The Greek Exploration of Britain, Thule, the Arctic and the Amber Coast | Pytheas of Massalia
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- Опубліковано 25 чер 2024
- Playlist: • Project Exploration
My Patreon: / kobean_history
My Twitter: / kobean_history
My Discord Server: / discord (discord.gg/Twp4JQP)
When I first learned about Pytheas, I couldn't find much about him in video form, so I decided to take it upon myself to share this interesting piece of often forgotten history and explain his voyage as best I could. I didn't expect it to turn out this long but I wanted to do the topic justice by including as much as we know about Pytheas' journey. I hope you enjoy learning more about him and what he experienced on his voyage.
Check out the channels that read the quotes:
Ancient Americas: / ancientamericas
Casual Historian: / granthurst
Civil War Week By Week: / civilwarweekbyweek
Embrace Historia: / embracehistoria
History and Headlines: / historyandheadlines
Veritas et Caritas: / veritasetcaritas
The art in the thumbnail is by JFoliveras
on DeviantArt: www.deviantart.com/jfoliveras
The maps were taken from Barry Cunliffe's book "The Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek"
Classical Music: Orpheus Odyssey - Legends on Strings
Celtic/Fantasy Music by Vinsvept
/ vindsvept
Song Titles (by chapter):
Massalia to Britain: Journey to the Middle of Nowhere
Cornwall: Night of the Fae
Middle Britain: Glimmerwood
North Britain: Voyage to Nowhere
Thule: Deep Sleep of the Elven King
Amber Coasts: A Storm in Time
#ProjectExploration
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:04 On the Ocean
00:02:30 Overview/Timestamps
00:03:59 The Classical Sources
00:07:50 The Ancient Greek’s World
00:11:10 Who was Pytheas?
00:13:10 Setting off From Massalia
00:14:47 Sailing Around Iberia
00:15:41 Through the Rivers of Keltika [Southern France]
00:16:56 Reaching the Atlantic [Bordeaux]
00:19:16 Along the Armorican Coast [Brittany]
00:20:59 Sun Height Measurements
00:24:15 Foots on Armorican Soil [Brittany]
00:25:20 The First Greek to See Britain
00:25:39 The Tin Mines of Belerion [Cornwall]
00:28:13 The Island of Ictis
00:31:49 The Corners of Albion
00:33:09 Origin of the Name Britain
00:34:59 Britain on Foot
00:36:07 The Inhabitants of Britain
00:38:23 Monopia [Isle of Mann]
00:38:53 Boats of Sticks and Hides
00:40:11 Stories from Ierne [Ireland]
00:41:35 Wild Northern Coasts [Scotland]
00:43:50 The Orcades [Orkney]
00:44:20 Extraordinary Tides
00:46:13 The Haemodes [Shetland]
00:46:33 Where is Thule?
00:53:28 The Discovery of Iceland
00:55:15 The Mysterious Island of Thule
00:57:15 The Congealed Sea [The Arctic]
01:00:02 Why No Others Found Thule
01:02:16 The Amber Coasts
01:05:52 Back Home
Check out the pinned comment for additional notes on:
Why the Faroe Islands is not an option for Thule.
The midnight sun and arctic circle used to be further south.
Ancient Sources:
Strabo, Geography
Pliny the Elder, Natural History
Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica
Geminus of Rhodes, Introduction to Celestial Phenomena
Gaius Julius Caesar, The Conquest of Gaul
Contemporary Sources:
Cunliffe, B. The Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek. Penguin Books, 2003.
Tozer, Henry Fanshawe (1897). A History of Ancient Geography (archive.org/details/b24876628...)
Roseman, C. H. Pytheas of Massalia. Ares Pub, 1994.
Stefansson, V. Ultima Thule. Macmillan, 2017.
www.worldhistory.org/article/...
www.jstor.org/stable/10.7834/...
biography.yourdictionary.com/...
en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwik...
www.worldhistory.org/article/...
