Boundaries of Arabia and Shape of the Persian Gulf — Strabo, Geography Book 16 (16.3.1–16.3.2), Greek & English

§16.3.1

ὑπέρκειται¹ δὲ τῆς Ἰουδαίας καὶ τῆς κοίλης Συρίας μέχρι Βαβυλωνίας καὶ τῆς τοῦ Εὐφράτου ποταμίας πρὸς νότον Ἀραβία πᾶσα χωρὶς τῶν ἐν τῇ Μεσοποταμίᾳ σκηνιτῶν. περὶ μὲν οὖν τῆς Μεσοποταμίας καὶ τῶν νεμομένων αὐτὴν ἐθνῶν εἴρηται· τὰ δὲ πέραν τοῦ Εὐφράτου τὰ μὲν πρὸς ταῖς ἐκβολαῖς αὐτοῦ νέμονται Βαβυλώνιοι καὶ τὸ τῶν Χαλδαίων ἔθνος (εἴρηται δὲ περὶ τούτων), τὰ δʼ ἑξῆς τῆς Μεσοποταμίας μέχρι κοίλης Συρίας, τὸ μὲν πλησιάζον τῷ ποταμῷ * καὶ τὴν Μεσοποταμίαν σκηνῖται κατέχουσιν Ἄραβες, δυναστείας ἀποτετμημένοι μικρὰς ἐν λυπροῖς χωρίοις διὰ τὰς ἀνυδρίας, γεωργοῦντες μὲν ἢ οὐδὲν ἢ μικρά, νομὰς δὲ ἔχοντες παντοδαπῶν θρεμμάτων καὶ μάλιστα καμήλων· ὑπὲρ δὲ τούτων ἔρημός ἐστι πολλή· τὰ δὲ τούτων ἔτι νοτιώτερα ἔχουσιν οἱ τὴν εὐδαίμονα καλουμένην Ἀραβίαν οἰκοῦντες. ταύτης δὲ τὸ μὲν προσάρκτιον πλευρὸν ἡ λεχθεῖσά ἐστιν ἔρημος, τὸ δʼ ἑῷον ὁ Περσικὸς κόλπος, τὸ δὲ ἑσπέριον ὁ Ἀράβιος, τὸ δὲ νότιον ἡ μεγάλη θάλαττα ἡ ἔξω τῶν κόλπων ἀμφοῖν, ἣν ἅπασαν Ἐρυθρὰν καλοῦσιν.

All Arabia, except for the tent-dwellers in Mesopotamia, lies situated beyond Judaea and Coele-Syria as far as Babylonia and the river-land of the Euphrates, extending to the south. Now, concerning Mesopotamia and the tribes that inhabit it, it has been discussed; as for the regions beyond the Euphrates, on the one hand, those near its outlets are inhabited by the Babylonians and the tribe of Chaldaeans (and we have spoken about these), and on the other hand, the regions next to Mesopotamia as far as Coele-Syria—the part near the river * and Mesopotamia—are occupied by the tent-dwelling Arabs, who have carved out small principalities in wretched places on account of the lack of water, practicing either no agriculture or only little, but having pastures of all kinds of herds, especially of camels. And above these is a great desert; and the regions still more southerly than these are held by those who inhabit the so-called Arabia Felix. Of this country, the northern side is the desert mentioned before, the eastern side is the Persian Gulf, the western side is the Arabian Gulf, and the southern side is the great sea outside both gulfs, all of which they call the Erythraean Sea.

