C. Flavio Fimbria nei Geographika di Strabone: alcune osservazioni su Str. 13.1.27 = C594

Abstract

In 86 BC, Cinna ordered C. Flavius Fimbria to join the consul L. Valerius Flaccus on his campaign in Asia Minor against Mithridates VI Eupator. The consul was also tasked with removing Sulla from command of the war. In Appian’s account (Mith. 51-53; 59-60) –the most detailed we have on Fimbria’s activities in Asia– this brave soldier is a negative example, contrasted with the positive character of Sulla. This paper proposes some reflections on Strabo’s account (13.1.27 = C594) of Fimbria’s destruction of Ilium. The passage, whose evidential value has not been fully recognised, is part of the theme of lost and decaying cities, about which Strabo usually reports the most important historical information. Comparing Strabo’s text with Appian’s, it seems that both authors were reworking news from a source favourable to Sulla, if not from the dictator's own autobiography. However, our analysis will also look at the reworking of sources by the geographer, who is often regarded as a compilator.