Whitaker, Ian (December 1982 - January 1982). "The Problem of Pytheas' Thule". The Classical Journal. 77 (2): 148-164 (www.jstor.org/stable/3296920)
Ictis - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pytheas
explorerspodcast.com/pytheas/
historyofexploration.net/2016...
historyofexploration.net/2016...
greekreporter.com/2022/05/12/...
www.daviddarling.info/encyclo...
www.esa.int/Applications/Obse...
NOTE ON WHY THE FAROE ISLANDS ARE NOT PRESENTED AS AN OPTION FOR THULE:
The Faroe Islands would also be too far south to fit the description of Thule (the same reasoning I used to rule out Shetland).
The only reason I put Shetland as an option and not the Faroe Islands was because some (older) scholars tended to put Shetland forward as Thule because they thought people back then couldn't cross the open ocean and I wanted to counter that claim. In reality, Iceland and Norway are the only real contenders in my opinion.
NOTE ON THE MIDNIGHT SUN APPEARING FURTHER SOUTH BACK THEN:
Due to the axial tilt of the earth changing over time, there is a point to be made that the midnight sun would have appeared further south. I had a look into this and calculated what the earth's tilt was back at the time of Pytheas. According to my calculations, the tilt was about 0.25 degrees more than it is today. which would indeed bring the midnight sun further south but not by much (20km or so). So that would mean that a little more of Iceland would be subject to the midnight sun but it's too little of a difference to affect the Faroe Islands.
---------------------------------------
When I first learned about Pytheas, I couldn't find much about him in video form, so I decided to take it upon myself to share this interesting piece of often forgotten history and explain his voyage as best I could. I didn't expect it to turn out this long but I wanted to do the topic justice by including as much as we know about Pytheas' journey. I hope you enjoy learning more about him and what he experienced on his voyage.
I want to give a shoutout to...
The creator of the thumbnail artwork: www.deviantart.com/jfoliveras
Barry Cunliffe and his book "The Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek" which was a main source for this video and from which the maps were taken.
And the UA-camrs who voiced the quotes:
Ancient Americas: ua-cam.com/users/AncientAmericas
Casual Historian: ua-cam.com/users/GrantHurst
Civil War Week By Week: ua-cam.com/users/CivilWarWeekByWeek
Embrace Historia: ua-cam.com/users/Embracehistoria
History and Headlines: ua-cam.com/users/HistoryandHeadlines
Veritas et Caritas: ua-cam.com/users/veritasetcaritas
If you want more about exploration and discovery, check out the other videos of Project Exploration here: ua-cam.com/play/PLfp1VB3Lm4InaTdeUqvTr0_gUvhJuoZIF.html
amazing! labour of love!
Really fascinating video , well done
, braavooooo💣💣💣💣💣💣💣💣💣
Smashed it dude, great video. Thanks for sharing the knowledge 😊
The map is before ice age
Go Randall Carlson on You tube and you understand
How wonderfully ironic that we know of Pytheas mostly through the efforts of his critics trying to discredit him.
This is a wonderful demonstration of what history consists of: scraps of evidence studied and discussed by experts. The story of Pytheas is nothing less than an epic. Thanks to Kobea(?) and everybody who helped make this video.
Thanks for the comment! I agree, this was the most fun I had when researching a video, just finding all the scraps and putting them together, it feels very rewarding in the end when the full picture comes together.
-Kobe
31:35
regarding this obesrvation. The greek word Nesos today means island and most translators, translate it as such, but in ancient Greek it was also used to describe continents, atoles and peninsulae as well.
The later greek word for peninsula is "Hersonesos" deriving from Hersos, which means terran/earthen/"mainlandish" and nesos (island). So the word Hersonesos can roughly be translated as mainlandish island. Or island connected to the land.
So even if M. Batten was a peninsula the description fits perfectly as well. It doesn't necessarily need to be an island.
