Periplus

A periplus (/ˈpɛrɪplʌs/), or periplous, 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] In that sense, the periplus was a type of log and served the same purpose as the later Roman itinerarium of road stops.

The form of the periplus is at least as old as the earliest Greek historian, the Ionian Hecataeus of Miletus.

[2] Periplus is the Latinization of the Greek word περίπλους (periplous, contracted from περίπλοος periploos), which is "a sailing-around."

Both segments, peri- and -plous, were independently productive: the ancient Greek speaker understood the word in its literal sense; however, it developed a few specialized meanings, one of which became a standard term in the ancient navigation of Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans.