Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898)

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Patrŏcles

（Πατροκλῆς). A Macedonian general in the service of Seleucus I. and Antiochus I., kings of Syria. Patrocles held, both under Seleucus and Antiochus, an important government over some of the eastern provinces of the Syrian Empire. During the period of his holding this position, he collected accurate geographical information, which he afterwards published to the world; but though he is frequently cited by Strabo, who placed the utmost reliance on his accuracy, neither the title nor exact subject of his work is mentioned. It seems clear, however, that it included a general account of India as well as of the countries on the banks of the Oxus and the Caspian Sea. Patrocles regarded the Caspian Sea as a gulf or inlet of the ocean, and maintained the possibility of sailing thither by sea from the Indian Ocean (Strabo, ii. p. 69).