Scylax of Caryanda, a Greek in the service of the Persian Great King, is best known for his early exploration of India and for shaping what the ancient Greeks knew about the East. Born in the late 6th century BC in a Carian town of Asia Minor (Anatolia), he lived at the cultural crossroads of Greek and Persian influence. Scylax became both an explorer and a writer—an essential figure in the transmission of geographical knowledge between civilizations. Unfortunately, Scylax’s original writings have not survived. What we know of his life and work comes from fragments preserved by later historians like...