The Geography of Strabo, Volume 1 (of 3): Literally Translated, with NotesStrabo
History
The Geography of Strabo, Volume 1 (of 3): Literally Translated, with Notes
Strabo
Geography -- Early works to 1800
1. Next in order [after Iberia] comes Keltica beyond the Alps,[1303] the
configuration and size of which has been already mentioned in a general
manner; we are now to describe it more particularly. Some divide it into
the three nations of the Aquitani, Belgæ, and Keltæ.[1304] Of these the
Aquitani differ completely from the other nations, not only in their
language but in their figure, which resembles more that of the Iberians
than the Galatæ. The others are Galatæ in countenance, although they do
not all speak the same language, but some make a slight difference in
their speech; neither is their polity and mode of life exactly the same.
These writers give the name of Aquitani and Keltæ to the dwellers near
the Pyrenees, which are bounded by the Cevennes. For it has been stated
that this Keltica is bounded on the west by the mountains of the
Pyrenees, which extend to either sea, both the Mediterranean and the
ocean; on the east by the Rhine, which is parallel to the Pyrenees; on
the north by the ocean, from the northern extremities of the Pyrenees to
the mouths of the Rhine; on the south by the sea of Marseilles, and
Narbonne, and by the Alps from Liguria to the sources of the Rhine. The
Cevennes lie at right angles to the Pyrenees, and traverse the plains
for about 2000 stadia, terminating in the middle near Lugdunum.[1305]
They call those people Aquitani who inhabit the northern portions of the
Pyrenees, and the Cevennes extending as far as the ocean, and bounded by
the river Garonne; and Keltæ, those who dwell on the other side of the
Garonne, towards the sea of Marseilles and Narbonne, and touching a
portion of the Alpine chain. This is the division adopted by divus Cæsar
in his Commentaries.[1306] But Augustus Cæsar, when dividing the country
into four parts, united the Keltæ to the Narbonnaise; the Aquitani he
preserved the same as Julius Cæsar, but added thereto fourteen other
nations of those who dwelt between the Garonne and the river
Loire,[1307] and dividing the rest into two parts, the one extending to
the upper districts of the Rhine he made dependent upon Lugdunum, the
other [he assigned] [CAS. 177] to the Belgæ. However, it is the duty of
the Geographer to describe the physical divisions of each country, and
those which result from diversity of nations, when they seem worthy of
notice; as to the limits which princes, induced by a policy which
circumstances dictate, have variously imposed, it will be sufficient for
him to notice them summarily, leaving others to furnish particular
details.
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