Description

Strabo and Pausanias. These works complete the major geography works, by offering details for specific areas of the world as it was known back then. Pausanias and Strabo may be the most well-known geographers of the ancient world, but they were by no means the only travelers and explorers who recorded their knowledge in geographical works. KAKTOS Publications are including these lesser-known works in their collection, and some are even being published in Greece for the first time. A small collection of rare value that deserves to adorn the library of any reader who appreciates rare ancient texts.
The collection includes:
Volume 1 – Hanno, Scylax, Heracleides the Cretan, Dionysius of Calliphon, Dionysius of Byzantium: This volume features some of the most interesting geographical works by geographers, such as:

• Hanno the Carthaginian: He traveled beyond the Pillars of Hercules, along the coasts of Western Africa.
• Scylax: He traveled along the coasts of the entire Mediterranean and the Black Sea.
• Ηρακλείδης ο Κριτικός: Περιηγήθηκε στη Στερεά Ελλάδα και τη Θεσσαλία. His work was previously mistakenly attributed to Dicaearchus.
• Dionysius of Calliphon: He recorded in verse the journey through Greece and its islands.
• Dionysius of Byzantium: He provides us with a very detailed description of the Bosporus, partially preserved in Greek and partially in Latin. In this edition, the entire work is rendered/translated into modern Greek, including both the Greek and Latin texts.

Volume 2 – Pytheas of Massalia, Artemidorus of Ephesus. This volume includes what remains of the works of two great geographers of antiquity.

• Pytheas was the first traveler to venture into the polar regions, reaching the legendary Thule (traditionally identified with present-day Iceland).
• For the first time, the ancient text and the modern Greek translation of the so-called Artemidorus Papyrus are being published. This papyrus fragment, discovered in 1998, describes the coasts of the Iberian Peninsula, including its oceanic shores beyond the Pillars of Hercules. The text has sparked intense debate among scholars, with some accepting its authenticity while others believe it to be a forgery from later times.

Volume 3 – Agatharchides of Cnidus: This volume brings together for the first time in a single edition all the surviving fragments of the great geographer and historian of the 2nd century BCE, Agatharchides of Cnidus. It primarily includes excerpts from his work On the Red Sea, where the term “Red Sea” refers to the present-day Indian Ocean, along with its two main gulfs, the Arabian and the Persian. The work is a blend of geography and history, with an approach that is typically philosophical, aiming to interpret the characteristics of the nations in the region in a philosophical manner. All volumes include the original ancient text, its translation into modern Greek, an introduction, and commentary. Maps are also included, showing the locations of the described ancient names, as well as indices of proper names (in some of the volumes).