Citation with stable link: Philip A. Harland, 'Assyrians, Babylonians, and surrounding peoples: Strabo on their customs (early first century CE),' Ethnic Relations and Migration in the Ancient World, last modified August 31, 2024, https://philipharland.com/Blog/?p=21438.
Ancient authors: Strabo (early first century CE), Geography 16.1.1-2, 6, 8, 16-18, 20, 24-27 and 16.3.1 (link).
Comments: In this section, Strabo turns to a somewhat vague outline of peoples near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers under the banner of Assyrians or Babylonians. He also deals with some other adjacent peoples, including mountain-dwelling populations that he labels “bandit peoples.” Along the way, he provides some sense of the customs of the Babylonians but seems mainly dependent on Herodotos (link) for the random information provided, including sexual customs and supposed Babylonian sacred prostitution (on which see the comments at this link). Strabo gives considerable attention to Tent-dwelling Arabians (Skenitians) – namely bedouin – who are characterized as less problematic than some other surrounding peoples.
Works consulted: D.W. Roller, A Historical and Topographical Guide to the Geography of Strabo (Cambridge: CUP, 2018).
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[For Strabo’s preceding discussion of Persians, go to this link].
[Country and peoples of Assyria]
(16.1.1) The country of the Assyrians borders on Persis and Sousiana. The name Assyria is given to Babylonia and to much of the country all around, which later on is partly also called Atouria, which encompasses: Ninos [i.e. Ninevah, modern Kuyunjik, Iraq], Apolloniatis, the Elymaians [or: Elamites], the Paraitakians, Chalonitis in the neighbourhood of Zagros mountain, the plains in the neighbourhood of Ninos, Dolomene, Kalachene, Chazene, Adiabene, the peoples (ethnē) of Mesopotamia in the neighbourhood of the Gordyaians, the Mygdonians in the neighbourhood of Nisibis as far as the Zeugma (“Crossing”) of the Euphrates, much of the country on the far side of the Euphrates which is occupied by Arabians, and those people who in a special sense of the term are called “Syrians” by people today, who extend as far as the Cilicians, Phoenicians, and Judeans and the sea that is opposite the Egyptian sea and the gulf of Issos [where Syria met Cilicia in southeastern Turkey].
[White Syrians]
(16.1.2) It seems that the name of the Syrians extended not only from Babylonia to the gulf of Issos, but also in ancient times from this gulf to the Euxine [Black Sea]. Anyways, both types of the Kappadocians, both those near the Taurus mountains and those near the Pontos [Black Sea], have to the present time been called “White Syrians” (Leukosyroi), as though some Syrians were black, these being the Syrians who live beyond the Taurus. When I say “Taurus,” I am extending the name as far as the Amanos [modern Nur] mountains.
[Defining Syrians / Assyrians and Assyrian hegemony]
When those who have written histories of the Syrian empire say that the Medes were overthrown by the Persians and the Syrians by the Medes, they mean by the Syrians no other people than those who built the royal palaces in Babylon and Ninus [i.e. Assyrians]. Of these Syrians, Ninos was the man who founded Ninos [Ninevah] in Atouria. Ninos’ wife Semiramis was the woman who succeeded her husband and founded Babylon. These two gained control over Asia.
Regarding Semiramis, apart from her constructions at Babylon, many others are also to be seen throughout almost the whole of that continent. I mean the mounds called the “Mounds of Semiramis,” walls, the construction of fortifications with aqueducts in them, reservoirs for drinking-water, ladder-like ascents of mountains, channels in rivers and lakes, and roads and bridges. They [Ninos and Semiramis] left to their successors their empire until the time of the empires of Sardanapalos [Ashurbanipal] and Arbakes. But later the empire passed over to the Medes. . . . [omitted geographical descriptions of cities of Ninevah and Babylon].
[Chaldeans and other experts among Babylonians]
(16.1.6) In Babylonia a settlement is set apart for the native pursuers of wisdom (philosophoi), the Chaldeans as they are called. They are mostly concerned with astronomy (astronomia). But some of these, who are not approved of by the others, pretend to be able to determine births (genethliologein). There is also a tribe (phylon) of the Chaldeans and a territory inhabited by them in the neighbourhood of the Arabians and of the Persian sea, as it is called. There are also several descent groups (genē) of the Chaldean astronomers. For example, some are called Orchenians, others Borsippenians, and several others by different names, as though divided into different sects (haireseis) which hold to various different teachings about the same subjects. The mathematicians make mention of some of these men, including Kidenas, Nabourianos, and Soudinos. Seleukos of Seleukeia is also a Chaldean, as are also several other noteworthy men. . . [omitted sections].
