Between Geography and History

Winner of the Conington Prize 2000 from the University of Oxford

This book explores three authors who wrote about the rise of the Roman Empire: Polybius, Posidonius, and Strabo. It examines the overlap between geography and history in their works, and considers the way in which pre-existing traditions were used but transformed in order to describe the new world of Rome.The late Hellenistic period witnessed the rise of an imperial power whose dominion extended across almost the whole known world. The Roman empire radically affected geographical conceptions, evoking new ways of describing the earth and of constructing its history. In this book the writings of three literary figures of the age are explored: the History of Polybius, two fragmentary works of Posidonius, and the universal Geography of Strabo. Analysis in terms of the philosophical concepts of time and space reveals the generic fluidity of such 'geographical' and 'historical' works. Furthermore, these broadly conceived accounts are shown to be appropriate literary media for the response to Roman power. They use, but transform, pre-existing Greek traditions in order to describe the new world of Rome, making them fitting products of a transitional age. This book provides a new approach to Roman imperialism by considering its impact on historiography and geographical thought.