Troad, coastal area of Asia Minor. Strabo was born in 63 B.C. in Amasya in Pontus; he was a geographer and historian. He traveled through many regions of Asia Minor, Egypt, Greece, and Italy. He wrote a historical work in forty-seven books, which continued the History of Polybius from the fifth book onward to his own days; from this, only a few fragments survive.

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