- 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-grc2:7.1.1-7.1.2
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-25
Strabo begins his description of the remaining eastern parts of Europe, defining the course and boundary function of the River Ister, and explains the close physical and cultural similarity of the Germans to the Celts, as well as the etymology of their name.
εἰρηκόσι δʼ ἡμῖν περὶ τῆς Ἰβηρίας καὶ τῶν Κελτικῶν ἐθνῶν καὶ τῶν Ἰταλικῶν σὺν ταῖς πλησίον νήσοις ἐφεξῆς ἂν εἴη λέγειν1 τὰ λειπόμενα τῆς Εὐρώπης μέρη, διελοῦσι τὸν ἐνδεχόμενον τρόπον. λείπεται δὲ τὰ πρὸς ἕω μὲν τὰ πέραν τοῦ Ῥήνου μέχρι τοῦ Τανάιδος καὶ τοῦ στόματος τῆς Μαιώτιδος λίμνης, καὶ ὅσα μεταξὺ τοῦ Ἀδρίου καὶ τῶν ἀριστερῶν τῆς Ποντικῆς θαλάττης μερῶν ἀπολαμβάνει πρὸς νότον μέχρι τῆς Ἑλλάδος καὶ τῆς Προποντίδος ὁ Ἴστρος·2 διαιρεῖ γὰρ οὗτος ἅπασαν ὡς ἐγγυτάτω δίχα τὴν λεχθεῖσαν γῆν, μέγιστος τῶν κατὰ τὴν Εὐρώπην ποταμῶν, ῥέων πρὸς νότον κατʼ ἀρχάς, εἶτʼ ἐπιστρέφων εὐθὺς ἀπὸ τῆς δύσεως ἐπὶ τὴν ἀνατολὴν καὶ τὸν Πόντον. ἄρχεται μὲν οὖν ἀπὸ τῶν Γερμανικῶν ἄκρων τῶν ἑσπερίων, πλησίον δὲ καὶ τοῦ μυχοῦ τοῦ Ἀδριατικοῦ, διέχων αὐτοῦ περὶ χιλίους σταδίους· τελευτᾷ δʼ εἰς τὸν Πόντον οὐ πολὺ ἄπωθεν τῶν τοῦ Τύρα καὶ τοῦ Βορυσθένους ἐκβολῶν, ἐκκλίνων πως πρὸς ἄρκτους. προσάρκτια μὲν οὖν ἐστι τῷ Ἴστρῳ τὰ πέραν τοῦ Ῥήνου καὶ τῆς Κελτικῆς· ταῦτα δʼ ἐστὶ τά τε Γαλατικὰ ἔθνη καὶ τὰ Γερμανικὰ μέχρι Βασταρνῶν καὶ Τυρεγετῶν καὶ τοῦ ποταμοῦ τοῦ Βορυσθένους, καὶ ὅσα μεταξὺ τούτου καὶ Τανάιδος καὶ τοῦ στόματος τῆς Μαιώτιδος εἴς τε τὴν μεσόγαιαν ἀνατείνει μέχρι τοῦ ὠκεανοῦ καὶ τῇ Ποντικῇ κλύζεται θαλάττῃ· μεσημβρινὰ δὲ τά τε Ἰλλυρικὰ καὶ τὰ Θρᾴκια καὶ ὅσα τούτοις ἀναμέμικται τῶν Κελτικῶν ἤ τινων ἄλλων, μέχρι τῆς Ἑλλάδος. λέγωμεν δὲ πρῶτον περὶ τῶν ἐκτὸς τοῦ Ἴστρου· πολὺ γὰρ ἁπλούστερα τῶν ἐπὶ θάτερα μερῶν ἐστιν.
Now that we have spoken of Iberia, the Celtic tribes, and the Italian tribes along with the adjacent islands, it would be next in order to speak of the remaining parts of Europe, dividing them in the possible manner. There remain, on the east, the regions beyond the Rhine as far as the Tanais and the mouth of Lake Maeotis, and all those regions which, between the Adriatic and the left parts of the Pontic Sea, the Ister encloses toward the south as far as Greece and the Propontis; for this river divides almost exactly in two the whole of the said land, being the greatest of the rivers of Europe, flowing at first toward the south, and then turning immediately from the west to the east and the Pontus. It begins, then, from the western Germanic heights, and close also to the recess of the Adriatic, being distant from it about a thousand stadia; and it ends in the Pontus not far from the outlets of the Tyras and the Borysthenes, bending in a way toward the north. Now, the regions north of the Ister are those beyond the Rhine and the Celtic land; these are both the Galatian and the Germanic tribes as far as the Bastarnae and the Tyregetae and the river Borysthenes, and all the regions between this and the Tanais and the mouth of Maeotis which extend inland as far as the ocean and are washed by the Pontic Sea; and the southern regions are the Illyrian and Thracian tribes, and all those of Celtic or some other origin mixed with them, as far as Greece. Let us speak first of the regions outside the Ister; for they are much simpler than those on the other side.
εὐθὺς τοίνυν τὰ πέραν τοῦ Ῥήνου μετὰ τοὺς Κελτοὺς πρὸς τὴν ἕω κεκλιμένα Γερμανοὶ νέμονται, μικρὸν ἐξαλλάττοντες τοῦ Κελτικοῦ φύλου τῷ τε πλεονασμῷ τῆς ἀγριότητος καὶ τοῦ μεγέθους καὶ τῆς ξανθότητος, τἆλλα δὲ παραπλήσιοι καὶ μορφαῖς καὶ ἤθεσι καὶ βίοις ὄντες, οἵους εἰρήκαμεν τοὺς Κελτούς. διὸ δὴ καί μοι δοκοῦσι Ῥωμαῖοι τοῦτο αὐτοῖς θέσθαι τοὔνομα ὡς ἂν γνησίους Γαλάτας φράζειν βουλόμενοι· γνήσιοι γὰρ οἱ Γερμανοὶ κατὰ τὴν Ῥωμαίων διάλεκτον.3
At once, then, the regions beyond the Rhine, lying after the Celts and inclined toward the east, are inhabited by the Germans, who differ only slightly from the Celtic race in their excess of wildness, stature, and blondness, but in other respects are very similar in form, customs, and ways of life to the Celts as we have described them. For this reason, indeed, it seems to me that the Romans gave them this name, wishing to indicate that they were genuine Galatians; for “germani” means genuine in the language of the Romans.
- 7.1.1εἰρηκόσι δʼ ἡμῖν ... ἐφεξῆς ἂν εἴη λέγειν
The dative participle phrase εἰρηκόσι ... ἡμῖν agrees with the implicit subject of the infinitive λέγειν, which depends on the impersonal expression ἂν εἴη. It indicates the transition to the next topic by the author ("we") after having completed the previous descriptions.
- 7.1.1ὅσα ... ἀπολαμβάνει πρὸς νότον μέχρι τῆς Ἑλλάδος καὶ τῆς Προποντίδος ὁ Ἴστρος
The subject of this relative clause is the postposed ὁ Ἴστρος, and the object of the verb ἀπολαμβάνει (to cut off, enclose) is the relative pronoun ὅσα. Due to the inverted word order, one must carefully identify that the River Ister is the agent that "encloses" or "demarcates" these regions toward the south as far as Greece and the Propontis.
- 7.1.2γνήσιοι γὰρ οἱ Γερμανοὶ κατὰ τὴν Ῥωμαίων διάλεκτον
Here, Γερμανοί refers to the Latin adjective germanus (genuine, brotherly). Strabo presents a well-known ancient folk etymology, suggesting that the Romans named this people "Germani" to indicate that they were "genuine" Galatians (Gauls).