Along the coasting voyage from Parion to Priapos are the ancient Prokonnesos and present Prokonnessos […] Aristeas the poet of the so-called Arimaspeian verses is from there, a man [who was a] goēs if anyone is.
Author: Strabo
Title of Work: Geography
Location in Work: 13.1.16
Date of Work: c. 25 CE
Original Language: Greek (Attic)
Original Text:
Ἐν δὲ τῷ παράπλῳ τῷ ἀπὸ Παρίου εἰς Πρίαπον ἥ τε παλαιὰ Προκόννησός ἐστι καὶ ἡ νῦν Προκόννησος, [...] ἐντεῦθέν ἐστιν Ἀριστέας ὁ ποιητὴς τῶν Ἀριμασπείων καλουμένων ἐπῶν, ἀνὴρ γόης εἴ τις ἄλλος.
Reference Edition: Radt, Geographika.
Translation Notes: The Greek word γόης originally meant ‘wizard’ but came to mean ‘charlatan.’ It is left untranslated here because it’s unclear which of those two senses is intended (see commentary).
Source of Date of Work: Roller, Geography, vii.
Commentary:
This passage has traditionally been translated as Strabo calling Aristeas ‘a charlatan if there ever was one,’ i.e. an especially obvious charlatan. But the two other mentions of Aristeas by Strabo place Aristeas near to Homer, whom Strabo very highly revered: one suggests Aristeas was Homer’s tutor, and the other suggests Homer based his Cyclops on Aristeas’ Arimaspoi (to come in this collection). Thus it seems possible Strabo could have meant to say Aristeas was a ‘wizard if anyone is.’ Coming from Strabo that would probably anyway have been meant and understood as non-committal: like saying that if there is such a thing as wizards, then Aristeas was one.
Prokonnesos is actually about 25km out to sea from a cape on the coasting voyage between Parion and Priapos.
By calling Aristeas a γόης, it is unclear if Strabo was referring to Aristeas’ purported extracorporeal flight, his purported deathlessness, or to Herodotos’ story of his apparent death and reappearance.
Concordance: EGEP Aristeas T1b; EGF Aristeas T16; PEG Aristeas T23; Bolton, Aristeas T&F 25