Les différents sens du terme Καππαδοκία dans la Géographie de Strabon

The first description of Cappadocia in Greco-Roman Literature can be found in Herodotus, who accounts for the region under the Achaemenid Empire. After Alexander’s conquest of Anatolia, the borders of Cappadocia were set up more clearly. The treaty of Apamea (188 BC) sealed the patronage of the Roman Republic on the Kingdom of Cappadocia, which became economically and politically dependent on Rome. Finally, Cappadocia was reduced to a Roman province under the emperor Tiberius (17 AD). These complex relationships between Rome and Cappadocia proved problematic to ancient historians and geographers. More specifically, Strabo describes Cappadocia extensively in chapter 12 of his Geography. However, as Strabo wrote after the Kingdom of Cappadocia was turned into a province, a careful reading of this passage highlights the polysemy of the term Καππαδοκία, which seems to designate a district, a region, and a province at the same time. Contrary to what has been stated by some modern researchers, Strabo’s definition does not stabilize the literary description of the new province: instead, it makes it more complex. This paper aims at analyzing the different meanings of Καππαδοκία in Strabo’s Geography while tracing back their origins.