Strabo (; 64/63 BC – ca. AD 24) was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.

Life

Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus (modern Amasya, Turkey), a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea. Pontus had recently fallen to the Roman Empire, and although politically he was a proponent of Roman imperialism, Strabo belonged on his mother's side to a prominent family whose members had held important positions under the resisting regime of King Mithridates VI of Pontus.

Strabo's life was characterized by extensive travels. He journeyed to Egypt and Kush, as far west as coastal Tuscany and as far south as Ethiopia in addition to his travels in Asia Minor and time spent in Rome. Travel throughout the Mediterranean and Near East, especially for scholarly purposes, was popular during this era, and was facilitated by the relative peace enjoyed throughout the reign of Augustus (27 BC - AD 14). He moved to Rome in 44 BC, and stayed there, studying and writing, until at least 31 BC. In 29 BC, on his way to Corinth (where Augustus was at the time), he visited the island of Gyaros in the Aegean Sea for several years. Around 25 BC, he sailed up the Nile until reaching Philae, after which point there is little record of his proceedings until 17 AD, when he returned to Rome to finish compiling a final draft of his ''Geography'' during his final years.

It is not known precisely when Strabo's ''Geography'' was written, though comments within the work itself place the finished version within the reign of Emperor Tiberius. Some place its first drafts around 7 AD, others around 18 AD. Last dateable mention is given to the death in 23 AD of Juba II, king of Maurousia (Mauretania), who is said to have died "just recently". On the presumption that "recently" means within a year, Strabo stopped writing that year or the next (24 AD), when he died.

The first of Strabo's major works, ''Historical Sketches'' (''Historica hypomnemata''), written while he was in Rome (ca. 20 BC), is nearly completely lost. Meant to cover the history of the known world from the conquest of Greece by the Romans, Strabo quotes it himself and other classical authors mention that it existed, although the only surviving document is a fragment of papyrus now in possession of the University of Milan (renumbered [Papyrus] 46). Several different dates have been proposed for Strabo's death, but most of them conclude that he died shortly after 23 AD.

Education

Strabo studied under several prominent teachers of various specialties throughout his early life, at different stops along his mediterranean travels. His first chapter of education took place in Nysa (modern Sultanhisar, Turkey), under the master of rhetoric Aristodemus, who had formerly taught the sons of the very same Roman general who had taken over Pontus. Aristodemus was the head of two schools of rhetoric and grammar, one in Nysa and one in Rhodes, the former of the two cities possessing a distinct intellectual curiosity of Homeric literature and the interpretation of epics. Strabo was an admirer of Homer's poetry, perhaps a consequence of his time spent in Nysa with Aristodemus.

Around the age of 20 Strabo then first moved to Rome, where he studied philosophy with the Peripatetic Xenarchus, a highly respected tutor in Augustus' court. Despite Xenarchus' Aristotelian leanings, Strabo later gives evidence to have formed his own Stoic inclinations. In Rome he also learned grammar under the rich and famous scholar Tyrannion of Amisus. Although Tyrannion was also a Peripatetic, he was more relevantly a respected authority on geography, a fact obviously significant considering Strabo's future contributions to the field. The final noteworthy mentor to Strabo is Athenodorus Cananites, a philosopher who had spent his life since 44 BC in Rome forging relationships with the Roman elite. Athenodorus endowed to Strabo three important items: his philosophy, his knowledge, and his contacts. Unlike the Aristotelian Xenarchus and Tyrannion that preceded him in teaching Strabo, Athenodorus was Stoic in mindset, almost certainly the source of Strabo's diversion from the philosophy of his former mentors. Secondly, from his own experiences he provided Strabo with information of regions of the empire that would eventually be incorporated in his ''Geography'', specifically the cities of Tarsus, further south on Asia Minor than Strabo's Pontus, and Petra, just north of the Red Sea. Finally, Athenodorus' noteworthy relationship with individuals of influence, including Cicero and the Roman Emperor, undoubtedly aided Strabo's integration into Roman high society.

In general Strabo was very reverent of the academic process and valued his own education as integral for his various works. He is even quoted in expressing a responsibility that he felt to refer 'legends that have been taught us from boyhood' in his writings. Strabo supported the notion of a broad and multifarious education, consistent with the Greek and Roman approach to education characteristic of the Hellenistic era, that recommended an encyclopedic acquisition of knowledge as a means of attaining learned status in any of the primary realms of study. Given the multitude of respected intellectual mentors with which he was provided study, Strabo accumulated a substantial knowledge of terrestrial and celestial sciences, in addition to a worldly knowledge as developed from frequent interaction with eclectic but like-minded scholars. From this foundation he was thus prepared to contribute to the environment of popular knowledge, especially geographical knowledge, such as he did.

