Hippalus



According to the author of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, the Greek navigator and merchant Hippalus, who probably lived in the 1st century BCE, discovered the direct route from the Red Sea to India's western coast. He may have captained the ship that took the Greek explorer Eudoxus of Cyzicus across the Arabian Sea. Pliny the Elder credits him with discovering both the route and the southwest monsoon wind, also known as Hippalus, that made it possible. While it seems logical to suggest knowledge of the monsoon was necessary to use the direct route, André Tchernia explains that Pliny's connection was based on spelling. The ancient Greeks wrote the name of the wind Arabian and Indian sailors used to cross the Indian Ocean as Hypalus. In Roman times, the spelling changed to Hippalus.

Hippalus reputedly identified the correct location of the ports along the Indian coast. Earlier, Greek geographers believed the Indian coast stretched from west to east. Hippalus seems to have been the first to recognize the orientation of India's west coast, so crossing the Arabian Sea would be a faster way to southern India than following the Arabian coastline. However, it was not a new development. The monsoons and their timing had been common knowledge in the Greek world since Nearchus made his way back from the Indus at the end of Alexander the Great's incursion into India (326-325 BCE).

However, until Hippalus' discovery, Indian and Arab middlemen operating in ports along the coastal route effectively controlled trade between Egypt and ports in modern-day Kerala and Tamil Nadu, with merchants from both sides meeting in locations around Aden on Arabia's southwest corner. Opening the new route forced them to adjust their prices to compete with the goods now being bought directly to Red Sea ports like Berenice.

Sources:

Links:
Aden
Alexander the Great
Arabian Sea
Berenice
Eudoxus of Cyzicus
Kerala
Nearchus
Periplus of the Erythreaen Sea
Pliny the Elder
Tamil Nadu
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