Myrto Hatzimichali: Philosophical self-definition in Strabo’s Geography

This chapter addresses some aspects of the role of philosophy and the impact of philosophical thought on literature of the Late Hellenistic period. It focuses primarily on Strabo’s Geography, considering the author’s claims about philosophy in general as an educational ideal, linked to his claims about geography as a philosophical discipline, through which he seeks to endow it with added prestige and a tradition of illustrious predecessors. Comparisons will be drawn here with other authors of the Late Hellenistic and Imperial periods who claimed a philosophical pedigree for their own scientific disciplines, such as Vitruvius and Galen.

The chapter will also address the question of what Strabo understands by ‘philosophy’ when he says in his opening paragraphs that geography belongs to the interests of an individual engaged in philosophy. In this regard, Strabo’s work offers an opportunity to explore from a Late Hellenistic point of view certain themes that are recurrent in how we think about the Second Sophistic and intellectual life in the Imperial period, especially the value placed on wide learning (paideia or polymatheia, both terms used by Strabo), as well as the process of constructing an identity for a Greek intellectual in the context of the Roman empire. Some instructive comparisons will also be drawn between Strabo’s philosopher-geographer and portraits of the ‘philosopher’ emerging from Imperial texts such as Plutarch’s Table Talk.

Finally, the chapter will consider the impact of this type of attitude towards philosophy on Strabo’s own alleged affiliation to Stoicism. Through the example of his treatment of human and divine providence (pronoia) it will emerge that doctrinal orthodoxy may become less of a priority compared to the demands of an ambitious large-scale cultural project.