About 600 years BC, Greek merchants sailed west the length of the Mediterranean Sea and founded a city named Massilia. Now it's called Marseilles, France. The purpose of the new port was to control commerce by means of the Rhone river into the interior of western Europe. It would have been easier, of course, to conduct such trade by sailing through the Strait of Hercules, now called Gibraltar, and then up the Atlantic coast. But for at least 200 years the Carthaginians had been guarding the straits, sallying forth from their ports in north-Africa to enforce heavy tariffs and eliminate economic competition. They had grown rich in the process. All kinds of goods such as tin from Britain, gold from Ireland, amber from the Baltics, and ivory from a mysterious region in the north, were being exchanged for bronze tools and weapons, pottery, cloth and wine. Commerce was brisk the length of the inland sea, and there were riches to be made by those who could establish and hold important trade routes. Somewhere around 330 BC a navigator, geographer, and astronomer named Pytheas, who possessed a seemingly insatiable curiosity, decided to explore those trade routes for himself. He became the first literate, European-educated, man to do so.
The Rock of Gibraltar's North Front cliff face from Bayside (c.1810) showing the embrasures in the Rock. (Public Domain)
At least, that's what many modern scholars now believe. Pytheas wrote a book about his journey that he called On the Ocean. But no one alive today has ever read it. It disappeared long ago, and the only reason we know about its existence at all is that ancient writers quoted it from time to time, some in a derogatory fashion. What became of it, no one knows. But it's entirely possible that such a ground-breaking volume would have found a home in the Alexandrian Library, named after the world's most famous Greek and dedicated to collecting all the world's wisdom. If so, it would probably have burned in the one of the great fires that destroyed so much of the so-called ‘pagan’ knowledge of that day.
Statue of Pytheas outside the Palais de la Bourse, Marseilles. (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Emerging from the Realm of Mythology
Recently the legend of Pytheas has been resurrected and examined in a new light. He was a brilliant mathematician, the first Greek to demonstrate that tides were connected with the moon, and the first to discover an accurate method of determining latitude. His astronomical measurements were so precise that it now appears he was far removed from the imaginative mythologist some of his later accusers accused him of being. Many of his geographical descriptions and unparalleled local observations are so detailed and accurate that it seems certain he was who he said he was and did what he claimed he did.
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And those claims were remarkable. In short, he was the first to circumnavigate the British Isles and possibly the first inland navigator to view Iceland (Thule) and maybe even Greenland. His voyage around what he called the ‘three corners of Britain’ portrays an accurate description as far as miles traveled, latitudes covered, and geographical points sighted. From the ‘promontory of Kantion’ (Kent), to ‘Belerion’ (Cornwall) and then to ‘Orkas’ (the Orkney Islands), he vividly describes locations in terms only an authentic, observant visitor could have witnessed.
Map of Pytheas’ voyage (Fschwarzentruber / CC BY-SA 4.0)
On to the British Isles and Beyond
His voyage, probably on board a Greek Holkas, or trading vessel, which would have measured about 50 feet (15.24 meters) from stem to stern, seems to have taken him through the Straits of Gibraltar, no doubt exercising great caution so as to avoid Carthaginian warships, and then to present-day Cadiz, Spain. After a brief layover he crossed the channel to visit the Cornwall tin mines, famous the world over because tin ingots were essential in the making of bronze. Here he described, in great detail, the local's native drink made of cereals and honey (mead) and the use of threshing barns, which was very different from the open-air threshing techniques common to his home in the Mediterranean region. He commented that the people of Cornwall were: "civilized in manner and especially hospitable to strangers because of their dealings with foreign merchants."
1620 edition of Strabo's Geographica. (Public Domain)
From there his journey took him north. Here's where his story gets especially interesting. Quoting from the historian Strabo, who in turn quotes Polybius: "Pytheas asserts that he explored in person the whole northern region of Europe as far as the ends of the world." Even though Strabo goes on to call Pytheas a liar, he reports that ‘the ends of the world’ consisted of a place called Thule. It is an island about six days sailing distance from northern Britain, located near a frozen sea, and has no night at mid-summer.
In Pursuit of the Walrus Trade
Admittedly, Pytheas could have been demonstrating some cultural bias. In Greek myth, the lands of the far north were populated by a race of giants called Hyperboreans. These stories from his mythology could have influenced him. But there's another intriguing possibility. By the time of Pytheas' voyage, walrus in the northern British Isles had been hunted way beyond commercial viability. But their ivory tusks were very much in demand and their hides, made waterproof with a concoction of redolent, rendered walrus oil/tar, were still used to sheath the ocean-going boats of the northern inhabitants. As a matter of fact, such boats were still in use 300 years later when they sailed circles around heavy Roman galleys that could simply not compete with the lighter, faster vessels, especially in light winds.
Walrus Hunting based on a sketch by Dr. Kane (1856) (Public Domain)
So, if walrus were hunted nearly to extinction up north, where was all the ivory, hides and oil/tar coming from? Could it be that having depleted walrus populations in the north, seafarers had turned west, following the flocks of ocean birds and, eventually, walrus sightings, that led toward Iceland? Was this the mysterious Thule Pytheas wrote about? Tantalizing clues seem to indicate this possibility. Because his book is lost, probably forever, we might never know the truth. But if we follow the clues he left behind, the following scenario is certainly plausible:
Discovering the Elusive Thule
Once he cleared the Hebrides, Pytheas was faced with a choice. He could turn to starboard and follow a route that led past the Orkney and Shetland islands, eventually heading east to Norway. This is the traditional interpretation regarding the location of Thule. But it doesn't account for the many descriptions of geographical attributes, latitude readings, physical locations, and social customs that he supplies in such great detail. The one thing the theory has going for it is the cultural bias that says no one got to Iceland before the Vikings. And even the Vikings were not afforded their recognition until archeologists were finally able to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that the famous Viking Sagas describing their accomplishments were reliable as historical documents. In some quarters, the journal of Pytheas is not yet given that seal of approval.
