The Periplus Of The Erythrean Sea, A Work Which Has Been Frequently
Referred To, Is Rich In Materials To Illustrate The Geographical Knowledge
And The Commercial Enterprize Of The Ancients In The Part Of The World To
Which It Relates.
We have already assigned its date to the age of Nero.
Our
limits will prevent us from giving a full account of this work; we shall
therefore, in the first place, give a short abstract of the geographical
knowledge which it displays, and in the next place, illustrate from it, the
nature of the commerce carried on, on the Red Sea, the adjacent coasts of
Africa and Arabia, and the ports of India, which are noticed in it.
At the time of Strabo, the geography of the ancients did not extend, on the
eastern coast of Africa, further to the south than a promontory called Noti
Cornu, (the Southern Horn,) which seems to have been in about 12-1/2
degrees north latitude. Beyond this an arid coast, without ports or fresh
water, arrested the progress of navigation; but it appears by the Periplus,
that this promontory was now passed, and commerce had extended to the port
of Rhapta and the isle of Menutias, which are supposed to correspond with
Babel Velho and the island of Magadoxa. The author of the Periplus, who
seems to have been a merchant personally acquainted with most of the places
he describes, had heard of, but not visited the promontory Prasum: he
represents the ocean beyond Rhapta as entirely unknown, but as believed to
continue its western direction, and after having washed the south coast of
Ethiopia, to join the Western Ocean. The whole of the west coast of India,
from the Indus to Trapobane, is minutely described in the Periplus. Some of
the particulars of the manners and customs of the inhabitants coincide in a
striking manner with those of the present day; this observation applies,
among other points, to the pirates between Bombay and Goa.
Dr. Vincent, in his learned commentary on the Periplus, gives it as his
opinion, that the author of the Periplus never went further than Nelkundah
himself, that is, to the boundary between the provinces of Canara and
Malabar. The east coast of the Indian peninsula is not traced so minutely
nor so accurately as the west coast, though there are names and
descriptions in the Periplus, from which it may fairly be inferred, that
the author alludes to Cavary, Masulapatam, Calingapatam, Coromandel, and
other places and districts of this part of India. The countries beyond the
Ganges, the Golden Chersonese, and the countries towards China, are very
obscurely noticed in the Periplus, though the information he gives
respecting the trade carried on in these parts is much more minute and
accurate. His description of the direction of the coast of India, is on the
whole, surprisingly consonant to truth: according to him, it tends from
north to south, as far as Colchos (Travancore); at this place it bends to
the east, and afterwards to the north; and then again a little to the east,
as far as the Ganges. He is the first author in whom can clearly be traced
the name of the great southern division of India: his term is
Dachanabades, - Dachan signifying south, and abad a city; and Decan is still
the general name of all the country to the south of Baroche, the boundary
assigned by the author. The particulars he mentions of the bay of Cutch, of
Cambay, of Baroche, and of the Ghauts, may also be mentioned as proofs of
his accuracy with respect to those parts of India, which he visited in
person.
Having thus given a sketch of the geographical knowledge contained the
Periplus, we shall next attend to the commercial information which it
conveys. As this work is divided into two distinct parts, the first
comprising the coast of the Red Sea, and of Africa, from Myos Hormos on the
former, to Rhapta in the latter: and the second part, beginning at the same
place, and including the whole coast of Arabia, both that which lies on the
Red Sea, and that which lies on the Ocean, and then stretching from the
Gulf of Persia to Guzerat, describing the coast of Malabar, as far as
Ceylon, we shall, in our abstract of the commercial intelligence it
contains, enumerate the principal imports and exports of the most
frequented marts in Africa, (including the Red Sea,) Arabia, and India.
I. The Red Sea and Africa. Myos Hormos is described as the first port of
Egypt on the Red Sea; as it lies in twenty-seven degrees north latitude,
and Rhapta, the boundary of the Periplus to the south, in nearly ten
degrees south latitude, the distance between them will be about 2,500
miles. It is to be supposed, that every thing relating to the geography,
navigation, and commerce of the Red Sea, from Myos Hormos to Aduli, on the
western side, and Moosa, on the eastern side of it, was well known to the
merchants of Egypt, as the author of the Periplus gives no circumstantial
account of any port, till he arrives at these places. It appears, also,
that till the ships arrived at these places, they kept the mid-channel of
the Red Sea, and, consequently, there was no occasion, or indeed,
opportunity of describing the intermediate ports. We have already
mentioned, that Myos Hormos was fixed on by Ptolemy Philadelphus, in
preference to Arsinoe, because the navigation of the western part of the
Red Sea, on which the latter was placed, was intricate and tedious.
Berenice was afterwards selected, as being still lower down: but it is
worthy of remark, that neither Berenice, nor Ptolemais Theron, another port
of the Ptolemies, were harbours, but merely roadsteads, though from our
author's description, there were an almost infinite number of safe
harbours, creeks, bays, &c. in every part of the Red Sea.
Aduli, the first port on the west side of the Red Sea, and the port of
communication with Axuma, was, in the age of the Periplus, subject to the
same prince, who possessed the whole coast, from Berenice.
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