Sailing Around Erythraean Sea: One

Updated on 29/11/2024

Periplus of Erythraean Sea was an ancient document written by an unknown merchant of first century CE.  It is not certain that it was written by a merchant, or a sailor, or the captain of a ship, because, perhaps all these roles were integrated into one individual. The uncertainty of their life because of voyages often held up in ports or market-towns, and also by the vagaries of winds did not have offered them opportunity to write a manual like the one we are going to see. The job of writing must have been assigned to a scribe or calligrapher; and the assignment must have been at the hands of a merchants' guild. That type of guild was known in Roman times as Collegium or Collegia or Corpus. One such example was CORPUS NAVICULARIORUM, a corpus of long-distance shippers based at Rome's port Ostia Antica. This guild failed to survive the fall of Roman Empire. The impersonal style of the document reflects that it was intended as a manual for long distance shippers.
The document was written in Koine Greek; later it was translated into English by Wilfred H Schoff; and the same was published in 1912 by Longmans, Green and  Co. The Captain or a sailor turned merchant might be well versed in different languages and pidgin because his occupation gave him enough opportunity to mingle with different peoples, but his stay at various places and the uncertainty peculiar to his job might not offer him time to acquire the skill of writing. 

The medium of writing in those times was papyrus, obtained from papyrus plants, also known as Nile grass. Reeds were used as pen after cutting its edge like a nib. Carbon based substance like chimney soot mixed with arabic gum and water was used as ink. 

Quest for a manual of ports, markets and the route must have been felt by the merchant community in general, and the merchant guild on behalf of its members would have commissioned a person well versed in writing.  Another example of merchant guild is from Indian subcontinent: Vanigrama or Vaniya grama of first century BCE.
 

Wilfred H Schoff
Wilfred H Schoff(1874 - 1932)was an American antiquarian, and classical scholar.

The first document on world trade

The periplus of Erythraean Sea is the first document on world wide trade. The document is an exhaustive survey of trade between peoples of different culture as well as different places. The manuscripts of the document do not give us the name of the author, or the date on which it was written. Scholars now, are of the opinion that the document had been written between CE 40 to CE 50. Some of the scholars are of the view that it is a log by sailor or navigator. A log is a systematic orderly record of events during the voyage of a ship. Moving forward we would see no chronological or geographical order. It can better be classified a manual of ports, market towns, the routes to them, and the merchandise peculiar to each market-town, for the guidance of the merchants.

The unknown sailor had organised his account on a thematic line or order, and not on a chronological order. 

Section: One

Of the designated ports of Erythraean Sea, and the market towns around it, the first is Egyptian port of Mussel Harbour. To those sailing down from the place, on the right hand, after eighteen hundred stadia there is Berenice. The harbours of both are at the boundary of Egypt, and are bays opening from Erythraean Sea.

My Search:-
1. Erythrean Sea: A term coined by Romans and Greek to identify Indian Ocean around Eritrea. In Persian it was called Erythra Thalatta.

2. Designated ports: Ports authorised by the King; here Ptolemies.

3. Mussel Harbour: Myos Hormos. It is about six hundred kilometres south of Cairo. The port was founded by Ptolemy II Philadelphus upon a headland of similar name in 3rd century BCE. Pearl mussels were collected in lage numbers at the coast and the place was called Mussel Harbour. Look at Google Maps and see Quseer between  Safaga, Port Ghalib.

4. Stadia: Ten stadia is equivalent of one mile or one kilometres and six hundred metres.

5.  Berenice: Modern day Berenice Tryglodytica, also called Berenike and Baranis. It is about three hundred kilometres south of Myos Hormos. It was founded in 275 BCE by Ptolemy II. Tryglodytica refers to native tribes of the region. It means cave dwellers. It gives an insight into the real scenario of the time. Moving forward we will come accross more cave dwellers and fish eaters.

End of the Section.

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