Statue of Pytheas outside of the Marseille Bourse Shopping Center.

Pytheas (Πυθέας), ca. 380 – ca. 310 BC) was a Greek merchant, geographer and explorer from the Greek colony Massilia (today Marseille, France). He made a voyage of exploration to northwestern Europe around 325 BC. He probably travelled around a considerable part of Great Britain, circumnavigating it between 330 and 320 BC. Pytheas is the first person on record to describe the Midnight Sun, the aurora and polar ice, and the first to mention the name Britannia and Germanic tribes. He may have been the first Mediterranean observer to distinguish between the Germanic and Celtic "barbarian" peoples of northern and western Europe.^[1] City flag Coat of arms Motto: By her great deeds, the city of Massilia shines The Old Port of Marseille Location Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Coordinates Administration Country Region Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur Department Bouches-du-Rhône (13) Subdivisions 16 arrondissements (in 8 secteurs) Intercommunality Urban... Centuries: 5th century BC - 4th century BC - 3rd century BC Decades: 430s BC 420s BC 410s BC 400s BC 390s BC - 380s BC - 370s BC 360s BC 350s BC 340s BC 330s BC 385 BC 384 BC 383 BC 382 BC 381 BC 380 BC 379 BC 378 BC 377... Centuries: 5th century BC - 4th century BC - 3rd century BC Decades: 360s BC 350s BC 340s BC 330s BC 320s BC 310s BC 300s BC 290s BC 280s BC 270s BC 260s BC Years: 315 BC 314 BC 313 BC 312 BC 311 BC _ 310 BC _ 309 BC... Geography - (from the Greek words Geo (γη) or Gaea (γαία), both meaning Earth, and graphein (γράφειν) meaning to describe or to writeor to map) is the study of the earth and its features, inhabitants, and phenomena. ... Explorer redirects here. ... Colonies in antiquity were city-states founded from a mother-city, not from a territory-at-large. ... Marseilles redirects here. ... Marseilles redirects here. ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... Centuries: 5th century BC - 4th century BC - 3rd century BC Decades: 370s BC 360s BC 350s BC 340s BC 330s BC - 320s BC - 310s BC 300s BC 290s BC 280s BC 270s BC 330 BC 329 BC 328 BC 327 BC 326 BC - 325 BC - 324 BC 323 BC 322... The midnight sun at Nordkapp, Norway. ... Aurora borealis Polar aurorae are optical phenomena characterized by colorful displays of light in the night sky. ... Polar ice consists of sea ice formed from the freezing of sea water, as well as ice sheets and glaciers formed from the accumulation and compaction of falling snow. ... For other uses, see Britannia (disambiguation). ... Thor/Donar, Germanic thunder god. ...

Voyage

Pytheas described his travels in a periplus titled On the Ocean (Περί τού Ωκεανού). It has not survived; only excerpts remain, quoted or paraphrased by later authors, most familiarly in Strabo^[2] and Pliny's Natural History, who never saw Pytheas' text at firsthand.^[3] Some of them, Polybius and Strabo, accused Pytheas of documenting a fictitious journey he could never have funded. His story is, however, geographically plausible. Pytheas estimated the circumference of Great Britain within 2.5% of modern estimates. There is some evidence^{[citation needed]} he used the Pole Star to fix latitude and understood the relationships between tides and phases of the Moon. In northern Spain, he studied the tides, and may have discovered that they are caused by the Moon. This discovery was known to Posidonius. A periplus in the ancient navigation of Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans is a manuscript document that lists in order the ports and coastal landmarks, with approximate distances between, that the captain of a vessel could expect to find along a shore. ... The Greek geographer Strabo in a 16th century engraving. ... Naturalis Historia Pliny the Elders Natural History is an encyclopedia written by Pliny the Elder. ... Polybius (c. ... For other uses of the words Pole star and Polestar see Polestar (disambiguation). ... This article is about the geographical term. ... This article is about tides in the Earths oceans. ... This article is about Earths moon. ... The bust of Posidonius as an older man depicts his character as a Stoic philosopher. ...

