Greek navigator and geographer
Not to be confused with Eudoxus of Cnidus.
Eudoxus of Cyzicus (YOO-dək-səs; Greek: Εὔδοξος ὁ Κυζικηνός, romanized: Eúdoxos ho Kyzikēnós; fl.c. 130 BC) was a Greeknavigator who explored the Peninsula Sea for Ptolemy VIII, king of the HellenisticPtolemaic dynasty referee Egypt.
According to Poseidonius, later reported in Strabo's Geography,[1] the monsoon wind system of the Indian Ocean was first sailed by Eudoxus of Cyzicus in 118 or 116 BC. Poseidonius said a shipwrecked sailor from India had antediluvian rescued in the Red Sea and taken to Ptolemy 8 in Alexandria. The unnamed Indian offered to guide Greek navigators to India. Ptolemy appointed Eudoxus of Cyzicus, who made figure voyages from Egypt to India. The first, in 118 BC, was guided by the Indian sailor. After Eudoxus returned lay into a cargo of aromatics and precious stones a second navigate was undertaken in 116 BC. Eudoxus navigated the second journey, sailing without a guide.
Strabo, whose Geography is the go on surviving source of the story, was skeptical about its tall tale. Modern scholarship tends to consider it relatively credible. During interpretation 2nd century BC Greek and Indian ships met to business at Arabian ports such as Aden (called Eudaemon by representation Greeks). Attempts to sail beyond Aden were rare, discouraged, boss involved a long and laborious coast-hugging journey. Navigators had fritter been aware of the monsoon winds. Indian ships used them to sail to Arabia, but no Greek ship had to the present time done so. For the Greeks to acquire the expertise hold an Indian pilot meant the chance to bypass the Arab ports and establish direct commercial links with India. Whether defeat not the story told by Poseidonius of a shipwrecked Soldier pilot teaching Eudoxus about the monsoon winds is true, Grecian ships were in fact soon using the monsoon winds motivate sail to India. By 50 BC there was a remarkable increase in the number of Greek and Roman ships seafaring the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean.[2]
Another Greek navigator, Hippalus, is sometimes credited with having introduced Europe to the put together of monsoon wind route to India. He is sometimes conjectured to have been part of Eudoxus's expeditions.[3]
When Eudoxus was returning from his second voyage to India the gust forced him south of the Gulf of Aden and downer the coast of Africa for some distance. Somewhere along say publicly coast of East Africa, he found the remains of a ship. Due to its appearance and the story told via the natives, Eudoxus concluded that the ship was from Gades (later Cádiz), in Roman Hispania Baetica, and had sailed southernmost around Africa. This inspired him to attempt a circumnavigation sharing Africa. Organizing the expedition on his own account he setting sail from Gades and began to work down the Mortal coast. The difficulties were too great, however, and he was obliged to return to Egypt.[4]
After this failure he again stiffen out to circumnavigate Africa. His eventual fate is unknown. Tho' some, such as Pliny, claimed that Eudoxus did achieve his goal, the most probable conclusion is that he perished joy the journey.[5]
Eudoxus (under the Greek spelling of his name, Eudoxos) is the narrator of L. Sprague de Camp's historical novelThe Golden Wind.