Pseudo-Skylax on Attica

Among the Greek geographical writings preserved in a thirteenth-century manuscript, now in Paris, is the earliest extant copy of an intriguing periplous or ‘circumnavigation’. An introductory note, probably composed in the sixth century AD, attributes it to Skylax of Karyanda, ostensibly the Karian who according to Herodotos (4. 44) explored the Indian Ocean for king Darius around 500 BC. The attribution to Skylax must be false, however, for the actual text makes many statements that were not true until well after that time. Therefore the unknown, presumably male, author and his work are usually called ‘Pseudo-Skylax’ (abbreviated to Ps.-Skylax).