Scylax
2. Of Halicarnassus, a friend of Panaetius, distinguished for his knowledge of the stars, and for his political influence in his own state. (Cic. de Div. 2.42.)
Works
Suidas (s. v.), in his usual blundering manner, makes these two persons into one, and ascribes, to Scylax the following works: -- Περίπλουν τῶν ἐκτὸς τῶν Ἡρακλέους στηλῶν τὰ κατὰ τὸν Ἡρακλείδην τὸν Μυλασσῶν Βασιλέα γῆς περίοδον ἀντιγραφὴν πρὸς τὴν Πολυβίου ἱστορίαν
Περίπλους τῆς θαλάσσης οἰκουμένης Εὐρώπης καὶ Ἀσίας καὶ Λιβύης
We have still extant a brief description of certain countries in Europe, Asia. and Africa, which bears the name of Scylax of Caryanda, and is entitled, Περίπλους τῆς θαλάσσης οἰκουμένης Εὐρώπης καὶ Ἀσίας καὶ Λιβύης.
Composed by the Scylax mentioned in Herodotus?
This little work was supposed by Lucas Holstenius, Fabricius, Sainte-Croix, and others, to have been written by the Scylax mentioned by Herodotus.
Composed by someone in the fourth century B.C.
Other writers, on the contrary, such as G. I. Vossius, Is. Vossius, and Dodwell, regarded the author as the contemporary of Panaetius and Polybius; but most modern scholars are disposed to follow the opinion of Niebuhr, who supposes the writer to have lived in the first half of the reign of Philip of Macedonia, the father of Alexander the Great (Philip began to reign B. C. 360). Niebuhr shows from internal evidence that the Periplus must have been composed long after the time of Herodotus; whilst, from its omitting to mention any of the cities founded by Alexander, such as Alexandria in Egypt, as well as from other circumstances, we may conclude that it was drawn up before the reign of Alexander. It is probable, however, that the author, whoever he was, may not have borne the name of Scylax himself, but prefixed to his work that of Scylax of Caryanda, on account of the celebrity of the navigator in the time of Dareius Hystaspis. Aristotle is the first writer who refers to Scylax (Pol. 3.14).
Only an abridgement survives
It is evident, from his reference, as well as from the quotations from Scylax in other ancient writers (Philostr. Apollon. 3.47; Harpocrat. p. 174, ed. Gronov.; Tzetz. Chil. 7.144), which refer to matters not contained in the Periplus come down to us, that we possess only an abridgment of the original work.
Editions
The Periplus of Scylax was first published by Hoeschel, with other minor Greek geographers, Augsburg, 1600, 8vo.; next by Is. Vossius, Amsterdam, 1639, 4to.; subsequently by Hudson, in his " Geographi Graeci Minores," and in the reprint of the same work by Gail, Paris, 1826; and last of all by R. H. Klausen, attached to his fragments of Hecataeus, Berlin, 1831.
Further Information
Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iv. p. 606, &c.; Vossius, de Hist. Graecis, p. 166, ed. Westermann; Sainte-Croix, in Mém. de l'Acad. des Inscriptions, vol. xlii. p. 350; Niebuhr, Ueber das Alter des Küstenbeschreibers Skylax von Karyanda, in his Kleine Schriften, vol. i. p. 105, &c., translated in the Philological Museum, vol. i. p. 245, &c.; Ukert, Geographie der Griechen und Römer, vol. i. pt. ii. p. 285, &c.; the dissertations prefixed to Hudson's and Klausen's editions.
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.