Palaisimoundou

Information from the Periplus

Ancient Toponym: Palaisimoundou
Place Type: Unspecified
Route: Eastern route
Next on Route: Masalia
Ancient Area: India
Periplus Chapter: PME, Ch. 62

Topographic info

Longitude 79.8333
Latitude 6.9167
Location Source: Pleiades

Modern Identification: Ceylon
Modern Country: Sri Lanka

Passage from the Periplus

Around this area lies the region of Masalia, extending far inland; a great many cotton garments are produced there. If you go due east from it across the bay that lies alongside, you come to the Desarene region, the habitat of a kind of elephant called Bosare. Beyond it, with the course by now towards the north, are numerous barbaric peoples, among whom are the Kirradai, a race of wild men with flattened noses, and another people, the Bargysoi, and the Horse Faces, who are said to be cannibals. (from the Casson translation)

Bibliography

Ancient source: Ptolemy, 7.4.1

Bibliography: Filliozat, Jean, and Jacques André. 1986a. L’Inde vue de Rome textes latins de l’Antiquité relatifs à l’Inde. Paris: Les Belles Lettres.

Bibliography: Filliozat, Jean, and Jacques André. 1986b. L’Inde vue de Rome textes latins de l’Antiquité relatifs à l’Inde. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, p. 451-452.

Bibliography: Schwartz, F.F. 1974. “Pliny the Elder on Ceylon.” Journal of Asian History 8: 21–48.

Bibliography: Weerakkody, D. P. M. 1997. Taprobanê: Ancient Sri Lanka as Known to Greeks and Romans. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, p. 17.25.