Introduction

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingForeword/postscript

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Abstract

This chapter proposes to add a literary component to the emerging picture of Strabo as a creative author, i.e. the insertion of anecdotes into the narrative of factual geographical elements. It focuses on seven Strabonian anecdotes, which represent tales with similar goals. In 59 BCE, when Strabo was a very young child, Cicero confessed to his friend Atticus that at a certain stage he thought of writing a geographical work. Slightly later than Strabo, Pomponius Mela also recognized the special stylistic or rhetorical challenge in writing geography. Crows in the ancient world had various symbolic roles: they accompanied Apollo, they served as bad omens, and were associated with death or with long life. But in the Strabonian anecdote, they are not associated with a specific divinity. The city of Aetna is situated in the interior about over Catana, and shares most in the devastation caused by the action of the craters.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Routledge Companion to Strabo
PublisherTaylor and Francis
Pages1-6
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9781317445869
ISBN (Print)9781138904330
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2017

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