Periplus

• The Periplus was a Sea Guide for Sailors in the Ancient World.
• Today it is known as a Pilot or Nautical Almanac.

Description

• The Periplus was a document that showed Ports and Coastal Landmarks sequentially to the Captain, including information about local hazards, the local Tribes, expected Weather and the presence of Pirates.
• Unlike the Nautical Almanac of today, it did not show the positions of celestial bodies. These were later documented in Ptolemy's Almagest during the 2nd century CE.

Periplus List

The North Atlantic

• Massaliote Periplus
  • 6th cent BCE, now lost: Quoted by Rufus Festus Avienus in ‘Ora Maritima’ (also Lost).
  • The Periplus describes the Tin Sea Route from Cadiz along the coasts of Spain, Brittany, Britain and Ireland.

• Periplus of Himilco
  • 5th century BCE. Punic expedition along the Atlantic coasts of Western Europe, Spain, Portugal and France. This Periplus also described a part of the Atlantic as being covered in seaweed, possibly an early description of the Sargasso Sea. Quoted by Rufus Festus Avienus in his ‘Ora Maritima’ written in the fourth century CE.

• Periplus of Pytheas of Massilia
  • c.325 BCE, also known as ‘On the Ocean’. Pytheas describes this same route, the Tin Route.

• Ora Maritima
  • The Ora Maritima, meaning ‘Sea Coasts’, is a Periplus written in the 4th century CE by Avienus in the form of a Poem.
  •  Avienus quotes from the Massaliote Periplus and the Periplus of Himilco.

The Mediterranean and the Black Sea

• Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax
  • 4th or 3rd century BCE: Guide to the Mediterranean and Black Sea starting from Iberia and ending in West Africa. Scylax means Periplus.

• Periplus of Schymnus of Chios
  • 90-110 CE, the Coasts of Iberia, Liguria and the Euxine (Black Sea).

• Periplus of the Euxine Sea (The Black Sea)
  • Written by Arrian (92-175 CE). He describes the Coasts of the Black Sea under Hadrian.

Africa

• Circumnavigation of Africa by Pharaoh Necho II
  • Necho II was Pharaoh of Egypt between 610-595 BCE. Herodotus describes the voyage as taking three years. It started from Egypt, went down the Red Sea, rounded Southern Africa, and returned via the Pillars of Hercules, the Straits of Gibraltar, back into the Mediterranean. Herodotus mentions that the Sun was on their right when sailing West, an observation that confirms they had crossed the Equator.
  • In 1 BCE Augustus planned a circumnavigation of Africa from Egypt to Mogador, but it never took place.

• Periplus of Hanno the Navigator
  • Hanno II was King of Carthage between 480-440 BCE. He describes a voyage with a Fleet of 60 ships to create seven colonies along the coast of West Africa, from Morocco to the Gulf of Guinea.
  • The account was written on a tablet and placed in the Temple of Ba’al Hammon (Kronos to the Greeks). His unstated objective was to obtain African Gold.

The Red Sea and the Indian Ocean

• Scylax of Caryanda
  • 5th century BCE, Herodotus: A Greek Navigator sent by Datius I of Persia, describes the River Indus from modern Afghanistan down to the Indian Ocean, along the coast, then up the Red Sea to Egypt.

• Stadiamos of the Great Sea

• Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
  • c.100 CE. written by an Alexandrian: It started at Berenice in Egypt and describes the Red Sea across to India and the Ganges, and another Route from Berenice down to the East Coast of Africa (Azania). All distances were measured from Berenice.

• Indica
  • Written by Arrian (92-175 CE)
  • Indica is a description of the Culture, Geography and History of India. Although not a Periplus, Arrian narrates the sea voyage of Nearchus, Admiral of the Fleet of Alexander the Great.
  • After the Battle of the Hydaspes (Pakistan) in 325 BCE, Nearchus built a Fleet. Arrian describes this journey from the Indus via the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf to Susa.