First written description of Britain by Ancient Greek Pytheas

[guy]

Pytheas (b c350 BCE) was a Greek explorer and geographer. He was also the first person to write about Britain. Strabo later stated that Pytheas had traveled “the whole of Britain that was accessible.”
 

Quote

 

“A Greek mariner named Pytheas made the first recorded voyage to the British Isles in the fourth century B.C. He circumnavigated the island of Britain, explored the northern lands of Europe and was the first to describe the Celtic tribes of Britain, the midnight sun, dramatic tidal shifts and polar ice. When he returned home, he wrote an account called "On the Ocean" ("Peri tou Okeanou" in Greek) that circulated widely throughout the ancient world and was read, discussed and debated by scholars for centuries. 

Unfortunately, "On the Ocean" has not survived. Only fragments of it remain, paraphrased or excerpted in the writings of other classical writers such as Strabo, Polybius, Timaeus, Eratosthenes, Diodorus Siculus and Pliny the Elder. But the fragments we have are significant, Cunliffe [emeritus professor of European archaeology at the University of Oxford] said, as they contain a multitude of astronomical, geographic, biological, oceanographic and ethnological observations that have considerable scientific and anthropological significance.“

 

 

https://www.livescience.com/first-western-description-british-isles

 

Short video about Pytheas by Professor Cunliffe:

 

Great video on the ancient explorers. (Pytheas begins at 8:50.)

 

 

Edited February 2 by guy