Abstract
The philosophy as a background of the history of geography, especially that of the ancient times, has not been made sufficiently clear. In this article, which is an attempt at tracing the methodological history of geography, I have tried to discover the relationship between Strabo and the Stoic philosophy of the Greco-Roman Age.
Briefly, the Stoic elements in the geography of Strabo are:
(1) his orientation of geography in the system of philosophy: geography→gemoetry→astronomy→physics that is àρειη;
(2) the encyclopaedic character of his geography as related to his practical character;
(3) that this practical character also means ethical practice;
(4) that this practical character may also be found in his ideas of poetry, mythology, and history; especially in his interpretation of Homer from the viewpoint of practice;
(5) that his theory of geographical environment originates in his idea of προνοια;
(6) that his theory of environmental possibilism is influenced by the behaviourism of the middle Stoicism.
(7) his cosmopolitanism that the possession of virtue, and not the difference in race, is the criterion of Barbaroi;
(8) his admiration of the Pax Romana that he regards as tha establishment of Megalopolis.
As these characteristics of Strabo are also related with his methodology of geography, this article will serve as prolegomenon to a full study of Strabo's geography.
