Periplus of the Erythraean Sea

The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (Koine Greek: Περίπλους τῆς Ἐρυθρᾶς Θαλάσσης, romanized: Períplous tē̂s Erythrâs Thalássēs), also known by its Latin name as the Periplus Maris Erythraei, is a Greco-Roman periplus written in Koine Greek, in the first century, that describes navigation and trading opportunities from Roman Egyptian ports like Berenice Troglodytica along the coast of the Red Sea and others along the Horn of Africa, the Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean, including the modern-day Sindh region of Pakistan and southwestern regions of India.

The text has been ascribed to different dates between the first and third centuries, but a mid-first-century date is now the most commonly accepted. According to orientalist writer William Mac Guckin Slane, the Periplus was likely written by an Egyptian Greek sailor. Classical scholar Wilfred Harvey Schoff and historian Dionisius Agius both date it to around 60 CE. It was first translated by Wilfred Harvey Schoff in 1912.