonis Geographica graece cum versione reficta. Books 1-17. Paris: Didot, [Scriptorum Graecorum Bibliotheca]. Greek text with Latin translation. There is no critical apparatus at the foot of each page, but an index of variant readings is given.

MEINEKE, AUGUST (1852-53, reprinted several times), ed. Strabonis Geographica. Vols 1-3, containing Books 1-17. Leipzig: Teubner [Bibliotheca Scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana]. Greek text based on Kramer (1844-52), with a list of variations provided at the beginning of each volume. Books 6-14 (from an 1877 reprint) are available online through Perseus.

Vol. 1 (1852), Greek text of Books 1-6.
Vol. 2 (1852), Greek text of Books 7-12. Vols 1-2, reprinted 1866, available as an e-book.
Vol. 3 (1853), Greek text of Books 13-17.

KRAMER, GUSTAV (1852), ed. Strabonis Geographica. Editio Minor. Vols 1-2, containing Books 1-17. Berlin. Greek text from Kramer’s 1844-52 edition minus critical apparatus.
 
Vol. 1 (1852), Greek text of Books 1-10.
Vol. 2 (1852), Greek text of Books 11-17.
Available as an e-book.

KRAMER, GUSTAV (1844-52), ed. Strabonis Geographica. Vols 1-3, containing Books 1-17. Berlin: Friedericus Nicolaus. Greek text with full critical apparatus. (In the year in which he published Vol. 3 of this edition, Kramer also published a shorter edition, for which see previous entry.)

Vol. 1 (1844), Greek text of Books 1-6. Available as an e-book.
Vol. 2, Greek text of Books 7-12,
Vol. 3 (1852), Greek text of Books 13-17. Available as an e-book.

For pre-Kramer editions, see the bibliographies provided by Biraschi (1981) and Diller (1975).