A Greek linguist may correct me if I am wrong, I am just a native Greek speaker.
That's a very interesting observation you have made. Etymology is very important to show the essential meaning of words, but it is usually underestimated or even ignored.
As an addition to this, it frustrates me that people call Plato’s description of Atlantis as an island. As someone who knows some ancient Greek, and even Latin for that matter, most words for ‘island’ wouldn’t necessarily refer to islands…
Edit: Much in the same was ‘iron’ doesn’t have to refer to iron, but can be a sword, knife, or something else. The ancients were creative with their language and reading a simple translation is often not the way to go, since multiple interpretations of a single text are possible. To truly understand the texts, you have to study the language so you will know by yourself that multiple translations are actually possible.
It is interesting to consider how far explorers from different civilizations have traveled!
Consider the risks this man ran - being drowned, or being killed by hostile tribes, or being taken as a slave. And his motivation was - to-know-what-was-there.
FACTS !!! 💯 It’s incredible to think about!
@@fvefve12 Hospitality was essential for survival. If you trade with anyone you have to be able to trust them right from the first time you visit them, while a host acting under false pretences only gets to con, rob or murder a guest once, after which either everyone shuns him or the victim's family come looking for him mob-handed. Also travellers would be welcome because they'd bring news of the world beyond the host's doorstep, critical if you need to stay on top of shifting political alliances and other exigencies. Hospitality, honesty and integrity are all bound up in the concept of honour, and essential to earning trust.
He was an ancient Captain Kirk. He wanted to know what was....out there!
obstacles in the dream world, don't heart when you wake up
Thanks for the great video. It was so illuminating about a character who I knew virtually nothing about.
I live in Northern Ireland and from my home on the heights a couple of miles inland from the coast, Scotland is but 30 miles away and always easily visible on clear days.
The gap between the Ards peninsula and the Antrim plateau to the Mull of Galloway on Scotland is barely 25 miles and much closer further to the north of the North Channel.
The idea that such an inquiring mind such as Pytheas' would blithely sail past such a landmass as Ireland without setting foot is virtually inconceivable.
Especially as he would have had to sail through the narrow strait of the North Channel with the mountains of Antrim and Down virtually looming over him. And also past the small inland sea of Strangford Lough with its many islands, anchorages and massive tidal forces - and its obvious that Pytheas loved a good tide - that attracted the later Viking seafarers to setlle on the inlet and give it its current name, the Strong Fjord.
All of these things barely a few hours sail from his route.
I guess that if he did then its on the part of his tale sadly lost to history.
Also as someone who was born has lived on this island for most of my life, Strabo's report on the Irish isn't that far fetched.😁
This is the first time, and probably the only time, I have clicked on an ad, watched the full video and subscribed. Amazing work! Thanks for the video ❤
Καταπληκτική εργασία φτιαγμένη με πολύ δουλειά και μεράκι Μπράβο σας
This is brilliant. I know nothing about the Greek explorers, but I remember my father telling me the anvcient Greeks did send their best students her to learn maths from the Druids. I agree that Thule is Iceland. It has to be for the length of day he describes, and the fact that they found the frozen Arctic sea only 1 or 2 days sailing to the north. Southern Greenland is possible, but the icebergs make sailing there very dangerous, even in summer. Note also that southern Greenland is roughly on the same latitude as Shetland, and a cold summer in Scotland is much the same as a normal summer in southern Greenland. Best wishes from Scotland. (Does this mean I am a hyper-Borean?)
They are not learm maths , they learn nuclear physics from druids.
im interesting of wich drugs you use in your family,
thanks in advance
@@skatiarhs007 None. My father read books. The ancient Britons constructed megalithic henges, which we now know were built with mathematical precision. Some of the smaller stone circles were not circles, but ellipses. So the people who built them must have had a good knowledge of maths and astronomy, 4000 years ago. The ancient Greeks heard stories from traders and wanted to learn more. Just as they went to Eqypt to learn about earlier civilisations.