[Peoples around Babylonia]
(16.1.8) The country of the Babylonians is surrounded on the east by the Sousians, Elymaians, and Paraitakenians; on the south by the Persian gulf and the Chaldeans as far as the Mesenian Arabians; on the west by the Arabians called Skenitians, as far as Adiabene and Gordyaia; and, on the north by the Armenians and the Medes as far as the Zagros river and the peoples around that river . . . [omitted extensive discussion of the rivers and lakes of the region and products from the region].
[Parthians around Seleukeia and Ktesiphon in Strabo’s time]
(16.1.16) In ancient times Babylon was the metropolis of Assyria. However, now Seleukeia is the metropolis, I mean the Seleukeia on the Tigris, as it is called. Nearby is situated a village called Ktesiphon, a large village. This village the kings of the Parthians were accustomed to make their winter residence, thus sparing the Seleukeians, in order that the Seleukeians might not be oppressed by having the Scythian tribe (phylē) or soldiers living among them. Because of the Parthian power, therefore, Ktesiphon is a city rather than a village. Its size is such that it lodges a great number of people, and it has been equipped with buildings by the Parthians themselves. It has been provided by the Parthians with wares for sale and with the arts that are pleasing to the Parthians because the Parthian kings are accustomed to spend the winter there because of the salubrity of the air. But they spend the summer at Ekbatana and in Hyrkania because of the prevalence of their ancient renown.
[Babylonians as the designation for people from various parts of the region]
Just as we call the country “Babylonia,” so also we call the men from there “Babylonians,” that is, not after the city, but after the country [i.e. the Greek practice of identification by city does not apply]. However, we do not call men after Seleukeia, if they are from there, as for example, Diogenes the Stoic pursuer of wisdom. . . [omitted description of Artemtia city].
[Paraitakenians and Kossaians as “bandit peoples” southeast of Babylonia]
(16.2.17) . . . Now Karmania [roughly modern Kerman, Iran] is encircled on the north by Persis, which is a large country. Bordering on this country are Paraitakene and Kossaia as far as the Caspian Gates, which is inhabited by mountain and bandit peoples (lēstrika ethnē). And bordering on Susis is Elymais, most of which is rugged and inhabited by bandits. Bordering Elymais are Media and the region of the Zagros.
(16.1.18) Now the Kossaians, like the neighbouring mountaineers, are for the most part bowmen, and are always out on foraging expeditions. They have a country that is small and barren, so that they have to live at the expense of others. And they are of necessity a powerful people, for they are all fighters. Anyways, thirteen thousand Kossaians joined the Elymaians in battle when the latter were warring against both the Babylonians and the Sousians.
But the Paraitakenians are more interested in agriculture than the Kossaians. Yet even they themselves do not abstain from banditry. The Elymaians possess a larger and more diverse country than the Paraitakenians. Now all of it that is fertile is inhabited by farmers, whereas the mountainous part of it is a nursery of soldiers, mostly bowmen.
[Failure of powers to control these peoples]
Since the mountainous part is extensive, it can furnish so large a military force that their king, since he possesses great power, refuses to be subject to the king of the Parthians like the other peoples. The Paraitakenian king was likewise disposed towards the Macedonians, who ruled Syria in later times. Now when Antiochos the Great [i.e. III, reigning ca. 223-187 BCE] attempted to rob the temple of Belos [Bel / Marduk], the neighbouring barbarians, all by themselves, attacked and killed him. In later times the king of Parthia [likely Mithridates I, reigning ca. 171-139 BCE], though warned by what had happened to Antiochos – hearing that the temples in that country contained great wealth and seeing that inhabitants were disobedient subjects – made an invasion with a great force, and took both the temple of Athena and that of Artemis, the latter called Azara. He carried off treasures valued at ten thousand talents. Seleukeia near the Hedyphon River, a large city, was also taken. In earlier times Seleukeia was called Soloke. There are three entrances into the country that have been supplied by nature: one from Media and the region of the Zagros through Massabatike; another from Susis through Gabiane (these, both Gabiane and Massabatike, are provinces of Elymaia); and, the third from Persis. Korbiane is also a province of Elymais. And the countries of the Sagapenians and the Silakenians, small domains, border on that of these people. That is the size and nature of the peoples situated above Babylonia towards the east [i.e. southeast of Babylonia]. But, as I have said, Media and Armenia are situated on the north; and Adiabene and Mesopotamia are situated on the west. . . [omitted section].
