- Source
- Strabo. Strabonis Geographica, Vols. 1-3. Meineke, August, editor. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877.
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0099.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:11.1.1-11.1.4
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-23
At the beginning of the description of Asia, the author explains the geographical features of the Taurus range as a major boundary dividing the continent into north and south, and its suitability based on climate and river courses.
τῇ δʼ Εὐρώπῃ συνεχής ἐστιν ἡ Ἀσία κατὰ τὸν Τάναϊν συνάπτουσα αὐτῇ· περὶ ταύτης οὖν ἐφεξῆς ῥητέον διελόντας1 φυσικοῖς τισιν ὅροις τοῦ σαφοῦς χάριν. ὅπερ οὖν Ἐρατοσθένης ἐφʼ ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐποίησε, τοῦθʼ ἡμῖν ἐπὶ τῆς Ἀσίας ποιητέον.
Asia is continuous with Europe, joining it at the Tanais; therefore, we must next speak of Asia, dividing it by certain natural boundaries for the sake of clearness. What Eratosthenes, then, did for the whole inhabited world, this we must do for Asia.
ὁ γὰρ Ταῦρος μέσην2 πως διέζωκε ταύτην τὴν ἤπειρον ἀπὸ τῆς ἑσπέρας ἐπὶ τὴν ἕω τεταμένος, τὸ μὲν αὐτῆς ἀπολείπων πρὸς βορρᾶν τὸ δὲ μεσημβρινόν. καλοῦσι δὲ αὐτῶν οἱ Ἕλληνες τὸ μὲν ἐντὸς τοῦ Ταύρου τὸ δὲ ἐκτός. εἴρηται δὲ ταῦθʼ ἡμῖν καὶ πρότερον, ἀλλʼ εἰρήσθω καὶ νῦν ὑπομνήσεως χάριν.
For the Taurus range girdles this continent, as it were, in its middle, extending from the west to the east, leaving one part of it to the north and the other to the south. And of these parts, the Greeks call the one ‘inside the Taurus’ and the other ‘outside’. These things have been said by us before, but let them be said now also for the sake of remembrance.
πλάτος μὲν οὖν ἔχει τὸ ὄρος πολλαχοῦ καὶ τρισχιλίων σταδίων, μῆκος δʼ ὅσον καὶ τὸ τῆς Ἀσίας, τεττάρων που μυριάδων καὶ πεντακισχιλίων, ἀπὸ τῆς Ῥοδίων περαίας ἐπὶ τὰ ἄκρα τῆς Ἰνδικῆς καὶ Σκυθίας πρὸς τὰς ἀνατολάς.
Now the mountain range has a width in many places of even three thousand stadia, and a length as great as that of Asia itself, about forty-five thousand stadia, from the Rhodian Peraea to the eastern extremities of India and Scythia.
διῄρηται δʼ εἰς μέρη πολλὰ καὶ ὀνόματα περιγραφαῖς καὶ μείζοσι καὶ ἐλάττοσιν ἀφωρισμένα. ἐπεὶ δʼ ἐν τῷ τοσούτῳ πλάτει τοῦ ὄρους ἀπολαμβάνεταί τινα ἔθνη, τὰ μὲν ἀσημότερα τὰ δὲ καὶ παντελῶς γνώριμα (καθάπερ ἡ Παρθυαία καὶ Μηδία καὶ Ἀρμενία καὶ Καππαδοκῶν τινες καὶ Κίλικες καὶ Πισίδαι), τὰ μὲν πλεονάζοντα ἐν τοῖς προσβόρροις μέρεσιν ἐνταῦθα τακτέον, τὰ δʼ ἐν τοῖς νοτίοις εἰς τὰ νότια, καὶ τὰ ἐν μέσῳ δὲ τῶν ὀρῶν κείμενα διὰ τὰς τῶν ἀέρων ὁμοιότητας πρὸς βορρᾶν πως θετέον· ψυχροὶ γάρ εἰσιν, οἱ δὲ νότιοι θερμοί. καὶ τῶν ποταμῶν δὲ αἱ ῥύσεις ἐνθένδε ἰοῦσαι πᾶσαι σχεδόν τι εἰς τἀναντία αἱ μὲν εἰς τὰ βόρεια αἱ δʼ εἰς τὰ νότια μέρη (τά γε πρῶτα, κἂν ὕστερόν τινες ἐπιστρέφωσι πρὸς ἀνατολὰς ἢ δύσεις), ἔχουσί τι εὐφυὲς πρὸς τὸ τοῖς ὄρεσιν ὁρίοις3 χρῆσθαι κατὰ τὴν εἰς δύο μέρη διαίρεσιν τῆς Ἀσίας· καθάπερ καὶ ἡ θάλαττα ἡ ἐντὸς στηλῶν, ἐπʼ εὐθείας πως οὖσα ἡ πλείστη τοῖς ὄρεσι τούτοις, ἐπιτηδεία γεγένηται πρὸς τὸ δύο ποιεῖν ἠπείρους, τήν τε Εὐρώπην καὶ τὴν Λιβύην, ὅριον ἀμφοῖν οὖσα ἀξιόλογον.
And it is divided into many parts and names, defined by larger and smaller boundaries. And since within so great a width of the mountain range certain nations are shut off, some rather obscure and others completely well known (such as Parthia, Media, Armenia, some of the Cappadocians, the Cilicians, and the Pisidians), those which predominate in the northern parts must be placed there, and those in the southern parts in the south, and those situated in the midst of the mountains must, because of the similarities of the climate, be placed in a way to the north; for they are cold, whereas the southern parts are warm. And the courses of the rivers flowing from here, almost all of them in opposite directions, some into the northern and others into the southern parts (at least at first, even if some later turn towards the east or the west), possess a natural suitability for using the mountains as boundaries in the division of Asia into two parts; just as the sea within the Pillars, being for the most part in a straight line, as it were, with these mountains, has become suitable for making two continents, Europe and Libya, being a remarkable boundary for both.
- 11.1.1διελόντας
Aorist active participle, accusative plural masculine. It agrees with the implied subject of the impersonal verbal adjective ῥητέον, which is understood as the accusative ἡμᾶς representing people in general or the authors.
- 11.1.2μέσην
The adjective μέσος is placed in the predicative position relative to ταύτην τὴν ἤπειρον, meaning 'in its middle' or 'middle part of'.
- 11.1.4ὁρίοις
A predicative dative agreeing with τοῖς ὄρεσιν, which is governed by the verb χρῆσθαι (which takes the dative), forming the meaning 'to use the mountains as boundaries'.