(plural, peripli), an ancient Greek literary genre presenting an account of a coastal sea voyage. Peripli are usually divided into two types: travel descriptions and manuals for the use of navigators.
Among peripli of the first group are the periplus about a voyage along the western coast of Africa compiled by the Carthaginian Hanno (seventh-sixth centuries B.C.) and a nonextant periplus (second half of sixth century B.C.) used by Avienus (fourth century A.D.) in his description of the coasts of Spain, Britain, and Gaul. A description of a journey from the Indus River to the Euphrates written by the naval commander Near chus dates from the fourth century B.C.; it was used by Strabo (first century B.C.-first century A.D.) and Arrian (second century A.D.). The works of these two authors also attest to the existence of a Black Sea periplus and of a route to the Atlantic.
The second type of periplus described special features and dangers of a particular route, locations of convenient harbors, and distances between points. The earliest known periplus of this type, dating from approximately the mid-fourth century B.C., is ascribed to the Greek explorer Scylax (Pseudo-Scylax). It describes the coasts of the Mediterranean and Black seas. Another example is the Red Sea periplus, compiled circa 110 B.C.; fragments of it are found in works by Diodorus Siculus (first century B.C.) and Photius (ninth century A.D.). Also belonging to this type of periplus is a detailed description of a voyage from Egypt to India compiled in the first century A.D. Most peripli have not been preserved.