Ajay Kumar: Created a new article

2023-09-05T17:54:40Z

Created a new article

New page

{{short description|Greek explorer and writer of the late 6th and early 5th centuries BCE}}
{{Redirect|Scylax}}
'''Scylax of Caryanda''' ({{lang-el|Σκύλαξ ὁ Καρυανδεύς}}) was a [[Greek people|Greek]] [[exploration|explorer]] and writer of the late 6th and early 5th centuries BCE. His own writings are lost, though occasionally cited or quoted by later Greek and Roman authors. The [[periplus]] sometimes called the ''Periplus of Scylax'' is not, in fact, by him; that so-called ''[[Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax]]'' was written in about the early 330s BCE by an unknown author working in the ambit of the post-[[Platonic Academy]] and/or the Aristotelian [[Peripatetic school|Peripatos]] (Lyceum) at Athens.

==Exploration==
[[File:Herodotus world map-en.svg|thumb|right|260px|The world according to Herodotus. The ancient Greeks imagined that Indus flowed southeast and India was its lower basin, i.e., modern day [[Sindh]].]]
[[File:Gandhara map.jpg|thumb|right|260px|Gandhara and Peshawar on a modern Pakistan map]]

Scylax was from [[Caryanda]], a small city on an island close to [[Iasos]] in [[Asia Minor]].{{sfn|Mouton, Rutherford & Yakubovich, Luwian Identities|2013|p=450}} He was probably an ethnic [[Carian]], who might have been familiar with [[Greek language|Greek]] and used it for his writings.{{sfn|Karttunen, India in Early Greek Literature|1989|pp=65–66}} Not much is known about Scylax, except for the few fragments of information relayed by later Greek writers. [[Herodotus]] calls him a sea-captain from Ionia. He is said to have sailed down the [[Indus River]] at the behest of the Achaemenid emperor [[Darius I]] (522–486 BCE) and then around the Arabian peninsula to reach [[Suez]].{{sfn|Parker, The Making of Roman India|2008|pp=14–15}} In the narrative of Herodotus:

{{quote|Darius was the discoverer of the greater part of Asia. Wishing to know where the Indus (the only river with crocodiles, save one) ran into the sea, he sent a number of men, on whose trustworthiness he could rely, and among them Scylax of Caryanda, to sail down the river. They set out from the city of Caspatyrus, in the region called Pactyica, and sailed downstream in an easterly direction to the sea. Here they turned westward, and after a voyage of thirty months, reached the place from which the Egyptian king ... sent the Phoenicians to sail round Libya. Once the voyage was completed, Darius conquered the Indians, and made use of the sea in those parts. Thus all Asia, except the eastern section, has been found to exhibit the same features as Libya. (Herodotus, ''Histories'' 4.44){{sfn|Parker, The Making of Roman India|2008|pp=14–15}}}}

[[File:Eastern Satrapies of the Achaemenid Empire.jpg|thumb|right|260px|The greatest extent of the Achaemenid Empire in the east (Oxford Atlas of World History, 2002)]]

Several questions have been raised about this narrative. The city of Caspatyrus and the country of Pactyica have not been traced to any real locations. Assuming that it is somewhere in the vicinity of [[Gandhara]], which was under the control of the Achaemenid emperor, it is unclear how Scylax was able to assemble a fleet of vessels in this land-locked country. More importantly, the Indus does not flow east, but rather in a south-westerly direction.{{sfn|Parker, The Making of Roman India|2008|pp=14–15}} Due to these reasons, some commentators doubted if Scylax's journey ever took place. But these doubts are now laid to rest by the excavations at Suez, which seem to corroborate Scylax's account, and Darius's subsequent acquisition of control over [[Sindh]].{{sfn|Parker, The Making of Roman India|2008|p=16}}

Scholars have constructed various explanations for these questions. [[A. D. H. Bivar|David Bivar]] has noted that 'Caspatyrus' was written as 'Caspapyrus' by the later Greek writer [[Hecataeus of Miletus|Hekataios]], and both the names seem to have been misspellings of 'Paskapyrus', a known Greek spelling of the name of [[Peshawar]]. Scylax is presumed to have started by sailing east along the [[Kabul River]] and turned south after its confluence with the [[Indus River]] near [[Attock]].{{sfn|Bivar, The Indus Lands (Cambridge Ancient History)|1988|pp=202–204}}{{efn|A fragment from Athanaeus cites Scylax describing the Indus passing between towering cliffs covered with wild forest and thorny plants, a description that fits the Attock gorge.{{sfn|Bivar, The Indus Lands (Cambridge Ancient History)|1988|p=202}}}} The idea that the Indus itself flowed east must have been a misunderstanding by Herodotus or his source.{{sfn|Milns, Greek Writers on India Before Alexander|2008|p=354}}

