Pomponius, the earliest Roman writer on geography, flourished in the first century of the Christian era. From the fact that his surname was Mela, and that he was a Spaniard by birth, some have inferred that he was identical with L. Annacius Mela, the son of Seneca the rhetorician; but the only incidents in his life that are known as certain are gleaned from his work. In it we learn that he was born on the shore of the Bay of Algiers, at a town which various lections have severally rendered Tingentera and Cingentera. His mention of the town of Cesar Augusta, and his occasional allusions to Augustus, indicate that he must have lived at some period after that emperor. At the same time the fact that he speaks (iii. 6) of a mighty emperor triumphing on account of the conquest of Britain, renders it almost certain that he lived in the reign of Claudius, the first Roman potentate who can be said to have subdued that island.

The title generally given to the work of Mela is De Situ Orbis libri iii. In the introduction the author divides the northern, or known hemisphere, into three parts: Europe, bounded on the S. by the Mediterranean, and on the E. by the River Tanais (Don); Africa, bounded on the E. by the Nile, and on the N. by the Mediterranean; and Asia, the remaining portion. Then, commencing at the Pillars of Hercules, and passing along the southern shore of the Mediterranean, he describes Mauritania, Numidia, Africa Proper, Egypt, Arabia, Syria, Phoenicia, Cilicia, Pamphylia, Lycia, Caria, Ionia, Æolis, Bithynia, Paphlagonia, and the other districts along the coast of the Euxine. In the second book he begins at the Tanais (Don), and, coasting along the European shore, he describes Scythia, Thrace, Macedonia, Greece, the Peloponnesus, Epirus, Illyricum, Italy, Gallia Narbonensis, and the eastern coast. Melampus of Spain. He then concludes this book by a description of the Mediterranean islands. The third book is occupied with an account of the western coast of Spain, the western coast of Gaul, the islands of the Northern Ocean, Germany, Sarmatia, the countries on the Caspian Sea, Carmania, Persia, Arabia, Ethiopia, and that part of Mauritania which borders on the Atlantic. In the composition of his work Mela has followed Eratothenes, and other Greek geographers, with a closeness that sometimes prevents him from availing himself of the fuller and more accurate information of his own day. The text, chiefly on account of the abundance of proper names, is swarming with corruptions. Simplicity, conciseness, and perspicuity are the characteristics of the style. The best editions of Mela are those of Gronovius, 8vo, Leyden, 1728, and Tschackelius, 8vo, Leipzig, 1807. There is an old English translation, entitled "The rare and singular Work of Pomponius Mela, that excellent and worthy cosmographer, of the situation of the World, most orderly prepared, and divided every parte by its selfe: with the Longitude and Latitude of evrye Kingdome, Regent, Province, Rivers, &c., translated in English by Arthur Golding, Gent, ato, London, 1590."