Strabo was born in 63 BC in Amasya, Pontus; he was a geographer and historian. He traveled to many regions of Asia Minor, Egypt, Greece, and Italy.

He wrote a historical work in forty-seven books, which from the fifth book onward continued the History of Polybius up to his time; only a few fragments of this work have survived.

However, his work Geography has survived in seventeen books; it is the most important geographical manual we have from antiquity, with descriptions of countries and peoples, containing information from firsthand observation and indirect sources.