@@lapoguslapogus7161 not sure about all that, I know they went up there to pick up some TIN that they needed! 👍
This should have way more views
Finally! I’ve been waiting for years for Pytheas the Massaliot to be covered with this depth on UA-cam. I don’t like commenting before finishing a video but I can tell this one is going to be great!
Yea I found a surprising lack of videos about him on UA-cam so I had to make one of my own. I personally feel like this is my best video to date so I hope you like it!
Bloody brilliant work! What a fine history documentary. History can indeed be entertaining, exciting and objectively laid out. Your voice is of a great story teller.
You must be very proud of this work.
Thank you for sharing this, dare I say "Masterpiece". I will say it!
My friend i would like to congratulate you for this astonishing work you have done.
Thank you so much for this.
May God bless you and your Household.
Deo gratias
Very fun exercise! The maps, graphics and dialogue is well thought out and makes good sense. Thanks for sharing!
When first hearing about the European voyages of the discovery as a young child, I remember asking 'who discovered Britain?' Now, I have the answer. Pytheas' story and your retelling of it should have a wider audience. Thank you for the hours you have dedicated to this riveting and important story.
Please check out Himlico the Phoenician his voyage was a hundred years earlier than Pytheas.
"Who discovered Britain?" It's wasn't Pytheas. There were people already living there, he wasn't the first. So the answer is "the Britons" or whoever came before them.
Yeah indeed, greeks never discovered Britain at all, this is EU sponsored shill, done to make Britain look silly, this is a very un ethical thing to do these re-visionry threads, people who make them and deliberately add falsehoods should start having to pay conciquences and punishment as in fines and account terminated, always take something that uses A1 with a pinch of salt, it usually means they have something to hide or trying not to give any clues on their biased narrative, like voice and such..
Me being a Greek, I am 100% sure that Pitheas did discover Iceland and that Iceland is Thule.
Excellent work! Congratulations. It is about time to study more thoroughly the expansion of Hellenic civilization out of Gibraltar straits.
In order to better understand and enjoy Pytheas voyage, we have to start 3 millennia back with the Minoans. Minoan artifacts are found not only in the British Isles, but the coastal Northern Germany...
I'm really interested in Minoan cultural connections to northern Europe. Do you have any links to articles, videos, or papers on the topic you wouldn't mind sharing man?
@@BaltimoresBerzerker i think that the farmers who lived in northern europe before the aryan/indo-european invasions (which completely changed the population) were relatives of the minoans
@@BaltimoresBerzerker
The minoans deified the Bull
The Europeans ' the sacred cow'.
As the indo Europeans also.
No coincidences, a glitch or
Devolution...
completely different epochs
or resets.
Wondering lately when the
AllEndlessness will send
another "God Son / superman".
First I wish to thank for the excellent presentation and to comment. Pytheas from Marseilles with the term "lung of the sea " considers that he has reached the end - the ends of the earth. Unable to go any further, he uses the term of the Greek philosophers who believed that the earth is suspended by a system that works like the lid of the kettle that is suspended by the pressure of the steam (lung).
(I live in Cornwall) Ictis MUST be St Michael's Mount just off the coast of Penzance.
It's accessible to walk at low tide but not high tide.
What's coincidental is there's an island off the coast of France called Mont St Michel, and that the locals of Britanny and Cornwall are supposedly related.
Who's to say there wasn't a community which occupied both peninsulas/promontories and had trading islands off shore.
Keeping trade to an island would help minimise potential plagues or diseases spreading between distant cultures.
I agree. I was thinking about both islands/peninsulas as he was describing Ictis.
The relation of the Breton to the Cornish peoples is due to a migration from Britain to Armorica in the 5-7th centuries C.E. It is probable that there were cultural links between these regions in prehistory, but there was no such thing as Brittany until after the fall of the western Roman Empire.