[Babylonian / Assyrian customs, drawing on Herodotos, Histories 1.193-200]
[Sexual customs]
(16.1.20) Now, in general, Assyrians’ customs are like those of the Persians, but it is a custom peculiar to them to appoint three wise men as rulers of each tribe (phylē), who present in public the marriageable girls, and sell them by auction to the bridegrooms, always selling first those who are the more highly prized. This is how they arrange marriages. Every time they have sexual intercourse with someone else, they arise and go out, each apart from the other, to offer incense. And in the morning they bathe themselves before they touch any vessel. Just as purification is customary after touching a corpse, so also it is customary after sexual intercourse.
[Supposed sacred prostitution among Babylonians]
In accordance with a certain oracle all the Babylonian women have a custom of having intercourse with a foreigner, the women going to a temple of Aphrodite with a great retinue and crowd. Each woman is wreathed with a cord around her head. The man who approaches a woman takes her far away from the sacred precinct, and then has sexual intercourse with her, and the money is considered sacred to Aphrodite.
[Justice and healthcare]
They have three tribunals: that of those who are already freed from military service, that of the most famous, and that of the old men, apart from that appointed by the king. It is the duty of this last to give girls in marriage and to pass judgment in cases of adultery; the duty of another is to pass judgment in cases of theft; and the duty of a third is to pass judgment in cases of assault. They place the sick where three roads meet and question those who pass by, on the chance that someone has a cure for the malady. No one of those who pass by is so base as not to suggest some cure when he falls in with them if he has any in mind.
[Clothing and burial customs]
Their clothing consists of a linen tunic reaching to the feet, an upper garment made of wool, and a white cloak. They wear their hair long, and use a shoe that is like a boot. They wear also a seal, and carry a staff that is not plain but has a design on it, having on top an apple or rose of lily or something like that. They anoint themselves with sesame. They loudly mourn the dead, like the Egyptians and many other peoples. They bury their dead in honey, first smearing them in wax. But three of their sub-groups (phratriai) have no grain. These ones live in marshes and are Ichthyophagians (“Fish-eaters”), living a life similar to that of the inhabitants of Gedrosia. . . [omitted geographical details about Mesopotamia].
[Gordyaians / Kardouchians]
(16.1.24) Near the Tigris lie the places belonging to the Gordyaians, whom the ancients called “Kardouchians.” Their cities are named Sareisa, Satalka and Pinaka, a very powerful fortress, with three citadels, each enclosed by a separate fortification of its own, so that they constitute, as it were, a triple city. But still it not only was held in subjection by the king of the Armenians, but the Romans took it by force, although the Gordyaians had an exceptional reputation as master builders and as experts in the construction of siege engines. For this reason, Tigranes [II, king of Armenia, reigning ca. 95-55 BCE] used them in such work. But also the rest of Mesopotamia became subject to the Romans. Pompey assigned to Tigranes most of the places in this country, I mean all that are worth mentioning. For the country is rich in pasturage, and so rich in plants that it also produces the evergreens and a spice-plant called amomum. It is a feeding-ground for lions. It also produces naphtha and the stone called gangitis, which is avoided by reptiles.
(16.1.25) Gordys, the son of Triptolemus, is said to have taken up his abode in Gordyene, and later also the Eretrians, who were carried off by the Persians. Of Triptolemus, however, I shall soon give a clear account in my description of the Syrians.
[Tent-dwelling / Skenitian Arabians as bandit peoples]
(16.2.26) The parts of Mesopotamia which incline towards the south and are farther from the mountains, which are waterless and barren, are occupied by the Arabian Skenitians (“Tent-dwellers”), a tribe of brigands and shepherds, who readily move from one place to another when pasture and booty fail them. Accordingly, the people who live alongside the mountains are harassed not only by the Skenitians, but also by the Armenians, who are situated above them and, through their power, oppress them. and at last they are subject for the most part to the Armenians or else to the Parthians, for the Parthians are also situated on the sides of the country and possess both Media and Babylonia.
(16.2.27) Between the Euphrates and the Tigris there flows another river, called Basileios. In the neighbourhood of Anthemousia still another river, called Aborras [modern Khabur river]. The road for people travelling from Syria to Seleukeia and Babylon runs through the country and desert of the Skenitians, now called “Malians” by some writers. Such travellers cross the Euphrates near Anthemousia, a place in Mesopotamia. Above the river, at a distance of four large-land-measures (schoinoi), lies Bambyke, which is also called Edessa and Hierapolis, where the Syrian goddess Atargatis is worshipped [on which see Lucian – link]. After they cross the river, the road runs through the desert to Skenai (“Tents”), a noteworthy city situated on a canal towards the borders of Babylonia. The journey from the crossing of the river to Skenai requires twenty-five days. And on that road are camel-drivers who keep halting-places, which sometimes are well supplied with reservoirs, generally cisterns, though sometimes the camel-drivers use waters brought in from other places.
