A periplus (περίπλους, literally "a sailing-around' in
Greek, roughly corresponding to the Latin navigatio, a "ship-voyage") in the ancient navigation of
Phoenicians,
Greeks, and
Romans was a manuscript document that listed in order the ports and coastal landmarks, with approximate distances between, that the captain of a vessel could expect to find along a shore. Several examples of periploi have survived:The Periplus of
Hanno the Navigator, a
6th century BCE Carthaginian colonist and explorer, described the coast of
Africa from present-day
Morocco deep into the
Gulf of Guinea.The
Massaliote Periplus, a description of trade routes along the coasts of
Atlantic Europe, possibly dating to the
6th century BCE Pytheas of Massilia, (4th century BCE) On the Ocean (Περί του Ωκεανού), has not survived; only excerpts remain, quoted or paraphrased by later authors. The
Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax, generally thought to date to the
4th or
3rd century BCE.The Periplus of Skymnos of Chios is dated to around 110 BC. The
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea was written by a Romanized
Alexandrian in the
1st century CE. It gives the shoreline itinerary of the
Red (Erythraean) Sea, starting each time at the port of
Berenice. Beyond the Red Sea, the manuscript describes the coast of
India as far as the
Ganges River and the east coast of Africa (called
Azania).The Periplus Ponti Euxini, a description of trade routes along the coasts of the
Black Sea, written by
Arrian in the early 2nd century AD.
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