Pytheas was not the first person to sail up into the North Sea territories and around Great Britain. Trade between Gaul and Great Britain was routine; fishermen and others would travel to Orkney, Norway or Shetland. The Roman Avienus writing in the 4th century mentions an early Greek voyage, possibly from the 6th century BCE. A recent conjectural reconstruction of the journey Pytheas documented has him traveling from Marseille in succession to Bordeaux, Nantes, Land's End, Plymouth, the Isle of Man, Outer Hebrides, Orkney, Iceland, Great Britain's east coast, Kent, Helgoland, returning finally to Marseille. The North Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between the coasts of Norway and Denmark in the east, the coast of the British Isles in the west, and the German, Dutch, Belgian and French coasts in the south. ... Gaul (Latin: ) was the name given, in ancient times, to the region of Western Europe comprising present-day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine river. ... Location Geography Area Ranked 16th  - Total 990 km²  - % Water  ? Admin HQ Kirkwall ISO 3166-2 GB-ORK ONS code 00RA Demographics Population Ranked 32nd  - Total (2006) 19,800  - Density 20 / km² Scottish Gaelic  - Total () {{{Scottish council Gaelic Speakers}}} Politics Orkney Islands Council http://www. ... For other uses, see Shetland (disambiguation). ... Avienus was a Latin writer of the 4th century. ... City flag Coat of arms Motto: By her great deeds, the city of Massilia shines The Old Port of Marseille Location Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Coordinates Administration Country Region Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur Department Bouches-du-Rhône (13) Subdivisions 16 arrondissements (in 8 secteurs) Intercommunality Urban... For other uses, see Bordeaux (disambiguation). ... Traditional city flag City coat of arms Motto: Favet Neptunus eunti (Latin: Shall Neptune favour the traveller) Location Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country Region Pays de la Loire Department Loire-Atlantique (44) Mayor Jean-Marc Ayrault  (PS) (since 1989) City Statistics Land area¹ 65. ... Lands End shown within Cornwall Lands End, the most westerly point in England The wreck of the RMS Mülheim at Lands End, 2003 This article is about the location at the western tip of Cornwall. ... This article is about the city of Plymouth in England. ... Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles) redirects here. ... For other uses, see Kent (disambiguation). ... Heligoland during World War I. Heligoland (in German, Helgoland and in North Frisian, Lun, Hålilönj) is a small, German, triangular-shaped island approximately 2 km long, though a smaller island east of it is usually also included. ...

The start of Pytheas's voyage is unknown. The Carthaginians supposedly had closed the Strait of Gibraltar to all ships from other nations. Some historians therefore believe that he travelled overland to the mouth of the Loire or the Garonne. Others believe that, to avoid the Carthaginian blockade, he may have stuck close to land and sailed only at night. It is also possible he took advantage of a temporary lapse in the blockade, known to have taken place around the time he travelled. For other uses, see Carthage (disambiguation). ... The Strait of Gibraltar as seen from space (on the left: Spain) A view across the Strait of Gibraltar taken from the hills over Tarifa, Spain The Strait of Gibraltar (Arabic: مضيق جبل طارق, Spanish: Estrecho de Gibraltar) is the strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain... This article is about the French department. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Cornwall was important because it was the main source of tin. Pytheas studied the production and processing of tin there. During his circumnavigation of Great Britain, he found that tides rose very high there. He recorded the local name of the islands in Greek as Prettanike, which Diodorus later rendered Pretannia. This supports theories that the coastal inhabitants of Cornwall may have called themselves Pretani or Priteni, 'Painted' or 'Tattooed' people, a term Romans Latinised as Picti (Picts). He is quoted as referring to the British Isles as the "Isles of the Pretani." For other uses, see Cornwall (disambiguation). ... This article is about the metallic chemical element. ... Diodorus Siculus was a Greek historian, born at Agyrium in Sicily (now called Agira, in the province of Enna). ... For other uses, see Cornwall (disambiguation). ... A replica of the Hilton of Cadboll Stone. ... This article describes the archipelago in north-western Europe. ...

Pytheas visited an island six days sailing north of Great Britain, called Thule. It has been suggested that Thule may refer to Iceland or Greenland but parts of the Norwegian coast, Shetland and Faroe Islands have also been suggested by historians. Pytheas says Thule was an agricultural country that produced honey. Its inhabitants ate fruits and drank milk, and made a drink out of grain and honey. Unlike the people from Southern Europe, they had barns, and threshed their grain there rather than outside. Thule as Tile on the Carta Marina by Olaus Magnus. ... For other uses, see Shetland (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Honey (disambiguation). ... A glass of cows milk. ... Grain redirects here. ... A barn in southern Ontario, Canada A barn in Wisconsin A barn in Poland Barn redirects here, for other uses, see Barn (disambiguation). ...

