Strabo discusses the geography of Campania
Next after Neapolis comes the Heraclean Fortress, with a promontory which runs out into the
sea and so admirably catches the breezes of the southwest wind that it makes the
settlement a healthful place to live in. Both this settlement and the one next after it, Pompaia
(past which flows the River Sarnus), were once held by the Osci; then, by the Tyrrheni and
the Pelasgi; and after that, by the Samnitae; but they, too, were ejected from the places.
Pompaia, on the River Sarnus-a river which both takes the cargoes inland and sends them
out to sea is the port-town of Nola, Nuceria, and Acherrae (a place with name like that of the
settlement near Cremona). Above these places lies Mt. Vesuvius, which, save for its summit,
has dwellings all round, on farm-lands that are absolutely beautiful. As for the summit, a
considerable part of it is flat, but all of it is unfruitful, and looks ash-coloured, and it shows
pore-like cavities in masses of rock that are soot-coloured on the surface, these masses of
rock looking as though they had been eaten out by fire; and hence one might infer that in
earlier times this district was on fire and had craters of fire, and then, because the fuel gave
out, was quenched. Perhaps, too, this is the cause of the fruitfulness of the country all round
the mountain; just as at Catana, it is said, that part of the country which had been covered
with ash-dust from the hot ashes carried up into the air by the fire of Aetna made the land
suited to the vine; for it contains the substance that fattens both the soil which is burnt out
and that which produces the fruits; so then, when it acquired plenty of fat, it was suited to
burning out, as is the case with all sulphur-like substances, and then when it had been
evaporated and quenched and reduced to ash-dust, it passed into a state of fruitfulness.
Next after Pompaia comes Surrentum, a city of the Campani, whence the Athenaeum juts
forth into the sea, which some call the Cape of the Sirenussae. There is a sanctuary of
Athene, built by Odysseus, on the tip of the Cape. It is only a short voyage from here across
to the island of Capreae; and after doubling the cape you come to desert, rocky isles, which
are called the Sirens. On the side of the Cape toward Surrentum people show you a kind of
temple, and offerings dedicated there long ago, because the people in the neighbourhood
hold the place in honour. Here, then, the gulf that is called the ‘Crater’ comes to an end,
being marked off by two capes that face the south, namely, Misenum and Athenaeum. And
the whole of the gulf is garnished, in part by the cities which I have just mentioned, and in
part by the residences and plantations, which, since they intervene in unbroken succession,
present the appearance of a single city.
From: Strabo, Geography, 5.4.8, pp 453-455.
Activity:
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Highlight three quotes to add to your notes.
Summarise in two sentences the geography of Campania.