Аннотация:Very little can be said for sure about the author of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. it is only more or less certain that he has composed this text between 40 and 70 of the 1st century Ad 1. one may only guess if his author was a sea-trader or ship-owner, cartographer or someone else by occupation. However, the nature of this source – unique by the richness of the information it gives on the history of ancient erythraean sea (modern red sea, Arabian sea and Bay of Bengal) – and even the personality of its author could be probably better understood, if one completes information of the Periplus with that of the earlier and contemporary classical sources on the geography and ethnography of the same regions. the coincidences and disagreements between them could not only advance the analysis of the sources themselves, but also drop some more light on the personality of the author of the Periplus. one may not even say for sure where he himself lived andworked, though the enumeration of the ports on the erythraean sea begins with Myos Hormos, twice Berenice is used as a reference point (18. 6. 22 ; 19. 6. 26). The most important layer of information of the Periplus concerns the trade routes in the basin of the erythraean sea, the commodities traded in the ports, and the names: of places, ethnic and personal ones.
