| This work is an attempt to fill the need for an up-to-date commentary on the description of the Nile lands (Egypt, Nubia, and Meroe) found in the Geographika of Strabon, a Greek geographer and historian who lived at the turn of the era (late first century BCE-early first century CE). An introduction surveys the methodologic foundation for the composition of Strabon's book 17, and highlights Strabon's contribution to ancient geography and to our understanding of Graeco-Roman Egypt in particular. For the commentary, which uses as its starting point the original Greek text, the author has retraced Strabon's steps and compared his testimony with other Greek and with Latin sources (literary, epigraphic, and papyrologic); important archaeologic and other significant secondary sources are also noted. The work is intended to be accessible not only to Classicists and geographers, but also archaeologists, art historians, Egyptologists, and historians. There is an appendix on the chapters that treat the territory embraced by the modern nation of Libya (17.3.18-23), surveyed in part to determine Strabon's technique of composition and to report on the state of Libyan archaeology today. There is a second appendix, in Arabic, summarizing the findings reported in the introduction. Illustrations and maps complement the text. |