The ''Geography''

Strabo is mostly famous for his 17-volume work ''Geographica'', which presented a descriptive history of people and places from different regions of the world known to his era.

Although the ''Geographica'' was rarely utilized in its contemporary antiquity, a multitude of copies are found throughout the Byzantine Empire. For all his excellence, Strabo unfortunately is not completely free from mistakes, e.g. Cassiterides is out of this. It first appeared in Western Europe in Rome as a Latin translation issued around 1469. The first Greek edition was published in 1516 in Venice. Isaac Casaubon, classical scholar and editor of Greek texts, provided the first critical edition in 1587.

Although Strabo cited the antique Greek astronomers Eratosthenes and Hipparchus, acknowledging their astronomical and mathematical efforts towards geography, he claimed that a descriptive approach was more practical, such that his works were designed for statesmen who were more anthropologically than numerically concerned with the character of countries and regions.

As such, ''Geographica'' provides a valuable source of information on the ancient world, especially when this information is corroborated by other sources.

Within the books of ''Geographica'' is a map of Europe (''see image at right'').

Strabo is pro-Roman politically but culturally reserves primacy to Greece.

Notes

References

"Strabo." Encyclopædia Britannica. 15th ed. 1998. 296-97. Print.

''Strabonis Geographica. Recens. G. Kramer. Ed. minor'', with Latin annotations at Google Books

"Biography of Strabo", Tufts, webpage: Bio-Strabo.

Secondary Readings

Dueck, Daniela. ''Strabo of Amasia Greek Man of Letters in Augustan Rome''. New York: Routledge, 2000. Print.

Dueck, D., H. Lindsay, and S. Pothecary, eds. ''Strabo's Cultural Geography: The Making of a Kolossourgia''. Cambridge University Press, 2005. Print.

Lindberg, David C. ''The Beginnings of Western Science The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, Prehistory A.D. 1450, Second Edition''. New York: University Of Chicago, 2008. Print.

External links

Electronic copy of the ''Geography''

Biography of Strabo

Category:Ancient Greek geographers Category:Roman era geographers Category:Roman era Greek historians Category:1st-century BC historians Category:Roman-era Greeks Category:Ancient Pontic Greeks Category:People from Amasya Category:Roman Pontus Category:Historians from Roman Anatolia Category:60s BC births Category:24 deaths

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Angelo Debarre (born in Saint-Denis on August 19, 1962) is a Romani (Gypsy) guitarist in the manouche jazz style.

He began playing at age 8 and in 1984 started his first group, the Angelo Debarre Quintet. In 1985 they were engaged by Serge Camps at his Parisian café La Roue Fleurie, where Angelo was discovered.

Debarre has performed in several significant Romani and jazz festivals, particularly Birdland's "Django festival." He also recorded ''Mémoires: Memories of Django'' with Tchavolo Schmitt.

Discography

''Gypsy Guitars'' (1988) Hot Club Records/Jon Larsen

''La Roue Fleurie'' (1991) Hot Club Records/Jon Larsen

''Caprice'' (1998) Hot Club Records/Jon Larsen

''Romano Baschepen'' (1999) Al Sur/NordSud

''Portrait of Angelo Debarre'' (2002) Hot Club Records/Jon Larsen

''Come Into My Swing'' (2003) with Ludovic Beier, Le Chant Du Monde

''Angelo Is Back In Town'' (2004) Hot Club Records/Jon Larsen

''Entre Amis'' (2005) with Ludovic Beier, Le Chant Du Monde

''Paroles de Swing'' (2008) with Ludovic Beier, Le Chant Du Monde

''Trio tout à cordes'' (2008) Le Chant Du Monde

''Live in Le Quecumbar'' (2010) with the Angelo Debarre Quartet, Fremeaux & Assoc.

''Gypsy Unity'' (2010) Le Chant Du Monde

References

External links

Official site of Angelo Debarre (English version)

Category:Romani people Category:Romani musicians Category:Romani guitarists Category:Gypsy jazz guitarists Category:1962 births Category:Living people

cs:Angelo Debarre de:Angelo Debarre fr:Angelo Debarre it:Angelo Debarre no:Angelo Debarre ru:Дебарр, Анжело

Name	John Reed
Birth date	February 07, 1969
Birth place	TriBeCa, New York City
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Columbia University
Occupation	novelist
Website	''http://www.johnreed.tv''

John Reed (born February 7, 1969) is an American novelist. He is the author of four novels: ''A Still Small Voice'' (2000), ''Snowball's Chance'' (2002) with a preface by Alexander Cockburn, ''The Whole'' (2005), and ''All the World's a Grave: A New Play by William Shakespeare'' (2008). His fifth book, ''Tales of Woe'' (2010), is a collection of twenty-five stories, chronicling true stories of abject misery.

