STATUES OF THE GREEK GEOGRAPHER STRABO IN AMASYA, TURKEY

Strabo ( Greek: Στράβων,64 or 63 BCE – c. CE 24) was a Greek geographer, philosopher, and historian who lived in Asia Minor during the transitional period of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus (present-day Turkey) in around 64 BCE.

In antiquity, Amaseia was a fortified city, high on the cliffs above the river. It has a long history as a wealthy provincial capital, producing kings and princes, artists, scientists, poets and thinkers, from the kings of Pontus, through Strabo the geographer, to many generations of the Ottoman imperial dynasty. The tombs of the Pontus kings carved into the cliffs overhead are still visible- and the modern city has honoured Strabo by placing two statues by the banks of the Iris  ( Yesilirmak ) River . 

Strabo is most notable for his work Geographica ("Geography"), which presented a descriptive history of people and places from different regions of the world known to his era. It is an encyclopaedical chronicle and consists of political, economic, social, cultural, geographic description of almost whole Europe: British Isles, Iberian Peninsula, Gaul, Germania, The Alps, Italy, Greece; and Northern Black Sea region, Anatolia, Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa. The Geography is the only extant work providing information about both Greek and Roman peoples and countries during the reign of Augustus.