Periplous Tis Erythras Thalassis

For a long time I have been looking for this piece of writing in Greek, better known as the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. Recently I came across a superb translation by Lionel Casson (The Periplus Maris Erythraei, Princeton University Press 1989). The Periplus was written by an unknown sailor around 30 AD. The Erythraean Sea means the Red Sea; but at that time it denoted what is now known as the Arabian Sea. The Periplus is really a guide in an era when there were no devices to estimate the location of a boat on the sea. As a result, voyages across the open sea were virtually unknown; seamen travelled by hugging the shore. But doing so greatly increased the distance between places. Also, ships lost their way and drifted into the open sea. When they did, their captain would steer in a direction in which he expected to find land. But when he found it, he had to decide where he was. Sometimes he could do it from landmarks such as mountain peaks. But all coasts were not endowed with landmarks. And some were dangerous to approach because of hostile tribes. A good sailor could tell where he was by looking at other tell-tale signs on the sea itself.

The Periplus is a very short document of about 6,000 words divided into 66 paragraphs. It starts at the ports of Myos Hornos and Berenice. Myos Hornos, the Mussel harbour, is supposed to have been close to the present Abu Sha'r in Egypt. Berenice was a port city founded by Ptolemy Philadelphus in the third century BC; its ruins are close to the Cape of Ras Banas. Then the Periplus guides the reader down the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. It then gives scant details of the east African coast down to Zanzibar, and turns northwards. Its author passes the coast of Oman in some hurry; in the Kalaios isles, now known as Jazair Daimaniyat islands, dwelt "rascals who do not do much looking during the daytime"