This encyclopaedia, compiled around 530 AD,is more or less the Byzantine Encyclopaedia Britannica of the ancient world. It lists some 3,600 names of places, mountains, lakes, rivers, waters and peoples, explaining their origins and derivations. The founding legends and wealth of cultural historical information contained in it make it a source text for polis research; in addition, it is a treasure trove of quotations andliterary fragments.

This comprehensive geographical encyclopaedia, compiled around 530 A.D., catalogues some 3,600 names of places, mountains, lakes, rivers, waters and peoples from the ancient world. Particular attention is paid to the etymology of names and the grammatical derivations of the Ethnika . For cultural historical information - here with the evidence of the attributed quotations - Stephanos is often the sole source. This new critical edition replaces A. Meineke's long obsolete edition of 1849. The text of the directly recorded epitomes is accompanied by an apparatus of parallel terms which takes account of both the sources of the encyclopaedia and its later users. This first translation of the encyclopaedia in a modern language and the notes (particularly on language, onomastics and topography) open up the work to a wide circle of scholars engaged in studies of antiquity. Volume 2 (delta - kappa) is planned for publication in 2008, volumes 3 and 4 in 2012 and 2015 respectively.