Scholars state that Scylax's expedition was not merely for exploration, but rather for reconnaissance for future conquest by Darius. According to Matthew R. Christ and [[Grant Parker]], "Herodotus presents geographical curiosity as a feature of foreign kings, particularly when they plan conquest".{{sfn|Parker, The Making of Roman India|2008|loc=p. 14–15, footnote 8}} Olmstead characterised it as a "spying" expedition.{{sfn|Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire|1948|pp=144–145}} It lasted thirty months. Soon afterwards, Darius seems to have added to his empire the lands explored by Scylax as a new province called ''Hinduš''. It was referred to as "India" by the Greek writers. The extent of the province is not precisely known, though Herodotus's description of it as lying to the west of the desert ([[Thar desert]]) limits it to essentially [[History of Sindh|Sindh]] (middle and lower Indus basin).{{sfn|Gray & Cary, The Reign of Darius (Cambridge Ancient History)|1926|p=183}}{{sfn|Vogelsang, The Achaemenids and India|1986|p=107}}

Darius also commissioned the completion of [[Canal of the Pharaohs|the canal connecting the Nile with the Red Sea]], stating in [[Darius the Great's Suez Inscriptions|an inscription]]:

{{quote|I commanded to dig this canal from the Nile...to the sea which goes from Persia; afterwards this canal [was dug] thus as I commanded, and [ships] passed from Egypt by this canal to Persia as was my [will].{{sfn|Gray & Cary, The Reign of Darius (Cambridge Ancient History)|1926|p=200}}}}
Afterwards, oceanic communication between India and Persia as well as Egypt and Mediterranean were established and maintained for some time.{{sfn|Gray & Cary, The Reign of Darius (Cambridge Ancient History)|1926|p=200}}

==Works==
Scylax wrote an account of his travels, perhaps entitled ''Periplus'' (Circumnavigation) and said to have been dedicated to Darius. The work has disappeared except for seven quotations by later writers. The surviving quotations indicate it was not merely a logbook, but contained accounts of people, landscape, the natural conditions and perhaps also political affairs. Scholar Klaus Karttunen believes that it might have been written in Greek, in which case it would have been among the first works to be written in Greek prose. Hekataios was influenced by the work and Herodotus knew about it, though he may not have actually seen it himself.{{sfn|Milns, Greek Writers on India Before Alexander|2008|p=354}}{{sfn|Karttunen, India in Early Greek Literature|1989|p=66}}

The surviving quotations appear fabulous. One talks about Troglodytes (cave-dwellers), another about Monophthalmic (one-eyed people), yet another about Henotiktontes (people that produce only one offspring). According to Tzetzes, Scylax claimed that all these things were true and not made up. Scholar R. D. Milns states that Scylax would have reported the stories he heard from the natives, which he would have accepted in good faith.{{sfn|Milns, Greek Writers on India Before Alexander|2008|p=354}}

Scylax's ''Periplus'' provided the West with its first account of the easterly people and served as a model for later Greek writers.{{sfn|Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire|1948|pp=144–145}} More lastingly, it gave India its name. The people of the Indus region were referred to as ''Hiduš'' or ''Hi<sup>n</sup>dush'' in Persian (due to sound change of ''*s'' > ''h'' from Proto-Iranian ''[[Sindhu]]'').<ref name="FT159">{{cite journal |last1=Tola |first1=Fernando |title=India and Greece before Alexander |journal=Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute |volume=67 |issue=1/4 |pages=159–194 |date=1986 |language=en|jstor=41693244 }}</ref> If Scylax wrote in the Ionic dialect of Greek, which did not pronounce initial ''h'' sounds, he would have transformed it to ''Indos'' (plural: ''Indoi''). Their land was characterised as ''Indike'' (the adjectival form, meaning "Indian").{{sfn|Milns, Greek Writers on India Before Alexander|2008|p=353}} Herodotus uses these terms as equivalent to the Persian terms ''Hiduš'' and ''Hi<sup>n</sup>dush'', even though he also generalised them to all the people living east of Persia, leading to considerable ambiguities.{{sfn|Vogelsang, The Achaemenids and India|1986|pp=102–103}}

Scylax was famous in the ancient world. He is mentioned by [[Strabo]] as an "ancient writer."<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198%3Abook%3D14%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D20 Strabo, Geography 14. 2. 20] (''Σκύλαξ ὁ παλαιὸς συγγραφεύς''). Scylax was mentioned [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+12.4.8&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198 12. 4. 8] and [http://rbedrosian.com/Classic/strabo13.htm 13. 1. 4]</ref> According to the ''[[Suda]]'', he also wrote (perhaps "in the decades around 480 BC"<ref>[[Arnaldo Momigliano]], ''The Development of Greek Biography'', Harvard UP, 1971, p. 29</ref>) a life of his contemporary, Heraclides of [[Mylasa]] (τὰ κατὰ Ἡρακλείδην τὸν Μυλασσῶν βασιλέα), who is mentioned in Herodotus 5.121.

