A 'Periplus' is an ordered record listing a sea voyage. The document includes information on coastal features and landmarks, ports, local populations, trade goods imported and exported, distances, winds, best months to travel, and other interesting points of note that the author deemed worthy of inclusion in this guide to a sea route.

The author of The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea is unkown. The document is belevied to have been written some time between 100 and 200 AD by an Egyptian merchant who could read and write Greek.