Voyage to the North

Pytheas of Massalia · 330 BCE – 300 BCE · Earth

Investigate the tin trade and the seas beyond Iberia.

Historical context

Greek geography ended at the Pillars of Hercules, beyond which lay rumour and ice. Pytheas sailed into that unknown and brought back the first measurable account of the northern seas.

The voyage, step by step

1. Out of Massalia

   330 BCE

   Pytheas sails from the Greek colony of Massalia in search of the tin lands of the north.

2. Past Iberia

   325 BCE

   He rounds the Iberian coast and measures latitude with a gnomon as he goes.

3. Britain circumnavigated

   320 BCE

   Pytheas sails around Britain and estimates its size, the first such account.

4. The land of Thule

   315 BCE

   He reports a far northern land where the sun barely sets and the sea is frozen.

Outcome

Circumnavigated Britain and reported a far northern land, Thule.

Pytheas of Massalia

Greek geographer who sailed into the North Atlantic, circumnavigated Britain and reported a far northern land he called Thule.

Read on Wikipedia

Sources

• Pytheas — Wikipedia
• Europe Between the Oceans: 9000 BC – AD 1000Barry Cunliffe · Yale University Press · 2008

Continue exploring

• Return from IndiaNearchus · 325 BCE – 324 BCE
• Voyage of the PeriplusHanno the Navigator · 500 BCE – 470 BCE
• Settlement of GreenlandErik the Red · 985 CE – 986 CE
• Voyage to VinlandLeif Erikson · 1000 CE – 1001 CE