==In popular culture==
In the historical fiction novel ''[[Creation (novel)|Creation]]'' by [[Gore Vidal]] Scylax of Caryanda appears as a character who is on such familiar terms with King Darius I of Persia that they engage in humorous banter about extending Persian rule to India.

==See also==
* [[List of explorers]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
* {{citation |last=Bivar |first=A. D. H. |authorlink=A. D. H. Bivar |chapter=The Indus Lands |title=Cambridge Ancient History, Volume IV – Persia, Greece and the Western Mediterranean, c. 525 to 479 B.C. |editor1=John Boardman |editor2=N. G. L. Hammond |editor3=D. M. Lewis |editor4=M. Ostwald |edition=Second |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nNDpPqeDjo0C |year=1988 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-22804-6 |pages=194–210 |ref={{sfnref|Bivar, The Indus Lands (Cambridge Ancient History)|1988}}}}
* {{citation |last1=Gray |first1=G. B. |last2=Cary |first2=M. |chapter=The Reign of Darius |title=Cambridge Ancient History, Volume IV – The Persian Empire and the West |editor1=J. B. Bury |editor2=S. A. Cook |editor3=F. E. Adcock |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgeancient04camb |year=1926 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=173–228 |ref={{sfnref|Gray & Cary, The Reign of Darius (Cambridge Ancient History)|1926}}}}
* {{citation |last=Karttunen |first=Klaus |title=India in Early Greek Literature |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TApaAQAACAAJ |year=1989 |publisher=Finnish Oriental Society |isbn=978-951-9380-10-0 |ref={{sfnref|Karttunen, India in Early Greek Literature|1989}}}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Milns |first1=R. D. |title=Greek Writers on India Before Alexander |journal=Australian Journal of Politics & History |volume=35 |issue=3 |year=2008 |pages=353–363 |issn=0004-9522 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-8497.1989.tb01296.x |ref={{sfnref|Milns, Greek Writers on India Before Alexander|2008}}}}
* {{citation |last1=Mouton |first1=Alice |last2=Rutherford |first2=Ian |last3=Yakubovich |first3=Ilya |title=Luwian Identities: Culture, Language and Religion Between Anatolia and the Aegean |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a_B8VOPZlYIC&pg=PA450 |year=2013 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-25341-4 |ref={{sfnref|Mouton, Rutherford & Yakubovich, Luwian Identities|2013}}}}
* {{citation |last=Olmstead |first=A. T. |title=History of the Persian Empire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zXgcK8fiWOUC |year=1948 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-62777-9 |ref={{sfnref|Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire|1948}}}}
* {{citation |last=Parker |first=Grant |authorlink=Grant Parker |title=The Making of Roman India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ahMXbSFxGhUC&pg=PA15 |year=2008 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-85834-2 |ref={{sfnref|Parker, The Making of Roman India|2008}}}}
* {{citation |first=W. |last=Vogelsang |chapter=The Achaemenids and India, Two Worlds in Contact |title=Centre and Periphery: Proceedings of the Groningen 1986 Achaemenid History Workshop |editor1=Heleen Sancisi-Weerdenburg |editor-link1=Heleen Sancisi-Weerdenburg |editor2=Amélie Kuhrt |editor-link2=Amélie Kuhrt |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/4427042 |pages=93– |ref={{sfnref|Vogelsang, The Achaemenids and India|1986}} }}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

=== Ancient sources ===
* Herodotus, ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'', 4.44
* [[Aristotle]], ''[[Politics (Aristotle)|Politics]]'', 7.13.2
* ''Suda'', s.v. [http://www.stoa.org/sol-bin/search.pl?db=REAL&search_method=QUERY&login=guest&enlogin=guest&user_list=LIST&page_num=1&searchstr=sigma+710&field=any&num_per_page=100 Σκύλαξ]

==External links==
* [http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/3091.html Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090315042446/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/3091.html |date=2009-03-15 }}
* {{cite EB1911|wstitle=Scylax of Caryanda|volume=24|page=519}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:6th-century BC births]]
[[Category:5th-century BC deaths]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek explorers]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek geographers]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek biographers]]
[[Category:Ancient Greeks in Caria]]
[[Category:Explorers of Asia]]
[[Category:Explorers of India]]
[[Category:Peripluses]]
[[Category:6th-century BC geographers]]
[[Category:5th-century BC geographers]]
[[Category:5th-century BC travelers]]

Scylax of Caryanda - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article