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Pytheas of Massalia

Background

Pytheas of Massalia was an ancient Greek geographer, explorer, and navigator from the Greek colony of Massalia (modern-day Marseille, France). He lived during the 4th century BCE, around 350-285 BCE, and is most famous for his exploratory voyage to the northern parts of Europe, including the British Isles and possibly reaching as far as the Arctic Circle. His accounts provide some of the earliest known descriptions of these distant regions.

Key Aspects of Pytheas' Life and Explorations

1. Background and Early Life:

   • Pytheas was born in Massalia, a Greek colony that was a prominent center of trade and navigation. The city's strategic location on the Mediterranean coast facilitated maritime commerce and exploration, likely influencing Pytheas' interest in geography and navigation.

2. Voyage to the North:

   • Around 325 BCE, Pytheas embarked on a remarkable voyage to explore the unknown regions of northern Europe. His journey took him through the Atlantic Ocean and into the North Sea, reaching areas that were largely uncharted by the Greeks at the time.

3. Exploration of the British Isles:

   • Pytheas is credited with being one of the first Greeks to visit the British Isles. He provided detailed accounts of the geography, climate, and inhabitants of the islands. He described the island of Britain (Britannia) and mentioned Thule, which he claimed was six days' sail north of Britain. Thule is thought to be a reference to Iceland or possibly Norway.

4. Observations on Natural Phenomena:

   • Pytheas made significant observations on natural phenomena during his voyage. He described the long days and short nights experienced in northern latitudes during summer, as well as the presence of sea ice in the Arctic region. His accounts of these phenomena were among the first recorded by a Greek explorer.

5. Economic and Cultural Descriptions:

   • In addition to geographic and climatic observations, Pytheas documented the economic activities and cultural practices of the people he encountered. He noted the use of amber in trade, the cultivation of grain, and the brewing of a fermented drink made from barley, which is one of the earliest references to beer.

6. Scientific Contributions:

   • Pytheas made significant contributions to the scientific understanding of the world. He provided measurements of latitude based on the length of daylight, and his observations on the tides were among the earliest recorded, noting the influence of the moon on tidal movements.

7. Reception and Legacy:

   • Pytheas' accounts were met with skepticism by some of his contemporaries, as his descriptions of distant and unknown lands seemed fantastical to many. Despite this, his work was later recognized for its valuable contributions to geography and exploration. His writings, though lost, were referenced by later geographers and historians such as Strabo, Pliny the Elder, and Diodorus Siculus.

Legacy

Pytheas of Massalia is remembered as a pioneering explorer whose journey expanded the Greek understanding of the world. His detailed observations and descriptions of the northern regions provided a foundation for future explorations and contributed to the broader knowledge of geography in the ancient world. Though some of his contemporaries doubted his accounts, the accuracy of many of his observations has been corroborated by later discoveries, cementing his legacy as one of the great early explorers of antiquity.

Sources

Graham, Thomas H.B. (July–December 1893). "Thule and the Tin Islands". The Gentleman's Magazine. CCLXXV: 179.

Sarton, Georg (1993). Ancient Science Through the Golden Age of Greece. New York: Courier Dover Publications. pp. 524–525. ISBN 978-0-486-27495-9. His fate was comparable to that of Marco Polo in later times; some of the things that they told were so extraordinary, so contrary to common experience, that wise and prudent men could not believe them and concluded they were fables

Burton, Richard F. (1875). Ultima Thule; or, A Summer in Iceland. London and Edinburgh: William P. Nimmo.

Chevallier, R. (December 1984). "The Greco-Roman Conception of the North from Pytheas to Tacitus". Arctic. 37 (4): 341–346. doi:10.14430/arctic2217.

Cunliffe, Barry (2002). The Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek: The Man Who Discovered Britain (Revised ed.). Walker & Co, Penguin. ISBN 0-14-200254-2.

Frye, John; Harriet Frye (1985). North to Thule: an imagined narrative of the famous "lost" sea voyage of Pytheas of Massalia in the fourth century B.C. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. ISBN 978-0-912697-20-8.

Gimbutas, Marija (1967). Daniel, Glyn, ed. The Balts. Ancient Peoples and Places. New York: Frederick A. Praeger.

Hawkes, C.F.C. (1977). Pytheas: Europe and the Greek Explorers. Oxford: Blackwell, Classics Department for the Board of Management of the Myres Memorial Fund. 090356307X.

Markham, Clements R. (June 1893). "Pytheas, The Discoverer of Britain". The Geographical Journal. London: The Royal Geographical Society. 1 (6): 504–524. doi:10.2307/1773964.

Nansen, Fridtjof (1911). In Northern Mists: Arctic Exploration in Early Times. Volume I. Translated by Arthur G. Chater. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co.

Roller, Duane W. (2006). Through the Pillars of Herakles: Greco-Roman Exploration of the Atlantic. London, New York: Routledge. ISBN 9780415372879.

Roseman, Christina Horst (1994). Pytheas of Massalia: On the ocean: Text, translation and commentary. Ares Publishing. ISBN 0-89005-545-9.

Smith, William (1880). "Pytheas". A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. III. London: J. Murray.

Stefansson, Vilhjalmur (1940). Ultima Thule: further mysteries of the Arctic. New York: Macmillan Co.

John Taylor, Albion: the earliest history" (Dublin, 2016)

Tozer, Henry Fanshawe (1897). History of Ancient Geography. Cambridge: University Press.