Looe island is another possibility for ictis.... Think of saints trails as mining ore carriage routes...
This is now my favorite youtube video!! I love all the ancient history you can learn here and this was such a lovely little mental voyage... thank you for your handwork putting it together and your lovely presentation :-)
As dru k as I may be, my bretrehn of Greek blood, I cant help but be nostalgic of you lot, I mesmerize about your glory, I praise your archaic names, I am here!,and you live through me. My ancestors, Pythia, My blood, My i heritance. I am your continuation
I'd wager that there's a copy of these writings in the library of Pompeii, probably a block of carbon now, but we still may be able to read it one day
Thank you for your research.
A good job you did. Had Pytheas' book been preserved till our days it would have become the most valuable source for us to know the people and uses of the Atlantic European shores.
An excellent narrative in all respects. Thank you!
real shame his book didn't survive, I would have loved to read it
What a fantastic video! This must have been an incredible effort to put all bits and pieces together. Super job - probably the most fascinating explorer story of antiquity.
Thanks for the history lesson. I like how you put the story together like a puzzle.
Very well done. Very interesting. Thank you.
Such a commendable Video, so beautifully presented!
Great video topic, very interesting.
Great video i like how you portray information/the journey with the map. Keep it up!
The timber trade is much older than Pytheas. It goes back to the Minoans. Over 3,000 before his time ...
Thank you. This was a very interesting and informative video, that's exposed me to a whole new topic to research. You've earned a new subscriber.
Great video! Super informative! Love how long it is 😍😍😍
Im frome iceland. My father lived in the faro islands and i know people from the shetlands. My father told me that a friend of his told him that under very special conditions where the air is very dry and getting colder on the way to iceland the refraction alows for iceland to be seen from there. Also the same goes for island hopping from the shetlands to faro islands.
I havent seen that but i did see greenland from iceland through the same atmospheric phenomenon
The phenomena you describe is possible up to a distance of 18.7 miles. Considering the minimum distance from the Faroe Islands to Iceland is 429 miles, I’d say it’s impossible for this to be true.
@@LaurenceSchoultz im not too shure about the faro islands to iceland. Also the wiewing hight is not at sea level its couple of hundreds meters high. So i remember reading in a pop science mag in scandinavia an explanation which is in prev message.
Dont get me wrong it could be bs where thousunds will have seen it through out history just because they were expected just like with the god clame.
Well done. Great video!
Amazing work 👏 Thank you very much 😊
This is a really interesting topic and details discussion.
thanks for the great video
Thank you for such an interesting presentation.
Great video!
Very very informative! Thank you.
Very well researched video, truly fascinating.
Diolch 🏴 Thanks 👍
Awesome video
I just discovered your channel and it's brilliant. Cheers.
Thank you. That was amazing.
Superior doc
Super interesting video, thanks a lot!
What an excellent, impressive, piece of work. As to Thule potentially being Iceland, how fast would the people in those days sail overseas? Scotland-Iceland, roughly, is 850 km and I doubt they could travel that distance in 6 days. It boils down to 850 / (6*24) =~= 6 km/h - not impossible with a good southern wind, but ... Also, much closer to Scotland, there still are the Faroe Islands (at about 330km)
That was an adventure and no mistake!
Pytheas was the one who called ancient Scandinavians Lapones....
Great video. I just came across your channel. I'll definitely have to give more of your videos a look.
More of these longer videos would be great. I guess ‘the algorithm’ favours short videos, but I believe history fans really want to get into the details
this is a great work Sir...thank you...ευγε...
Wow that civil war guy sure knows how to say words
What an absolutely amazing video. I love project exploration, and the circle of youtubers working on it are all amazing.
There are two things I want to note, however:
First: Given the importance of tin in the bronze age world, and its extremely limited availability (only found in large quantities in Cornwall and Turkey, if I am not mistaken), it is quite unlikely for Pytheas to have been the first Greek to have made it there. Sure, he could have been the first to have documented it, but that doesn’t mean he is the first. The trade routes from the Mediterranean to Cornwall likely date back to the times of the Hittites, who created a monopoly on Turkish tin, circa 1000BC if I’m not mistaken.
