Capito Geographical Fragments on Isauria in Greek

The Geographical Fragments on Isauria is a lost work of regional geography and history attributed to an author named Capito. It survives only as a series of fifteen brief excerpts preserved within the sixth-century CE geographical lexicon known as the Ethnica, compiled by Stephanus of Byzantium. The original work’s full title, scope, and structure are unknown; the modern designation is descriptive, derived from the content of the surviving passages. These fragments primarily document place names within Isauria, a mountainous region in southern Asia Minor, and its bordering territories, including parts of Lycia, Phrygia, and Cappadocia. The entries typically record a settlement’s name, its regional classification, and the demonym for its inhabitants, occasionally noting variant names or forms. The work’s transmission is entirely dependent on Stephanus’s quotations, and the fragments were later systematically collected and numbered by the modern scholar Felix Jacoby in his authoritative collection Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, where Capito is listed as author 103. Although the original text appears to have had limited direct influence in antiquity, the surviving fragments constitute a valuable, if scant, source for the historical geography of Asia Minor. They provide evidence for the toponymy and perceived cultural boundaries of Isauria, a region historically noted for its rugged terrain and persistent resistance to external control, particularly during the Roman period. As such, the work represents a minor but tangible example of the Hellenistic and Roman tradition of local history and chorography.