SOURCE: “Strabo” in A History of Ancient Geography among the Greeks and Romans from the Earliest Ages till the Fall of the Roman Empire, J. Murray, 1883, pp. 209-75.

In the following excerpt, Bunbury surveys and critiques Strabo’s description of Europe, revealing errors and noteworthy oversights as well as pointing out sections which are accurate, detailed, and engaging.

Descriptive Geography.—europe.

… 1. In his third book Strabo commences the particular description of the different countries of Europe, beginning with Spain, to which the whole of this third book is devoted. His description of the Iberian peninsula is marked at once by the chief merits as well as the chief defects that characterize his work in general. We have already seen how imperfect was his idea of its geographical form and position, and how distorted his conception of its appearance on a map. But he was well acquainted with its...