Second: I am glad you mentioned the monks of Ireland traveling to Ireland. Actually, historians seem to grossly underestimate the capabilities of their vessels and of celts in general, likely due to Roman descriptions being not too flattering. Author Tim Severin built an exact replica of the ships you described, and sailed it from Ireland to Canada in the 1970s! If that isn’t proof that it was possible for Scots and Irish people to be present on Iceland at the time, I don’t know what is.
Thanks! That's why I chose my words carefully and called him the first to document the inhabitants (and not the first to visit). I mention the Phoenicians having trade relationships with the Britons before Pytheas as well but it's good to have the extra info you shared as well.
@@KobeanHistory I misheard then. I thought you said he was the first Greek to visit. My bad.
@@tsaoh5572 Actually looking back on it, while I say "the first to document the inhabitants" in the intro segment. I do say "He was probably the first Greek to see Britain" later on in the video. So my apologies, you were right to call me out on that.😅
Really interesting
A very interesting book to buy for Thule and the voyages of the Greeks in the Atlantic ocean is "Greek Geomythology" by Emeritus Professor of Geology Elias Mariolakos. It discusses at length not only the voyage of Pytheas, but other, very possible travels of the ancient Mycaneans and Minoans to Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia and even Canada, for copper and tin mining, through geological and geographical evidence but also the words of Plutarch, Homer, Hesiod, and even the Orphic line, while also giving strong hints for the level of oceanographical and astronomical knowledge needed to make these travels. Another book on this topic is "Orphica" by astronomer Konstantinos Xasapis, which discusses the astronomical knowledge of the Orphics and dates the Orphic Hymns from 1800 BCE to 1200 BCE. Sadly they are not translated to English but people who know Greek would likely enjoy them. (Though be wary of the far-right publisher and commentator of the Orphica, who inserts his own bullcrap about the dating to 12.000 BCE)
greetings from west cornwall ...thank you x
Thanks!
dang! imagine if the Library of Alexandria wasn't destroyed there may be some accounts of expeditions made by ancient explorers.
The library was named a library for lack of a better word back then, since it wasn´t a library, but the first university, and as every university, knowledge-data-basis/libraries are a core-element, it would take another 1100years till the next university would arise, but this one had nothing to do with science, since it studied and taught solely the christian faith. it took 1800-1900years till the 2nd "real" university of the world would arise... And the reason is simple: Romans and Christianity stopped all progress for nearly 2000 years. 20 years ago, the archaiologists heve discovered, that the great findings of 1700AD about calculus in mathematics, were known to Greeks already 1950 years ago, and with much higher quality of the accompanying proofs additionally. A british historian has once said, that if the Greeks were allowed to progress, with this pace, they´d have reached the moon at around 100 AD already (since Greeks were at 200BC at the technological level of Europeans at 1700BC, that finally reached the space in the 1960´s).
@@klausbrinck2137 Thats very true!
blame everything on one incidence when you have no clue of your pas
Much love from Greece 🇬🇷 ελλην έστιν γνώση και φιλοσοφία είθε να μας αφήσουμε να βάλουμε πάλι το φως της αλήθειας που δώσαμε σε όλο τον κόσμο
@Ευτοπία Iumaser καλά δεν χρειάζονταν να μπω εκεί είμαι Έλληνας όχι ψεύτο Έλληνας γνωρίζω πολύ καλά τι γίνεται δυστυχώς όλοι είναι υπνωτισμένοι καλή συνέχεια
@@parisPONTOS What?!?
@@clivesmith9377 ?
