Resumen de Urban Spaces from Myths to Villages: comparing Strabo’s Account on Thebes and Troy
This article compares two urban spaces through the descriptionStrabo gives of them. On the one hand, there is Troy which is central to Strabo’s description of the Troad in book XIII. The significance of this place, for both Strabo’s work and the Greco-Roman world of his time, hasbeen stated repeatedly. Hence Strabo’s account on Troy has been compared,for instance, with his treatment of Rome. Taking this approach as its starting point, the study will shift its focus onto another urban centre that sharesimportant features with Troy, but that also has some substantial differences. The analysis expands therefore to Thebes and to Strabo’s descriptionof Boeotia. Among the differences, we may note, as first obvious distinctionbetween the two urban spaces, that the political relevance for Strabo’s timeis less strong with Thebes than with Troy. Likewise, from a literary point ofview, Troy is connected to Homer’s poems and to the long and productivetradition of rewriting, commenting and reappropriating this heritage. Finally, with regard to Strabo’s Geography, such a comparing also raises the question of the different sources that the geographer may have used. In our case,for instance, we are able to catch some insights into the works of Demetriusof Scepsis and Apollodorus of Athens.
