Periplus

Quick meaning: Periplus is a noun meaning (literature) An account of a voyage, particularly those of Hanno and Arrian, recording ports and coastal landmarks.

Meaning

(literature) An account of a voyage, particularly those of Hanno and Arrian, recording ports and coastal landmarks.

More Meanings

1. A voyage along a coast.
2. (uncommon) Synonym of circuit: the path or distance around a coast.
3. (uncommon) Synonym of circumnavigation: a voyage around an island or the world.

Example Sentences

Then follows a Periplus of the Euxine-Sea, which bears the name of Arrian, and was undoubtedly written by him in the time of Adrian, as the inſcription ſhews.

The Periplûs of the Erythrêan Sea is the title prefixed to a work which contains the beſt account of the commerce carried on from the Red Sea and the coaſt of Africa to the Eaſt Indies, during the time that Egypt was a province of the Roman Empire.

[…] the map of the world Ptolemy followed in his geography, finding the longitude that passed through the Gates of Herakles and the island of Rhodes, and placing north and south of it the world as recorded on the periploi of the Phoenician merchants.

A periplus of the Mediterranean: Greek sailing directions The following excerpt from one of the most complete periploi was attributed in the nineteenth century to the Greek merchant Scylax of Caryanda, known to have traded with settlements not only along the Red Sea but also on the shores of the Indian Ocean.

Word Forms

• peripluses
• peripli
• periploi
• periplous

Synonyms for periplus

Depending on context, synonyms include circuit, circumnavigation.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include periplous, periapse, portolano, peraia, periscope, peraeon.

Related Dictionary Tools