He said he was shown the place where the sun went to sleep, and he noted that the night in Thule was only two to three hours. One day further north the "congealed" sea began, he claimed. As Strabo says (as quoted in Chevallier 1984):

Pytheas also speaks of the waters around Thule and of those places where land properly speaking no longer exists, nor sea nor air, but a mixture of these things, like a "marine lung", in which it is said that earth and water and all things are in suspension as if this something was a link between all these elements, on which one can neither walk nor sail.

The term used for "marine lung" (which caused much discussion in the past) actually means jellyfish, and modern scientists believe that Pytheas here tried to describe the formation of pancake ice at the edge of the drift ice, where sea, slush, and ice mix, surrounded by fog. Besides its texture, the appearance[1] of pancake ice is perhaps reminiscent of a group of jellyfish. Alternatively - it is not clear how precisely "those places" are related to the "waters around Thule" - the description would fit with the Wadden Sea, a phenomenon Pytheas subsequently encountered and which also must have been entirely new to him. Bold text For other uses, see Jellyfish (disambiguation). ... Pancake ice is a form of ice that is formed on water covered to some degree in slush. ... Drift ice consists of slabs of ice that float on the surface of the water in cold regions. ... For other uses, see Fog (disambiguation). ... Satellite image of the southwestern part of the Wadden Sea. ...

After completing his survey of Great Britain, Pytheas travelled to the shallows on the continental North Sea coast. He may also have visited an island which was a source of amber or ambergris. According to "The Natural History" by Pliny the Elder: The North Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between the coasts of Norway and Denmark in the east, the coast of the British Isles in the west, and the German, Dutch, Belgian and French coasts in the south. ... For other uses, see Amber (disambiguation). ... Ambergris Ambergris (Ambra grisea, Ambre gris, ambergrease, or grey amber) is a solid, waxy, flammable substance of a dull grey or blackish color, with the shades being variegated like marble. ... Naturalis Historia, 1669 edition, title page. ... Pliny the Elder: an imaginative 19th Century portrait. ...

Pytheas says that the Gutones, a people of Germany, inhabit the shores of an estuary of the Ocean called Mentonomon, their territory extending a distance of six thousand stadia; that, at one day's sail from this territory, is the Isle of Abalus, upon the shores of which, amber is thrown up by the waves in spring, it being an excretion of the sea in a concrete form; as, also, that the inhabitants use this amber by way of fuel, and sell it to their neighbours, the Teutones.

The island could have been Helgoland, Zealand in the Baltic Sea or even the shores of Bay of Gdansk, Sambia and or Curonian Lagoon which were historically the richest sources of amber in the North Europe (Pliny's Gutones might have been Germanic Goths^{[verification needed]} or Balt Galindians). Heligoland during World War I. Heligoland (in German, Helgoland and in North Frisian, Lun, Hålilönj) is a small, German, triangular-shaped island approximately 2 km long, though a smaller island east of it is usually also included. ... Map showing location of Zealand within Denmark. ... For other uses, see Baltic (disambiguation). ... The Bay of Gdańsk (also known as the Gdańsk Bay or Gulf of Gdańsk; in Polish Zatoka Gdańska; in German Danziger Bucht) is a southeastern bay of the Baltic sea enclosed by a large curve of the shores of Gdańsk Pomerania in Poland (Cape Rozewie, Hel Peninsula) and the Russia... Sambia (German: ; Polish: ; Russian: ) is a peninsula in the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, on the south-eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. ... The Curonian Lagoon (or Bay, Gulf) is sundered from the Baltic Sea by the Curonian Spit and belongs to Lithuania and Russia. ... For other uses, see Amber (disambiguation). ... This article is about the Germanic tribes. ... The Western Galindians in the context of the other Baltic tribes, circa 1200 CE. The Eastern Balts are shown in brown hues while the Western Balts are shown in green. ...

Pytheas may have returned the way he came; or by land, following the Rhine and Rhône rivers. For other uses, see Rhine (disambiguation). ... Length 800 km Elevation of the source 1753 m Average discharge 1800 m³/ s Area watershed 100,200 km² Origin Rhône glacier Mouth Mediterranean Sea Basin countries Switzerland, France The River Rhône ( Latin Rhodanus, French Rhône, Occitan Rose, German Rotten) is one of the major rivers (ca. ...

