A
periplus (
//)
is a manuscript document that lists the ports and coastal landmarks, in
order and with approximate intervening distances, that the captain of a
vessel could expect to find along a shore.
[1] It served the same purpose as the later Roman
itinerarium
of road stops; however, the Greek navigators added various notes, which
if they were professional geographers (as many were) became part of
their own additions to Greek geography. In that sense the periplus was a
type of log.
-
Wikipedia.
"'...coasting these waters, I rely mainly on my remembrance of landmarks, or a pleripus if they're less familiar to me.'"
-Poul Anderson,
Genesis (New York, 2001), p. 118.
I must have skipped over the unfamiliar word, "periplus," on previous readings. This time, I noticed and googled it.
1 comment:
I had run across the term periplus before encountering it in Anderson's fiction.
However, your mention of it here reminded me of Mark Twain's "Life on the Mississippi" and how the riverboat pilots memorized landmarks & how they used them to determine where they had to steer the boat to stay in the channel & not get stuck on a sandbar.
On a smaller scale I experienced such issues when canoeing on the Milk River in southern Alberta. I learned a bit about erosion & deposition patterns because to the extent that I didn't I got grounded on a sandbar & had to get out of the canoe & wade while pulling the canoe until I got to deeper water.
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