PATROCLES (c. 312–261 B.C.)  , a Macedonian general and writer on geographical subjects, who lived during the reigns of Seleucus I. and Antiochus I . When in command of the fleet of Seleucus (285) he undertook a voyage of exploration on the Caspian Sea to discover possible trade routes, especially for communication with the peoples of northern India . He came to the conclusion that the Caspian was a gulf or inlet, and that it was possible to enter it by sea from the Indian Ocean . The only information as to his work (even the title is unknown) is derived from Strabo . After the death of Seleucus, Patrocles was sent by his successor Antiochus to put down a revolt in Asia Minor, and lost his life in an engagement with the Bithynians . See Strabo ii . 68, 74, xi . 508, xv . 689; Diod . Sic. xix . Too; Plutarch, Demetrius, 47; Pliny, Nat . Hist. vi .

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Photius, cod . 224 (on Memnon) ; C . W . Muller, Fragmenta historicorum graecorum, ii . 442; E . H . Banbury, Hist. of Ancient Geography, vol. i . (1879); W . W . Tarn, " Patrocles and the Oxo-Caspian Trade Route " in Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. xxi . (1901) .