Biography

Born in 1969 in New York City, Reed is the son of artist David Reed and Judy Rifka. He attended Hampshire College, and received a Masters in Fine Art in Creative Writing from Columbia University. He teaches at The New School.

Reed was an early contributor to, and subsequently an editor with, ''Open City'', a New York literary journal published by Robert Bingham, who later founded the book series.

Works

thumb|left|Reed in Brooklyn reading from his non-fiction ''Tales of Woe'', at the [[MTV|MTV Press/Brooklyn Rail launch party.]]He is affiliated with the ''New York Press'' and ''The Brooklyn Rail''. "Americans are extremely sophisticated in terms of narrative forms," said Reed in an interview. "We see it in commercials, we see it on TV, we see it in movies. But the narrative forms we're talking about are three acts, five acts, depending on how you want to look at it. They're all based on a Christian model of sin, suffering, redemption; which is not a large model."

A Still Small Voice

''A Still Small Voice'' (Delacorte 2000, Delta 2001), Reed’s first novel, is a historical novel based on the life of a girl growing up in Kentucky from 1850-1870.

Snowball's Chance

''Snowball's Chance'' (Roof Books 2002/2003), Reed’s second novel was a controversial send-up of George Orwell’s ''Animal Farm'', and ended in a cataclysmic attack on the “Twin Mills” (reminiscent of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center). It became a bestseller in the field of books by independent literary publishers.

The Whole, or, Duh Whole

''The Whole'', Reed’s third novel, parodied MTV and was released in 2005 by MTV Books (Simon & Schuster). The novel described a gigantic hole that appears in the middle of the country, which engulfs four states.

All the World's a Grave

Reed, in a new work, returns to the overhaul of canonical English writers in ''All the World's a Grave'', fall 2008, Penguin Books. The work, subtitled "''A New Play by William Shakespeare''", is a tragedy in five acts, a "mash-up" constructed of lines drawn from five Shakespeare tragedies and one Shakespeare history; Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, Othello, Romeo & Juliet and Henry V. In the "literary trick" (as described by Page Six of The New York Post) Shakespeare's lines are rearranged into a wholly new story, in which Prince Hamlet of Denmark goes to war to claim his bride and the daughter of King Lear, Juliet. Upon a triumphant return home, Hamlet discovers that his mother has murdered his father, and married Macbeth. Visited by his father's ghost, and goaded by the opportunistic Lieutenant Iago, Hamlet is driven mad by the erroneous belief that Juliet is having an affair with General Romeo.

References

External links

John Reed's website

All the World's a Grave'', book website.

Kill the beavers!, ''The Daily Telegraph'', November 22, 2002.

John Reed: Saint George and the Damn Truth, ''Moby Lives'', Nove,ber 10, 2003.

John Reed: The Whole, an excerpt, ''Brooklyn Rail'', January 2005.

Dinitia Smith: A Pig Returns to the Farm, Thumbing His Snout at Orwell, ''The New York Times'', November 25, 2002.

Cathy Young: Blaming the Victim, ''Reason.com'', December 3, 2002.

Andrea Scrima: Review of Tales of Woe, Rumpus, November 16, 2010.

Interview with Arthur Phillips on rewriting Shakespeare

Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:American novelists Category:American humorists Category:Writers from New York Category:Hampshire College alumni Category:Columbia University alumni Category:George Orwell Category:The New School faculty

name	Frank Collison
birth date	February 14, 1950
birth place	Evanston, Illinois
spouse	Laura Gardner }}

Frank Collison (born February 14, 1950) is an American actor known to television audiences as the hapless telegrapher Horace Bing in the series ''Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman''.

Early life

Collison was born in Evanston, Illinois, the son of Peg, a publicist, director, and English teacher, and John Collison, a speech therapist, actor, and writer. Collison played his first role as a six month old mascot at The Tent Theatre in Granville, Ohio. His mother directed him in a number of plays as a youth in Virginia and Ohio. When he was a young boy, Frank assisted his father touring with his one-man Abraham Lincoln show. His father was chosen to play Lincoln for the centennial celebration of Lincoln's first inauguration in Washington, DC; Frank played the young Tad Lincoln.

