Marcian of Heraclaea is a Greek author of the 4th-5th century ad, mostly known as an epitomizer of ancient geographical works. This highly educated geographer assigns an extraordinary importance to the chronological relationship between different authors. That leads him to analyze the works of his predecessors not only on a literary ground but also on a historical one. This can be shown from his interpretation of Pseudo-Skylax’s Periplous, a text that Marcianus found anonymous and interpreted as a work of the Persian admiral Skylax of Caryand (6th century bc), mainly taking into account his flaws and interpreting them as a sign of the antiquity of the text.