Periplus

by Arrian of Nicomedia, Johann Froben and Nicolaus Episcopius, Basel 1533 A periplus ( ), or periplous, is a manuscript document that lists the ports and coastal landmarks, in order and with approximate intervening distances, that the captain of a vessel could expect to find along a shore. In that sense, the periplus was a type of log, the nautical counterpart of the later Roman itinerarium of road stops. However, the Greek navigators added various notes, which, if they were professional geographers, as many were, became part of their own additions to Greek geography. The form of the periplus is at least as old as the earliest Greek historian, the Ionian Hecataeus of Miletus. The works of Herodotus and Thucydides contain passages that appear to have been based on peripli.

by Arrian of Nicomedia, Johann Froben and Nicolaus Episcopius, Basel 1533 A periplus ( ), or periplous, is a manuscript document that lists the ports and coastal landmarks, in order and with approximate intervening distances, that the captain of a vessel could expect to find along a shore. In that sense, the periplus was a type of log, the nautical counterpart of the later Roman itinerarium of road stops. However, the Greek navigators added various notes, which, if they were professional geographers, as many were, became part of their own additions to Greek geography. The form of the periplus is at least as old as the earliest Greek historian, the Ionian Hecataeus of Miletus. The works of Herodotus and Thucydides contain passages that appear to have been based on peripli. ==Known peripli== Several examples of peripli are known to scholars: ==Rahnāmag== Persian sailors had long had their own sailing guide books, called Rahnāmag in Middle Persian (Rahnāmeh رهنامه in Modern Persian). They listed the ports and coastal landmarks and distances along the shores. The lost but much-cited sailing directions go back at least to the 12th century. Some described the Indian Ocean as "a hard sea to get out of" and warned of the "circumambient sea," with all return impossible. ==Tactic of naval combat== A periplus was also an ancient naval maneuver in which attacking triremes would outflank or encircle the defenders to attack them in the rear. ==See also== List of Graeco-Roman geographers ==References== ==Bibliography== ==External links==

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