Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (ca. 40-70 AD)

by Robert K. Harding

One of the most important sources for studying classical geographical knowledge is the periplus. It was a type of Greek literature which first emerged in the fifth century BC and continued until the end of the Roman Empire. Designed as an aid to navigation it was also a guide to the customs of peoples one might meet in one’s travels. The work might be based on single journey or on several; it could be the result of personal experience or be compiled from the works of others. The balance between geography and other information also differed, as did ultimate intent – the extent to which the work was conceived as a practical handbook, a source of disinterested knowledge and a work of literature also differed. The structure each had in common with the others was that of an itinerary, discussing geographic and ethnographic features in sequential fashion in the way someone repeating the journey would encounter them. In terms of the diffusion of knowledge it was invaluable, being one of the main ways in which ancient geographical discoveries were expressed.

The most famous is the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a text that establishes the routes of the ancient trade between Egypt (as a Roman province) and the east African coast on the one hand; and Egypt, southern Arabia, the Persian Gulf and India on the other. The text only survives in one tenth-century manuscript, presently in Heidelberg and is written in a form of demotic Greek. It was probably composed by a Greek-speaking Egyptian as a guide to sea-going captains and/or merchants – perhaps the latter, since there is more emphasis on description of trade goods than on sailing conditions. The rough position and character of each port is mentioned, along with the products that can be bought there and the goods that would be most welcomed in return. In some cases political conditions are mentioned and it is one of these that gives a clue to the text’s date – a mention of a contemporary king of the tribe of Nabataeans, who can only be Malichus II. Since Malichus reigned between 40 and 70 AD the Periplus is most probably assignable to the later first century.

The Erythraean Sea had a varied meaning in classical times and could refer to the Red Sea in particular (“Erythraean” is the Greek for red) or more generally to the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. It must be this wider definition that the Periplus author is referring to.

The Indian Ocean had been both hindrance and opportunity for ancient sailors. By the later third millennium BC it was hosting trade between southern Mesopotamian and the Persian Gulf on one side and the Indus Civilisation in the northwest of the Subcontinent on the other. However, in order to sail from India to Africa one had either to sail around the coast via Arabia or master the monsoon. This giant system of wind and rain operates in two different directions – from June to September it can blow a ship across the Ocean in a matter of a few weeks from a position near the Horn of Africa to somewhere on the western Indian coast. From November to January it transports the ship back again. But those on the western rim of the Indian Ocean also needed to know that India was a long peninsula - and that if one were blown far off course one could navigate along the coast rather than be blown into unknown waters. Egypt seems to have discovered this knowledge by the second century BC.

Although the Periplus ascribes the discovery of the monsoon system to one Hippalos, in fact it was Eudoxos of Cyzicos, working for the Ptolemy dynasty of Egypt, who made the breakthrough in approximately 116 BC. Direct trade between the two regions started soon after, but it was with the incorporation of Egypt into the Roman Empire in 31 BC that demand for Indian products, above all pepper, soared. In return Indian rulers had access to fine Mediterranean goods including wines. Wine merchants who imported pepper would use desert roads running between the Nile and the Red Sea ports of Myos Hormos and, above all, Berenike. From thence ships would sail to northwestern India and increasingly to the southwest, the Malabar Coast from which the best pepper was procured. By the later first century this trade was at its height. Trade from the Mediterranean and Egyptian side seems largely to have been in private hands, without significant state intervention. Elsewhere, the state seems to have played an important role. For instance, the Periplus frequently refers to an emporion, a port that the ruling power has specified will be the only outlet for trade in the kingdom or region. This allowed the ruler to regulate trade closely and to make sure that appropriate taxes were paid. Wealth accrued from merchant taxation was an important factor in state formation and development.

The Periplus presents perhaps two or three distinct routes. The first is along the east coast of Africa, as far south as (perhaps) Zanzibar. Beyond Egypt is the nascent kingdom of Axum in the Horn of Africa, the most important port of which was Adulis. Axum would dominate the Horn for another five hundred years and this is the first mention of it in classical sources. Beyond it were several large ports and many smaller ones in a regions called Azania. The endpoint of the route was Rhapta, which has never been securely identified but could be in the area of modern Tanzania. The Periplus seems to show it was under the control of the South Arabian kingdom of Hadramawt. Ivory and tortoise shell were found right along the coast, while some ports had aromatics, frankincense and/or myrrh, drugs and slaves.

Retracing up to the Red Sea the Periplus lists Leuke Kome on the northeast coast. This was the principal outlet for the Nabataeans, a trading people centred on the city of Petra in modern Jordan. It is in this context that Malichus II is mentioned. It then moves on to the string of ports along the South Arabian coast. These were not just stops along the way to India, but were outlets for frankincense, one of the most valuable luxury items of the East Mediterranean and the basis for southern Arabia’s wealth. Kane was the main outlet for the frankincense and under the control of Hadramawt.

Next is the Persian Gulf. Only a few ports are mentioned here, including Apologos in the area of modern Basra. The Periplus is sparing in details and it is likely that it was not on the main India route and that its author had never actually been there.

The key destinations are in India, to which about half the Periplus is devoted. The products listed include pearl, lapis lazuli, cotton, indigo, silk, nard, malabathron and above all pepper – a relative rarity in Roman kitchens but by the later first century in plentiful supply. The west coast is very well described, from the Indus River to the southernmost point at Cape Comorin. Over twenty ports, as well as numerous geographical features, are listed. In the northwest the two most significant ports are Barbaricon on the delta of the Indus River (a site never identified) and Barygaza (modern Broach). On the Malabar Coast Muziris has not yet been securely identified, but may be one of several sites with large numbers of excavated Roman artefacts. Many of the ports have not been securely identified; those that have tend to be at the mouths of rivers that lead inland to capital cities.

The east coast is not so well reported on; perhaps because it did not participate so intensively in the trading network or possibly because the author had not been there himself. Excavations at Arikamedu on the southeastern coast demonstrated the existence of a major trading centre with plentiful Roman pottery and may be the Poduke of the Periplus. The town of Ganges was the major port on the northeast, but no suitable site has yet been found; it could be Tamluk, given its historic significance, but it might also be Chandraketugarh, which was a major city during the first century. Beyond is Chryse Island, which is Southeast Asia and China, confirming the Roman Empire had at least second-hand knowledge of these regions. China was significant for silk and it seems at this stage that Rome was importing it via India.

The Periplus gives the most detailed overview of trade available from the ancient Roman world and demonstrates the strength of the Indian Ocean trading system in the early centuries AD. Many questions still remain – the locations of many of the places listed, the political and economic impact of the trade on the regions engaged in it, the extent of trade that did not involve Mediterranean merchants. It does nevertheless give a coherent picture of a system that, though subject to major change through the centuries, persisted into the age of steam.