In the extensive cast of characters named in Isaeus' On the Estate of Hagnias are two brothers, Chaereleos and Macartatus. The speaker, their brother-in-law, is anxious to impress upon the members of the court that neither was a rich man. ‘You are all my witnesses,’ he asserts, ‘that…they were not in the class of those who perform liturgies but rather of those who possess a modest estate.’ Chaereleos on his death left land worth no more than 3000 drachmas. Macartatus left (...) nothing at all. ‘For you know,’ the speaker reminds his audience, ‘that he sold his land, bought a trireme, manned it, and sailed off to Crete, because it was by no means a covert act—indeed, it furnished a topic for discussion in the Assembly, namely that he might cause a state of war instead of peace between us and the Spartans.…It turned out…that he died along with this property of his that he sailed off with. For he lost everything, both the trireme and his life, in the war’. (shrink)

In his account of the great naval battle in 201 B.C. off Chios between the fleet of Philip II and the combined fleets of Pergamum and Rhodes, Polybius notes a curious exchange of ram blows that took place at one point: Δεινοκρτης μν πρς κτρη συμπεσν ατς μν ζαλον λαβε τν, πληγν, ναστερου τσ νεσ οσησ, δ τν πολεμων τρσας ναν π τ *βαα τ μν πρτον οκ δνατο ωρισθναι, καπερ πολλκς πιβαλμενος πρμναν κροειν κτλ. Dinocrates, who was one of (...) the commanders on the Pergamene side, attacked a Macedonian οκtêrês and, it would appear, struck it with his ram below the waterline; τβαα is unattested elsewhere and its precise meaning is obscure, but the phase π τβαα in this context clearly refers to a part of the oktêrêŝ hull that was immersed in water. In the process his own ship was hit; the blow that it took landed above the waterline because the oktêrês that delivered it was a ‘vessel that was anasteiros’ a word also unattested elsewhere. For well over a century there has been universal agreement that it means ‘with a high prow’. (shrink)

The Periplus Maris Erythraeiis a handbook written by an anonymous author in the second half of the first century A.D., for the use of merchants from Roman Egypt who traded with east Africa, Arabia, and India.1 In it the author devotes a good deal of space to the trade with India's west coast. He notes that there were two main commercial centres: one was Barygaza on the northwestern coast , and the other the twin ports of Muziris and Nelkynda on (...) the southwestern , the area he calls Limyrike, more or less the equivalent of the Malabar coast. He spells out in detail what Barygaza imported and exportedand then does the same for Limyrike. (shrink)

I Per. 4: As the text stands now, we read that Adulis, the principal port of the Axumite Kingdom, is on a deep bay that extends due south, in front of which is an island called Oreiue, situated about 200 stades from the innermost [sc. part of the] bay towards the open seaand with both its shores paralle to the mainland, where arriving vessels now moor…Formerly they used to moor at this innermost [part of the] bay at what is called (...) Didorus Island right by this [part of the]. (shrink)

In the literature on Rome's trade with the Far East, it is confidently stated that sandalwood and teak figured among the imports from India. The evidence offered is a passage from Per. 36. As it happens, the words in the passage taken to refer to sandalwood actually refer to teak, and those taken to refer to teak have nothing to do with it.

The Periplus Maris Erythraei, written probably in the latter half of the first century ad, is a guide for merchants trading with eastern Africa, Arabia, and India. The anonymous author lists the various ports along the routes, indicating for each the facilities to be found and the objects of trade to be bought or sold there.A few of the ports are well known and can be identified with certainty. Many which are also mentioned in other writers, such as Strabo or (...) Ptolemy, can be identified with varying degrees of certainty. The most difficult are those that occur only in the Periplus. One such is Tabai, on the African trade route. (shrink)

In this poem, ascribed to Automedon, Nicetes' way of orating is compared first to a light breeze that strikes upon the rigging of a sailing vessel and then, when the breeze has increased to a wind, to the vessel itself as it runs over open water under full sail.

Chapter 57 of the Periplus Marts Erythraei is our sole source for a nugget of vital information: how westerners learned to sail over the open sea to India. Unfortunately, emendations distort the Greek in all editions1 and misconceptions the rendering in all translations.

Chapter 57 of thePeriplus Marts Erythraeiis our sole source for a nugget of vital information: how westerners learned to sail over the open sea to India. Unfortunately, emendations distort the Greek in all editions1 and misconceptions the rendering in all translations.