Career

Stage

Collison trained at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, earning a BA in theatre from the San Francisco State University. He then helped to establish a summer theatre company in the Sierra Nevadas, and went on to gain an MFA in acting at University of California, San Diego. Between acting jobs he has worked as a substitute teacher, diaper service dispatcher and forest firefighter. Appearing in over 150 productions, he has worked off Broadway and in regional theatres in California, Boston, and Denver. His theatrical roles have been as varied as "Jacob Marley" in ''A Christmas Carol'' to "Miss Havisham" in ''Great Expectations'' to "Puck" in ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. Collison is a founding member of the Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice, California, which has won over 25 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards.

Film

Collison's films include ''The Blob'', ''Alien Nation'', ''Wild at Heart'', ''Mobsters'', ''The Last Boy Scout'', ''Buddy'', ''Diggstown'', ''My Summer Story'', ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'', ''The Majestic'', ''The Whole Ten Yards'', ''Hidalgo'', ''The Village'', ''Suspect Zero'' and ''The Happening''. Frank is best known to television audiences as "Horace Bing" the bumbling telegraph operator, on CBS's ''Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman''. His numerous television appearances have included guest-starring roles on ''Monk'', HBO's ''Carnivàle'', ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'', ''Seventh Heaven'', ''NYPD Blue'', ''Hill Street Blues'', and,''Good Luck Charlie''.

Personal life

Collison lives in Los Angeles with his wife, the actress Laura Gardner, and his three children. He remains active in theatre while pursuing a film career.

References

External links

Frank Collison's Website

Category:1950 births Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:Living people Category:People from Evanston, Illinois Category:San Francisco State University alumni Category:University of California, San Diego alumni Category:Actors from Illinois

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Diodorus Siculus (Greek: , Diodoros Sikeliotes) was a Greek historian who flourished between 60 and 30 BC. According to Diodorus' own work, he was born at Agyrium in Sicily (now called Agira). With one exception, antiquity affords no further information about Diodorus' life and doings beyond what is to be found in his own work, ''Bibliotheca historica''. Only Jerome, in his ''Chronicon'' under the "''year of Abraham 1968''" (i.e., 49 BC), writes, "Diodorus of Sicily, a writer of Greek history, became illustrious". His English translator, Charles Henry Oldfather, remarks on the "striking coincidence" that one of only two known Greek inscriptions from Agyrium (I.G. XIV, 588) is the tombstone of one "Diodorus, the son of Apollonius".

Work

Diodorus' universal history, which he named ''Bibliotheca historica'' ("Historical Library"), consisted of 40 books, of which 1–5 and 11–20 survive, and were divided into three sections. The first six books treat the mythic history of the non-Hellenic and Hellenic tribes to the destruction of Troy and are geographical in theme, and describe the history and culture of Ancient Egypt (book I), of Mesopotamia, India, Scythia, and Arabia (II), of North Africa (III), and of Greece and Europe (IV–VI). His account of gold mining in Egypt is one of the earliest extant texts on the topic, and describes in vivid detail the use of slave labour in terrible conditions.

In the next section (books VII–XVII), he recounts the history of the world from the Trojan War down to the death of Alexander the Great. The last section (books XVII to the end) concerns the historical events from the successors of Alexander down to either 60 BC or the beginning of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars. (The end has been lost, so it is unclear whether Diodorus reached the beginning of the Gallic War as he promised at the beginning of his work or, as evidence suggests, old and tired from his labours he stopped short at 60 BC.) He selected the name "Bibliotheca" in acknowledgment that he was assembling a composite work from many sources. Identified authors on whose works he drew include Hecataeus of Abdera, Ctesias of Cnidus, Ephorus, Theopompus, Hieronymus of Cardia, Duris of Samos, Diyllus, Philistus, Timaeus, Polybius, and Posidonius.

References

Ambaglio, Dino, Franca Landucci Gattinoni and Luigi Bravi. ''Diodoro Siculo: Biblioteca storica: commento storico: introduzione generale. Storia. Ricerche.'' Milano: V&P;, 2008. x, 145 p.

Downloadable Google Books. Downloadable Google Books.

External links

Category:Roman era Greek historians Category:Historians from Magna Graecia Category:Classical geography Category:Sicilian Greeks Category:1st-century BC Greek people Category:1st-century BC historians Category:90 BC births Category:30 BC deaths Category:History of mining

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