SCYLAX OF CARYANDA

flourished 6th century BC ancient Greek explorer who was a pioneer in geography and the first Western observer to give an account of India. It is known from Herodotus that Scylax was sent by the Persian king Darius I (in about 515 BC) to explore the course of the Indus River and that he returned by sea after two and a half years to the Isthmus of Heroonpolis (Suez). References in ancient authorities seem to show that he left a record of his voyages, but none of the references is even nearly contemporary; and it is difficult to say in what manner knowledge of Scylax was transmitted. The few fragments suggest a work in the form of a Periplus (mariner's coastal guide), with some geographic and ethnographic description and, in the account of India, some element of the fabulous. The extant Periplus that has come down under his name cannot, however, be the work of Scylax of Caryanda. Another work doubtfully attributed to Scylax is a work on the Carian Heraclides of Mylasa, who distinguished himself in the Greek revolt against the Persians (498 BC) and possibly in the second Greco-Persian War (480 BC). That the explorer and geographer was a pioneer also in historical-biographical literature is improbable.