[Character of the Skenitian people]
The Skenitians are peaceful and moderate towards travellers in the exaction of tribute. For this reason, merchants avoid the land along the river and risk a journey through the desert, leaving the river on the right for approximately a three days’ journey. For the chieftains who live along the river on both sides occupy country which, though not rich in resources, is less resourceless than that of others, and are each invested with their own particular domains and exact a tribute of no moderate amount. For it is hard among so many peoples, and that too among peoples that are self-willed, for a common standard of tribute to be set that is advantageous to the merchant. Skenai is eighteen large-land-measures (schoinoi) away from Seleukeia. . . [omitted sections].
[Defining “Syria”]
(16.2.1) Syria is bounded on the north by Cilicia and mount Amanos [Nur mountains]. The distance from the sea to the bridge of the Euphrates (from the gulf of Issos to the bridge at Kommagene), which forms the boundary of that side, is not less than fourteen hundred stadium-lengths. It is bounded on the east by the Euphrates and by the Arabian Skenitians this side the Euphrate; on the south by Arabia the Blessed and Egypt; and, on the west by the Egyptian and Syrian seas as far as Issos [in southeastern Cilicia / Turkey].
(16.2.2) We consider as parts of Syria, beginning at Cilicia and mount Amanos, both Kommagene and the Seleukis of Syria, as the latter is called. Then there is Coele-Syria and finally, on the seaboard, Phoenicia. In the interior, there is Judea. Some writers divide Syria as a whole into Coelo-Syrians, on the one hand, and Syrians and Phoenicians, on the other, and say that four other peoples (ethnē) are mixed up with these, namely, Judeans, Idumeans, Gazaians, and Azotians. These are partly farmers, as in the case of the Syrians and Coelo-Syrians, and partly merchants, as in the case of the Phoenicians. (16.2.3) So much for Syria in general. But in detail there is the following . . . [omitted extensive discussion of Greek cities in Syria].
[More Tent-dwellers / Skenitians near Apameia, and Strabo’s generalizations about Syrians’ supposed superiority to Skenitians and Arabians]
(16.2.11) Bordering on the country of the Apameians, on the east, is the Paropotamia, as it is called, of the Arabian chieftains, and also Chalcidike, which extends down from Massyas, and all the country to the south of the Apameians, which belongs for the most part to Skenitians. These Skenitians are similar to the nomads in Mesopotamia. And it is always the case that the peoples are more civilized in proportion to their proximity to the Syrians, and that the Arabians and Skenitians are less civilized. The former [i.e. Syrians] having governments that are better organised. For example, the governments of Arethousa under Sampsikeramos, that of Gambaros, that of Themellas, and those of other chieftains like them. . . [omitted discussion of Syrian and Phoenician cities and remainder of Syrian section].
[Skenitians and their lifestyle, again]
(16.3.1) Above Judea and Coele-Syria, as far as Babylonia and the river-country of the Euphrates towards the south, lies the whole of Arabia, with the exception of the Skenitians in Mesopotamia. Now I have already spoken of Mesopotamia and the peoples that occupy it. But as for the parts on the far side of the Euphrates, those near its outlets are occupied by Babylonians and the tribe of the Chaldeans, of whom I have already spoken [i.e. in sections above]. Of those parts that follow after Mesopotamia as far as Coele-Syria, the part that lies near the river, as well as Mesopotamia, is occupied by Arabian Skenitians, who are divided off into small sovereignties and live in tracts that are lacking in water. These people till the land either little or not at all, but they keep herds of all kinds, particularly of camels.
Above these people lies an extensive desert. But the parts lying still farther south than their country are held by the people who inhabit Arabia the Blessed, as it is called. The northern side of Arabia the Blessed is formed by the above-mentioned desert, the eastern by the Persian gulf, the western by the Arabian gulf, and the southern by the great sea that lies outside both gulfs, which as a whole is called Erythra [i.e. the Red Sea and Indian Ocean].
[For Strabo’s subsequent discussion of Itureans, go to this link].
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Source of translation: H.L. Jones, Strabo, 8 volumes, LCL (Cambridge, MA: HUP, 1917-28), public domain (passed away in 1932), adapted by Justin Nadeau and Harland.