§16.3.2

ὁ μὲν οὖν Περσικὸς κόλπος λέγεται καὶ ἡ κατὰ Πέρσας θάλαττα. φησὶ δὲ περὶ αὐτῆς Ἐρατοσθένης οὕτως, ὅτι τὸ μὲν στόμα φησὶν εἶναι² στενὸν οὕτως ὥστʼ ἐξ Ἁρμόζοντος, τῆς Καρμανίας ἀκρωτηρίου, τῆς Ἀραβίας ἀφορᾶται τὸ ἐν Μάκαις· ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ στόματος ἡ ἐν δεξιᾷ παραλία περιφερὴς οὖσα κατʼ ἀρχὰς μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς Καρμανίας πρὸς ἕω μικρόν, εἶτα πρὸς ἄρκτον νεύει, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα πρὸς τὴν ἑσπέραν μέχρι Τερηδόνος καὶ τῆς ἐκβολῆς τοῦ Εὐφράτου· περιέχει δὲ τήν τε Καρμανίων παραλίαν καὶ τὴν Περσῶν καὶ Σουσίων καὶ Βαβυλωνίων ἀπὸ μέρους, ὅσον μυρίων οὖσα σταδίων· περὶ ὧν καὶ ἡμεῖς εἰρήκαμεν· τὸ δʼ ἐντεῦθεν ἑξῆς ἐπὶ τὸ στόμα πάλιν ἄλλοι τοσοῦτοι, καθάπερ καὶ Ἀνδροσθένη λέγειν φησὶ τὸν Θάσιον, τὸν καὶ Νεάρχῳ συμπλεύσαντα … καθʼ αὑτόν· ὥστε δῆλον ἐκ τούτων εἶναι διότι μικρὸν ἀπολείπεται τῷ μεγέθει τῆς κατὰ τὸν Εὔξεινον θαλάττης αὕτη ἡ θάλαττα· λέγειν δέ φησιν ἐκεῖνον περιπεπλευκότα στόλῳ τὸν κόλπον, ὅτι ἀπὸ Τερηδόνος ἑξῆς ἐν δεξιᾷ ἔχοντι τὴν ἤπειρον³ ὁ παράπλους ἔχει προκειμένην νῆσον Ἴκαρον, καὶ ἱερὸν Ἀπόλλωνος ἅγιον ἐν αὐτῇ καὶ μαντεῖον Ταυροπόλου.

Now, the Persian Gulf is also called the Sea of the Persians. Eratosthenes says about it thus: he says that the mouth is so narrow that from Harmozon, the promontory of Carmania, the promontory of Arabia at Macae can be seen across. And from the mouth, the coastline on the right, being curved, at first inclines a little to the east from Carmania, then to the north, and after this to the west as far as Teredon and the outlet of the Euphrates. And it encompasses the coast of the Carmanians, and that of the Persians, the Susians, and in part that of the Babylonians, being about ten thousand stadia in length; about which we also have spoken. And from there, the next part leading back to the mouth is another ten thousand stadia, just as he says Androsthenes of Thasos also states—the man who sailed with Nearchus on his own account. So that from these things it is clear that this sea falls only a little short of the size of the Euxine Sea. And he says that that man, having sailed around the gulf with a fleet, says that, as one sails from Teredon onwards, keeping the mainland on the right, the coastal voyage has lying off it the island of Icarus, and upon it a holy temple of Apollo and an oracle of Tauropolos.

Syntax notes3 items

16.3.1ὑπέρκειται
The verb ὑπέρκειται governs the genitive (τῆς Ἰουδαίας...) and means "lies situated above" or "lies situated beyond." In geographical contexts in Strabo, it often indicates land situated further inland or to the south relative to the coastal regions. Here, combined with πρὸς νότον ("to the south"), it describes the relative position of all Arabia stretching south of Judaea and Coele-Syria.
16.3.2ὅτι τὸ μὲν στόμα φησὶν εἶναι
A syntactic redundancy occurs where the declarative conjunction ὅτι is immediately followed by another verb of saying in the indicative (φησίν), which in turn governs the infinitive εἶναι. This double expression of indirect speech arises from Strabo summarizing and quoting Eratosthenes' original account, repeating the attribution.
16.3.2ἐν δεξιᾷ ἔχοντι τὴν ἤπειρον
The present participle ἔχοντι is in the masculine dative singular without an explicit referent. This is a "dative of relation" (or dative of reference) commonly found in periplus literature, indicating the hypothetical navigator (or the reader) from whose perspective the geographical orientation is given ("to one keeping the mainland on the right").

Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25) · Revision history (2, latest 2026-09-23)

2026-09-23 OCR errors repaired — source 2

urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0099.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:16.3.1-16.3.2