The ''Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax'' is an
ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
periplus
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 wa ...
(περίπλους ''períplous'', 'circumnavigation') describing the sea route around the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
and
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...
. It probably dates from the mid-4th century BC, specifically the 330s, and was probably written at or near Athens. Its author is often included among the ranks of 'minor' Greek geographers. There is only one manuscript available, which postdates the original work by over 1500 years.
The author's name is written Pseudo-Scylax or Pseudo-Skylax, often abbreviated as Ps.-Scylax or Ps.-Skylax.
Author
The only extant, medieval manuscript names the author as "Scylax"' (or "Skylax"), but scholars have proven that this attribution is to be treated as a so-called "
pseudepigraphical
A pseudepigraph (also anglicized as "pseudepigraphon") is a falsely attributed work, a text whose claimed author is not the true author, or a work whose real author attributed it to a figure of the past. The name of the author to whom the wor ...
appeal to authority":
Herodotus
Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...
mentions a
Scylax of Caryanda, a Greek navigator who in the late sixth century BC explored the coast of the
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...
on behalf of the
Persians
Persians ( ), or the Persian people (), are an Iranian ethnic group from West Asia that came from an earlier group called the Proto-Iranians, which likely split from the Indo-Iranians in 1800 BCE from either Afghanistan or Central Asia. They ...
.
[Herodotus. ''Histories'', 4.44.] Many details in the work, however, reflect fourth-century BC knowledge of the world; since it cannot be by the sixth-century Scylax, its author is habitually referred to as Pseudo-Scylax.
Text
Manuscript
There remains one primary manuscript, Parisinus suppl. gr. (Supplément grec) 443 (also known as the Pithou MS after its 16th-century owner,
Pierre Pithou); it dates to the thirteenth century AD and is the original of those upon which the first printed edition of 1600 was based. Two later copies of this manuscript, which is notoriously corrupt, add nothing of substance. The principal manuscript was inaccessible to scholars for over two centuries until the 1830s, when it was bought by the
Bibliothèque Nationale
A library is a collection of books, and possibly other materials and media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or digital (soft copies) materials, and may be a p ...
of France.
Content
The narrative attributed to this "Pseudo-Scylax" simulates a clockwise circumnavigation of the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
and
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...
, starting in
Iberia
The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, compri ...
and ending in West
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
, beyond the
Pillars of Hercules
The Pillars of Hercules are the promontory, promontories that flank the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. The northern Pillar, Calpe Mons, is the Rock of Gibraltar. A corresponding North African peak not being predominant, the identity of ...
, that mark the
Straits of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Europe from Africa.
The two continents are separated by 7.7 nautical miles (14.2 kilometers, 8.9 miles) at its narrowest point. Fe ...
.
The NW African section is sometimes claimed to have been derived from the earlier ''Periplus'' of
Hanno the Navigator
Hanno the Navigator (sometimes "Hannon"; , ; ) was a Ancient Carthage, Carthaginian explorer (sometimes identified as a king) who lived during the 5th century BC, fifth century BC, known for his Navy, naval expedition along the coast of West A ...
, but a close comparison makes the differences between the two texts apparent. Rather than the record of a voyage like
Hanno's, or a compilation of eye-witness accounts of voyages, the ''Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax'' is probably an attempt at a quasi-scientific geographical account of the parts of the world accessible to Greeks in the 4th century BC. It can plausibly be associated with philosophical and scientific activities at
Athens
Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
under
Plato
Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...
's successors in the
Academy
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
; the author was perhaps directly in contact with Plato's successors and with
Aristotle
Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
and
Theophrastos, in the years leading up to the foundation of Aristotle's school, the
''Peripatos'' or Lyceum. One of the aims of the work seems to be to calculate a total sailing length for the coasts of the Mediterranean and Black Sea, a geographical undertaking in which Aristotle's pupil
Dikaiarchos of Messana went further, perhaps explicitly building upon the work of our unknown author.
Early printing history
The ''Periplus of Scylax'', along with other minor ancient Greek geographers, was first published in
Augsburg
Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...
in 1600 by
David Hoeschel. In
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
, the ''Periplus'' was published by
Gerardus Vossius in 1639 and then by
John Hudson
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second Ep ...
in his ''Geographi Graeci Minores''. In
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, the ''Periplus'' was published in 1826 by
Jean François Gail and in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
it was published in 1831 by
Rudolf Heinrich Klausen.
Modern editions
The Greek texts of
Karl Müller (1855) and B. Fabricius (pseudonym of
Heinrich Theodor Dittrich, 2nd edition 1878) have been superseded by P. Counillon ''Pseudo-Skylax: le périple du Pont-Euxin: texte, traduction, commentaire philologique et historique.'' (Bordeaux, 2004) and G. Shipley, ''Pseudo-Scylax's Periplus: Text, Translation, and Commentary'' (Exeter, 2011).
References
Bibliography
Primary sources
The manuscriptWikisource - The original Greek text, based on Müller, Paris 1855–61 – Περίπλους τῆς θαλάσσης τῆς οἰκουμένης Εὐρώπης καὶ Ἀσίας καὶ ΛιβύηςEnglish translationby Brady Kiesling from the 1878 Greek edition of B. Fabricius.
*''Geographica antiqua'',
Johann Friedrich Gronovius (ed.), Lugduni Batavorum, apud Jordanum Luchtmans, 1697
pp. 1–132
*''Geographi graeci minores'',
Karl Müller, Paris, editoribus Firmin-Didot et sociis, 1882
vol. 1 pp. 15–96
*''Hecataei Milesii fragmenta. Scylacis caryandensis periplus'',
Rudolf Heinrich Klausen (ed.), Berolini, impensis G. Reimeri, 1831
pp. 1–132
*
Fragments des poemes géographiques de Scymnus de Chio et du faux Dicéarque', M. Letronne (ed.), Paris, Librairie de Gide, 1840
*
Anonymi vulgo Scylacis Caryandensis periplum maris interni', B. Fabricius (pseudonym of
H. T. Dittrich), Lipsiae, typis et sumtibus B. G. Teubneri, 1878.
Secondary sources
*Patrick Counillon, ''Pseudo-Skylax, Le Périple du Pont-Euxin'' (Bordeaux, 2004).
*Graham Shipley, ''Pseudo-Skylax's Periplous: The Circumnavigation of the Inhabited World. Text, Translation and Commentary'' (Exeter: Bristol Phoenix Press/The Exeter Press), 2011. hardback, 978-1-904675-83-9 paperback. For details see http://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=11&AS1=shipley
*D. Graham J. Shipley, ‘Pseudo-Skylax and the natural philosophers’, ''Journal of Hellenic Studies'', vol. 132 (2012). Pre-print published in FirstView by Cambridge University Press on 6 Sept. 2012.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Periplus Of Pseudo-Scylax
History of navigation
Peripluses in Greek
Ancient Greek pseudepigrapha
4th-century BC books
Maps of the history of the Middle East
Phoenicia in ancient sources