Origins & Early Life

Scylax of Caryanda (Ancient Greek: Σκύλαξ ὁ Καρυανδεύς; fl. 510s BCE) was a Greek explorer and writer of the Achaemenid Empire during the late 6th and early 5th centuries BCE. His writings are lost, though occasionally they are cited or quoted by later Greek and Roman authors. The periplus sometimes referred to as the Periplus of Scylax is, in fact, not written by him.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

More accurately called the Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax, it was written in about the early 330s BCE by an unknown author working in the ambit of the post-Platonic Academy or the Aristotelian Peripatos (Lyceum) at Athens. Scylax was from Caryanda, a small city on an island close to Iasos in Asia Minor. He was either a Greek or an ethnic Carian, who might have been familiar with Greek and used it for his writings. Not much is known about Scylax, except for the few fragments of information relayed by later Greek writers. Herodotus calls him a sea-captain from Ionia.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

He is said to have sailed down the Indus River at the behest of the Achaemenid emperor Darius I (522–486 BCE) and then around the Arabian peninsula to reach Suez. In the narrative of Herodotus: Darius was the discoverer of the greater part of...

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