Why is Strabo's world map of the 1st century BC so accurate?

by CannibalCowboy

I'm quite fascinated by how accurate Strabo's world map was for the time period which was compiled no later than 20BC, it contained many details such as a rough outline of Ireland alongside locations even as far away as Sri Lanka

What I find so fascinating was what this map shows about the Roman / Greek world and how advanced their navigation and technology really was, as it seemingly took more than a thousand years for a world map of such accuracy to that of Strabos' to be completed, as many of the Medieval maps, both European and Islamic are utterly inaccurate.

How then, and what technologies did the Romans use to create such a markedly precise (for the time) map of the known world?

EDIT: I have included an image of the map below

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strabo#/media/File:C%2BB-Geography-Map1-StrabosMap.PNG

terminus-trantor

One important thing to consider first and foremost. As far as I am aware none of the images of maps from Greco-Roman era are actually originals from that time, as none survived. What you usually see are more or less modern reconstructions trying to create the maps based on the verbal descriptions that were preserved through ages through copying and preserving manuscript texts. I think the oldest actual examples of the famous mapmakers are some Ptolemy maps from the middle ages, recreated several centuries after Ptolemy made his original work.

For Strabo the same applies. We don't have his map. We aren't even sure he actually had a map ever drawn, even though we suspect it was so because his text work Geographica (which is actually dated to circa 7.A.D - 20 A.D) is written specifically saying it's intended for experts to draw a map according to it, if possible on a globe, if not a planar surface would suffice.

I suspect the map linked comes from the editions of Strabo from the 19th century (e.g. here), but I might be wrong about exact dating. Not that it matters much, the point is that it is certain that these maps are not copies of the ones Strabo drew, just estimates. So it is possible that they were partly influenced and shaped by more recent conceptions, not applicable for the time.

And the thing is Strabo's descriptions are pretty vague and often widely inaccurate and leave much to the imagination. His description of Western Europe, especially Britain is very much wrong and it can be seen on this map as well. He describes Britain as a triangle, with it's the longest side facing France and extending all the way from the Pyrenees to the Rhine. He mentions Ireland but places it incorrectly and it's obvious he only knows it from hearsay. The same applies to the eastern parts where e.g. he quotes Eratosthenes to mention Taprobana (Sri Lanka) but places it again incorrectly. Sure this is better than the T-O maps of medieval times, but frankly, those maps never intended to be accurate while Strabo did. In fact, the portolan charts that appeared from 14th-century onward were much more accurate then Strabo's attempt. Modern analysis of his work show deep mistakes, often conflicting amongst each other and not just reality.

Yet despite the mistakes, Strabo's work is magnificent in its breadth and content. He compiled his work from his own voyages, from travel accounts of merchants of his time (of which he laments were often inaccurate) and finally drawing on the most famous geographers up to his time: Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, Polybius, Posidonious, and mentions Pytheas and Cratus. Even though unlike Ptolemy, he didn't really use latitude and longitude observations of Eratosthenes and Hipparchus, he did utilize large swaths of their information provided. He did offer plenty of other geographical information and offer considerable insight into what was the up to that point idea of how the world looks like.

Sources:

The History of Cartography, Volume 1, Cartography in Prehistoric, Ancient, and Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean, Chapter 10: Greek Cartography in the Early Roman World (PDF)

A history of ancient geography among the Greeks and Romans, from the earliest ages till the fall of the Roman Empire by Bunbury, E. H. (Edward Herbert), 1811-1895

The Geography of Strabo published in Vol. VII of the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1932