BEING A TRANSLATION OF THE PERIPLUS MARIS ERYTHRÆI, BY AN ANONYMOUS WRITER, AND OF ARRIAN’S ACCOUNT OF THE VOYAGE OF NEARKHOS, FROM THE MOUTH OF THE INDUS TO THE HEAD OF THE PERSIAN GULF. WITH INTRODUCTIONS, COMMENTARY, NOTES, AND INDEX. BY J. W. McCRINDLE, M.A. Edin. , PRINCIPAL OF THE GOVERNMENT COLLEGE, PATNA; MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH; FELLOW OF THE CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY. ( Reprinted, with additions, from the Indian Antiquary. ) Calcutta: THACKER, SPINK & Co.

In the Preface to my former work, “Ancient India as described by Megasthenês and Arrian,” I informed the reader that it was my intention to publish from time to time translations of the Greek and Latin works which relate to ancient India, until the series should be exhausted, and the present volume is the second instalment towards the fulfilment of that undertaking. It contains a translation of the Periplûs ( i. e. Circumnavigation ) of the Erythræan Sea , together with a translation of the seco

The Periplûs of the Erythræan Sea is the title prefixed to a work which contains the best account of the commerce carried on from the Red Sea and the coast of Africa to the East Indies during the time that Egypt was a province of the Roman empire. The Erythræan Sea was an appellation given in those days to the whole expanse of ocean reaching from the coast of Africa to the utmost boundary of ancient knowledge on the East—an appellation in all appearance deduced from the entrance into it by the S

1. The first of the important roadsteads established on the Red Sea, and the first also of the great trading marts upon its coast, is the port of Myos-hormos in Egypt. Beyond it at a distance of 1800 stadia is Berenikê , which is to your right if you approach it by sea. These roadsteads are both situate at the furthest end of Egypt, and are bays of the Red Sea. Commentary. (1) Myos Hormos. —Its situation is determined by the cluster of islands now called Jifâtîn [lat. 27° 12´ N., long. 33° 55´ E

The coasting voyage from the mouth of the Indus to the head of the Persian Gulf, designed by Alexander the Great, and executed by Nearkhos, may be regarded as the most important achievement of the ancients in navigation. It opened up, as Vincent remarks, a communication between Europe and the most distant countries of Asia, and, at a later period, was the source and origin of the Portuguese discoveries, and consequently the primary cause, however remote, of the British establishments in India. A

XVIII. When the fleet formed for Alexander upon the banks of the Hydaspes was now ready, he provided crews for the vessels by collecting all the Phœnikians and all the Kyprians and Egyptians who had followed him in his Eastern campaigns, and from these he selected such as were skilled in seamanship to manage the vessels and work the oars. He had besides in his army not a few islanders familiar with that kind of work, and also natives both of Ionia and of the Hellespont. The following officers he