Literary influence

It is clear that Pytheas' own writing, On the Ocean (Περί του Ωκεανού), which has not survived, was a central source of information to later periods, and possibly the only source. The astronomical author Geminus of Rhodes mentions a "Description of the Ocean". Marcianus, the scholiast on Apollonius of Rhodes, mentions a periodos gēs (περίοδος γῆς - a trip around the earth) or periplus (περίπλους - a sail around). As is common with ancient texts, multiple titles may represent a single source, for example, if a title refers to a section rather than the whole. Whether one or many, none of Pytheas' own writings remain, and extant accounts of his voyage are primarily contained in Strabo, Diodorus of Sicily and Pliny the Elder. Pytheas is also a key figure in Charles Olson's Maximus Poems. Geminus of Rhodes was a Greek astronomer and mathematician. ... Imperator Caesar Flavius Marcianus Augustus or Marcian (c. ... Apollonius of Rhodes, also known as Apollonius Rhodius (Latin; Greek Apollōnios Rhodios), early 3rd century BC - after 246 BC, was an epic poet, scholar, and director of the Library of Alexandria. ... A periplus in the ancient navigation of Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans is a manuscript document that lists in order the ports and coastal landmarks, with approximate distances between, that the captain of a vessel could expect to find along a shore. ... Diodorus Siculus (c. ... Pliny the Elder: an imaginative 19th Century portrait. ...

Notes

Diodorus Siculus (c. ... The bust of Posidonius as an older man depects his character as a Stoic philosopher. ... Dicaearchus (also Dicearchos, Dicearchus or Dikæarchus, Greek Δικαιαρχος; circa 350 BC – circa 285 BC) was a Greek philosopher, cartographer, geographer, mathematician and author. ... Timaeus (Honour) (or Timæus) is a name that appears in several ancient (Greek) sources: Timaeus (dialogue), a Socratic dialogue by Plato Timaeus of Locri, the 5th-century Pythagorean philosopher, appearing in Platos s Timaeus. ... This article is about the Greek scholar of the third century BC. For the ancient Athenian statesman of the fifth century BC, see Eratosthenes (statesman). ... Crate can refer to: A type of box A guitar amplifier company, Crate Amplifiers A wire or mesh enclosure with a door used in crate training dogs. ... For the Athenian tyrant, see Hipparchus (son of Pisistratus). ... Polybius (c. ... Artemidorus Daldianus or Ephesius was a professional diviner and author known for an extant five-volume Greek work Oneirocritica, (English: The Interpretation of Dreams). ... The bust of Posidonius as an older man depicts his character as a Stoic philosopher. ...

Books and articles

• Kavenna, Joanna (2006) The Ice Museum: In Search of the Lost Land of Thule, ISBN 0-670-03473-8
• Chanin-Morris, Roland (2005) "The Edge of the World", Independent
• Cunliffe, Barry (2002), The Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek: The Man Who Discovered Britain (Revised ed.) Walker & Co ISBN 0-8027-1393-9 also in Penguin ISBN 0-14-200254-2
• Hawkes, C.F.C. (1997) Pytheas: Europe and the Greek Explorers (Oxford:Blackwell)
• Roseman, C. H. (1994) Pytheas of Massilia, On the ocean: Text, translation and commentary Ares Publishing ISBN 0-89005-545-9
• Frye, J. & Frye H. (1985) North to Thule: An imagined narrative of the famous lost sea voyage of Pytheas of Massalia in the 4th century B.C. ISBN 0-912697-20-2
• Chevallier, R. (1984) The Greco-Roman Conception of the North from Pytheas to Tacitus (in Arctic, vol. 37, no. 4, Dec. 1984, p. 341-346)
• Stefansson, V (1940) Ultima Thule: Further Mysteries of the Arctic

Barrington Windsor Cunliffe CBE (born December 10, 1939), known as Barry Cunliffe, has been Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford since 1972. ...

Older written materials

• H. F. Tozer History of Ancient Geography (Cambridge, 1897)

Henry Fanshawe Tozer (1829-1916) was an English writer, teacher, and traveler. ...

External links

• Original material copied from this page (with permission)
• Review of Barry Cunliffe's book, The Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek