Nearchus [key], fl. 324 b.c., Macedonian general, b. Crete; friend of Alexander the Great. In 325 b.c., Alexander, about to leave India, had a fleet built in the Indus to transport part of the army home. Nearchus was put in command. They sailed up the Persian coast and rejoined (324 b.c.) Alexander at Susa in Persia. Nearchus' own account of this voyage, together with his description of India, is included in Arrian's Indica.
See A. Flavius, Indica, tr. by E. I. Robson, Vol II, The Loeb Classical Library (1933, repr. 1958).
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