Several examples of
peripli that are known to scholars:
Carthaginian • The Periplus of
Himilco the Navigator, parts which are preserved in
Pliny the Elder and
Avienius. • The
Periplus of
Hanno the Navigator,
Carthaginian colonist and explorer who explored the coast of
Africa from present-day
Morocco southward at least as far as
Senegal in the sixth or fifth century BCE.
Greek • The
Periplus of the Greek
Scylax of Caryanda, in Caria, who allegedly sailed down the
Indus River and then to
Suez on the initiative of
Darius I. This voyage is mentioned by
Herodotus, and his periplus is quoted by Hecataeus of Miletus,
Aristotle,
Strabo and Avienius. • The
Euthymenes description of West Africa (around third quarter of the sixth century). His published accounts have not survived, but seem to have been known, at least at secondhand, by
Plutarch. • The
Massaliote Periplus, a description of trade routes along the coasts of
Atlantic Europe, by anonymous Greek navigators of Massalia (now Marseille, France), possibly dates to the sixth century BCE, also preserved in Avienius •
Pytheas of Massilia, (fourth century BCE)
On the Ocean (Περί του Ωκεανού), has not survived; only excerpts remain, quoted or paraphrased by later authors, including Strabo,
Diodorus Siculus, Pliny the Elder and in Avienius'
Ora maritima. • The
Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax, generally is thought to date to the fourth or third century BCE. • The Periplus of
Nearchus surveyed the area between the Indus and the Persian Gulf under orders from
Alexander the Great. He was a source for Strabo and
Arrian, among others. •
On the Red Sea by
Agatharchides. Fragments preserved in Diodorus Siculus and
Photius. • The Periplus of
Scymnus of
Chios is dated to around 110 BCE. • The
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea or Red Sea was written by a Greek of the Hellenistic/Romanized
Alexandrian in the first century CE. It provides a shoreline itinerary of the
Red (Erythraean) Sea, starting 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 unknown author of the
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea claims that Hippalus, a mariner, was knowledgeable about the "monsoon winds" that shorten the round-trip from India to the Red Sea. Also according to the manuscript, the Horn of Africa was called, "
the Cape of Spices," and modern day Yemen was known as the "Frankincense Country." • The
Periplus Ponti Euxini, a description of trade routes along the coasts of the
Black Sea, written by
Arrian (in Greek Αρριανός) in the early second century CE. • The
Stadiasmus Maris Magni, it was written by an anonymous author and is dated to the second half of the third century AD. ==
Rahnāmag==