View source for Strabo

==Early life==
[[File:Strabon Rerum geographicarum 1620.jpg|thumb|upright=1.05|Title page from [[Isaac Casaubon]]'s 1620 edition of ''[[Geographica]]'']]

Strabo was born to an affluent family from [[Amasya|Amaseia]] in [[Kingdom of Pontus|Pontus]] in around 64{{nbsp}}BC.<ref name="Purcell2014">{{cite book|last=Purcell|first=Nicholas|editor1-first=Simon |editor1-last=Hornblower|editor2-first=Antony |editor2-last=Spawforth|editor3-first= Esther |editor3-last=Eidinow|title=The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AIgdBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA757|year=2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-870677-9|page=757|chapter=Strabo|chapter-url = http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198706779.001.0001/acref-9780198706779-e-602}}</ref> His family had been involved in politics since at least the reign of [[Mithridates IV of Pontus|Mithridates V]].<ref name="BianchettiCataudella2015">{{cite book|last1=Bianchetti|first1=Serena |last2=Cataudella|first2=Michele |last3=Gehrke|first3=Hans-Joachim |title=Brill's Companion to Ancient Geography: The Inhabited World in Greek and Roman Tradition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=to8DCwAAQBAJ|date=4 December 2015|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden|isbn=978-90-04-28471-5}}</ref> Strabo was related to [[Dorylaeus]] on his mother's side. Several other family members, including his paternal grandfather, had served [[Mithridates VI of Pontus|Mithridates&nbsp;VI]] during the [[Mithridatic Wars]]. As the war drew to a close, Strabo's grandfather had turned several [[Kingdom of Pontus|Pontic]] fortresses over to the Romans.<ref name="Mayor2011">{{cite book|first=Adrienne|last=Mayor|title=The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dKnFZa4LNjQC&pg=PR9|date=March 2011|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-15026-0|pages=9–}}</ref> Strabo wrote that "great promises were made in exchange for these services", and, as [[Persian Empire|Persian]] culture endured in Amaseia even after Mithridates and [[Tigranes the Great#Wars against Rome|Tigranes]] were defeated, scholars have speculated about how the family's support for Rome might have affected their position in the local community and whether they might have been granted [[Roman citizenship]] as a reward.<ref name="BianchettiCataudella2015"/>