The Classical Accounts of India c13.2

c13.2

The Erythraean Sea is the name given by the Greek and Roman geographers to the Indian Ocean, including the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf This Greek text gives an account of the trade of the settlements on the coast of this ocean and many interesting details of the voyage, partly along the coast and partly across the sea. The name of the author is unknown, but internal evidence seems to indicate that he was an Egyptian Greek and was probably himself actively engaged in trade in course of which he made the voyage from the head of the Red Sea to India. It is thus a very valuable and trustworthy account of the early trade and maritime activity between India and the western countries. It appears from certain statements made in the book that it was composed about the middle or second half of the first century A D It is generally regarded as earlier than Pliny's *Natural History* which was published between A D 73 and 77