Bravo felicitation ❤️
Apparently the modern Inuit came from a people called Thule (not sure where the word comes from) perhaps this refers to Greenland? However, if it were to be found that the name "Thule" was assigned to proto Inuit in modern times it would nullify this possibility & no, I haven't done the appropriate research on that. Just musing really.
The inuits had not reached Greenland yet, the Thule inuits expanded into Greenland 200 years after the Icelandic colonization around the 12th century
@@Temp-hg3kq Oh, I am surprised Wikipedia confirms the Thule settled Greenland around 1400-1600 AD. I had just always assumed they were native to Greenland from prehistory. Seems the Ice has been continuously melting for many thousands of years before industrialisation too.
Greeks were everywhere and gave everything in the world.
I haven't seen anyone cover the voyage and discoveries of Pytheas in such depth, while also quoting the ancient writers. Your work is remarkable, thank you.
However, I would love to add that it is highly probable that bronze age mediterrenean civilizations, such as the sea explorers and traders Minoans, had had being trading with the Brittons and why not even come in contact. After all, I think the Minoans, even though they didn't have access in the best of ships, with their knowledge of the sea they would have been able to make the trip to Prettanike.
Men and Mer have been sailing all the seas of the world for many thousands of years. Somebody had to deliver that cocaine to those Pharaohs.
good video
As to where Thule was, you forgot to mention the Faroe Islands, but the same objection to Shetland applies to the Faroes. Thanks for your excellent presentation.
Brilliant
Such a shame more is not known of Himlico and his voyage to Britain and the in the Atlantic as he is the first to mention the tin mines of Cornwall a hundred years earlier.
Reasons it is Iceland:
1. Six hours sailing north from Britain on a trireme
2.The northern tip of Iceland has 24 hour days on Midsummer
3. One day sailing north of Iceland would be drift ice in 300 BC before global warming - this is what nails it down
4. It is theoretically possible that Celts or Germanic peoples sailed there, farmed, brought bees to make mead, then left or froze to death during a harsh winter
Oh 1 hour on Pytheas, Hell Yeah!!!!!! Hanno The Navigator next! Something that always bothers me about the story of Pytheas and his travels is that he never mentions Stone Henge proper or any of the other hendges as they're quite common in Northern Europe. With the type of man of science if you can call him such, it's just bizarre to me that Pytheas wouldn't have made note of henges, but I suppose we might not make note of a large sun dial in some ancient Mediterranean city. Or perhaps, dare I say maybe he didn't make so many calculations himself but he got them from the local wise men and astronomers and he just didn't want to admit it he didn't do the work. That could explain why he doesn't describe Druids or more cultural and religious practices either. I should think if he spent considerable time in Britain or Jutland that he surely would have seen some kindof Druid or near Druid people and practices. It also kindof bothers me he doesn't seem to have traveled as extensively in the Baltic. It's possible he did but maybe he was weary after visiting Thule. I hate when ancient libraries get lost
The Scottish Gaelic for Iceland is Tile. Perhaps thats a modern version of Thule?
That’s interesting, I believe Thule was also sometimes referred to as Tile in Latin.
If Thule was inhabited at the time of his visit then it's unlikely to be Iceland which was uninhabited until the 7th century CE.
More likely Northern Norway, the prevailing wind in Scotland and the northern Isles is from the south west taking you to Norway. Sailing up the coast of Norway will take you into the Arctic Circle. 330 BCE is in a climatic cold period not as cold as the LIA, the Roman Warm Period was about 100 years in the future.
Amber smells fantastic when you burn it over coals. I loved it. Wish I was burning it right now. That and propolis.
There's another candidate, possibly the best fit, for Thule: Føroyar - the Faroe Isles.
The Faroe Islands would also be too far south to fit the description of Thule (the same reasoning I used to rule out Shetland).
The only reason I put Shetland as an option and not the Faroe Islands was because some (older) scholars tended to put Shetland forward as Thule because they thought people back then couldn't cross the open ocean and I wanted to counter that claim. In reality, Iceland and Norway are the only real contenders in my opinion.
