古代希腊罗马的周航记及其功用

随着大殖民运动和海上贸易的发展,不同地区间人员交往日渐频繁,公元前6世纪,出现了记录地中海航线及其周边地区的港口市镇、水文状况、避难地、沿岸物资、人文风情及政治状况等内容的周航记。此类作品具有早期散文的基本特征,其语言简单、句子短小、很少修饰。一般认为,周航记是古代希腊罗马海员和船长的海上航行指南。但是,结合此类作品的成书过程、作者的写作意图和身份、可能的受众读者,加之与中世纪航海图鉴比较,我们可知周航记并非海上航行指南,而是旅行指南或货物购销指南。

Greco-Roman Periplus and their Function

With the development of the Greek colonization,the maritime trade and the frequency of personal communication,Periploi,a kind of geographical works recording the shipping routes,the ports,hydrological conditions,places of refuge,goods,cultural customs and political conditions around the Mediterranean Sea and its nearby seas,came into being in the sixth century B.C.These periploi were characterized by the simpleness in language,shortness in sentence and scarceness in ornament,which were also the style of the early Greek prose.It is generally argued that periploi were sailing directions of Greco-Roman seamen or captains.But if we pay more attention to their writing process,the writing purpose,the possible readership and compare them with medieval portolan charts,we can find that they could be more probably regarded as tourist guides or trade guides.