The mythical island of Thule on the Carta Marina. Olaus Magnus (Public Domain)
But once Pytheas reached the Faeroe Islands, it was actually more advantageous to turn his prow to port. An experienced seaman would know to follow the signs of migrating sea birds, prevailing winds, cloud formations and other clues that land was present only a day or two to the west. Even more important, walrus were plentiful. Natives of the north had probably been harvesting this resource for centuries. They were not ignorant savages, afraid to venture out on the open sea, out of sight of land. To them, this was already an ancient way of life. It might even be that these hunters were the very ones who informed, and maybe even guided, an adventurous and curious explorer such as Pytheas.
As to why the mysterious Thule had remained secret for so long from European traders, what better way for the local ‘Pretanni’, as they were called in Europe, seafarers to retain their monopoly on the walrus trade? It was a secret that probably stood them in good stead centuries later, when fierce Viking raiders began to ply their notorious slave and plunder trade throughout the British Isles. The mysterious Thule might have proved to be a safe haven, at least for a generation or two.
The few remaining passages from Pytheas' book offer an even more tantalizing mystery. Apparently, after viewing Iceland from the relatively safe confines of the deck of his ship, he was guided by the locals even further west, where he sailed to the very edge of the pack ice to view from afar the white-shrouded, snow-capped mountains of a land that, 1000 years later, a savvy real estate entrepreneur by the name of Eric the Red would, in a brilliant PR move, call Greenland. (‘Snowland’ wouldn't have attracted nearly as many settlers.)
Remains of the Greek harbor in the Jardin des Vestiges in central Marseille, the most extensive Greek settlement in pre-Roman Gaul (Public Domain)
Returning Home or Setting Sail Further West?
The rest of Pytheas' journey is almost anticlimactic. Sailing back east again after his Icelandic excursion, he crested the Orkneys, perhaps even sailing far enough east so as to glimpse the fiords of Norway off his port bow, and then south through the North Sea, down the English Channel, and back home to his native home port of Massilia. Even if his journey to Iceland is discounted as fanciful invention, it was still an important voyage, earning Pytheas the richly deserved honor of being one of the first, great, European explorers. But if we consider that his western excursion might really have taken place, we are faced with some unsettling facts:
Although recent scholarship has proved to be much more accepting of the genius, bravery, and accomplishments of the ancients than was the case in past generations, we have to constantly be on guard against contemporary hubris when it comes to history. Wherever the pioneer explorers went, they always seemed to find others who had gotten there first.
This leads to another fact: Acceptable archeological dates always seem to be moved back, not forward. Chances are that we are a much older species than we generally think. Was Pytheas the first ‘literate’ or ‘educated’ European to circumnavigate the British Isles? Or was he just the first to write a book about it? His writings, remembered by others, offer many clues that history, as we are often taught it, needs to be constantly re-written. The argument against keeping our minds open to the genius of our ancestors is usually: "But if we accept that we'll have to re-write the textbooks!" Well, if so, so be it!
Finally, Pytheas offers us yet another account of the indefatigable human spirit. Just because something can be done doesn't mean it was done, but it certainly offers up possibilities that it could have been done. From the Faeroes to Iceland is a short jaunt. As is the trip west to Greenland. But from Greenland across the Davis Strait to Labrador isn't much longer. From there, it's coastal navigating all the way south to Florida.
Greenland (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Did Columbus first ‘discover’ America, or even the Vikings, or the Phoenicians before them ... or on and on as far back as we wish to go? Pytheas' answer would probably be a resounding ‘No!’ Let us at least remain open to the idea.
Jim Willis is author of nine books on religion and spirituality, he has been an ordained minister for over forty years while working part-time as a carpenter, the host of his own drive-time radio show, an arts council director and adjunct college professor in the fields of World Religions and Instrumental Music. He is author of Ancient Gods: Lost Histories, Hidden Truths, and the Conspiracy of Silence
Top Image: Arctic Ocean Sea Water. (CC0)
By Jim Willis
References
Carpenter, R. 1966. Beyond the Pillars of Heracles: The Classical World Seen Through the Eyes of Its Discoverers. New York: Delacorte Press.
Cary, M. & Warmington, E.H. 1963. The Ancient Explorers. London: Methuen, 1929; reprinted in paperback, Baltimore, Md.: Penguin Books.
Cunliffe B. 2003. The Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek. The Penguin Group, New York, NY.
Cunliffe, B. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIaMKCLa-kQ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8FM9nMFbfI&t=8s
Heinemann, 1911; reprinted, New York: AMS Press, 1969.
Herrmann, P. 1954. Conquest by Man. New York: Harper & Brothers.
Landström, B. 1964. The Quest for India. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday.
Mowatt, F. 2000. The Farfarers. Steerforth Press in South Royalton, VT
Nansen, F. 1969. In Northern Mists: Arctic Exploration in Early Times, 2 vols. London: William
Pytheas Facts: Your Dictionary: Retrieved 2018. Available at: http://biography.yourdictionary.com/pytheas:
Woodburn Hyde, W. 1947. Ancient Greek Mariners. New York: Oxford University Press.
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