@@KobeanHistory That's only assuming later estimations of latitude were accurate, however. Assuming Pytheas was on the level, actually did travel to these destinations, then "Thule" is somewhere.
@@groovinhooves I am basing it on the description that Thule has days without nights.
Very well done! One question: why is not the Faroe islands a possible candidate to be Thule? It is straight to the north from Scotland.
That's a good point, I'm not sure why scholars tended to put Shetland forward but not the Faroe Islands. I think it mainly stems from the older scholars' reasoning that the natives/Pytheas wouldn't have been able to cross the open ocean accurately enough (an assumption which is wrong) and by that reasoning, Shetland would be as far as they are willing to go. If I remember correctly, Tacitus in the 1st century also marked Shetland down as Thule under that assumption which is probably why Shetland was seen as a more credible option.
The only reason I put Shetland as an option was to counter that claim, in reality Iceland and Norway are the only real contenders. As for the Faroe Islands, they would also be too far south to fit the description of Thule.
@@KobeanHistory Thanks, quick answer, yes I also thought about the latitude. In my opinion Norway´s west coast is more likely than Iceland since we know Norway was populated since long. Why not Lofoten? It could have been seen as an island. He refers to places where the sun does not set at summer solstice. Of course it can have been stories known in Thule, and does not have to apply to the place itself?
PS Southern Scandinavia was also once thought to be an island so such mistakes can happen
The Phoenicians were pirates (mixed of various nations) and that's what led Pytheas to get to Britain by river routes before he sailed out to far North and West....
Thule is more likely to be Svalbard, which is directly North of Britain, and is in the Arctic circle.
Some of my Ancestors came from Svalbard to Britain, which they considered to be the mainland, rather than Scandinavia.
Also Vectus - ectus - ictus, probably Isle of White was Ictus.
Nice video BTW.
After the last ( würmian) glaciation, the Ligurs, who had survived it in the climatic refuges of the Balzi Rossi (Liguria), began to repopulate deserted nord-west Europe. Some millenia later, they discovered amber either on the german coast or on the Baltic shores.
They detained the monopole of amber and as intrepide navigators, they exchanged amber with the Minoans (also < 2000 ante Dominum natum )
the Greeks of the Cyclades, the Egyptians but not the Phenicians ( they had to combat to keep the island of Tabarca).This commerce would explain the general name of their whole nation: AMBRONES ( Plutarcos, Vita G.Marii)..
I enjoyed this exploration very much and was quite surprised to know that a Greek vessel could handle a voyage of that duration back then. Of course, since what is known of his accounts by the 1st century BCE is fragmentary, maybe he acquired better a ship(s) for the sea conditions of those latitudes at some point. This has really whetted my appetite for more but until I can iron the final kinks of my lifetime prototype time machine . . . . I do have a question regarding climate in those years. Greenland got its name from Vikings who managed to live comfortable lives for about 500 years until that climate bump returned to its more typical colder condition. But, offhand, I don't really know when those warmer times began. Maybe tthere were zones where millet could have been grown? Just pondering. . .
That's a good point about there being warm and cold periods throughout history. I had a quick look and it seems the voyage took place during a cold period. So it doesn't back up the millet being grown further north but that does clear up the quote where they mention the "frozen sea" being only 1 day's sail from Thule which I thought was still quite far south for sea ice, but if it was colder then that makes sence.
@@KobeanHistory Thank you for getting to that climate info so fast. Perhaps some of these historians of a later era "embellished" Pythias' account for whatever reason. Accuracy was as desired back then.
Kobean mentions he almost certainly rode on locally made vessels as the guest of local inhabitants and did not sail continuously from the Mediterranean. He got by more on curiosity, traveling light (likely alone), ability to speak celtic and sensitivity to the locals instead of a well capitalized voyage using technology and large manpower. Truly an inspiring journey showing what the human spirit is capable of with courage, sensitivity and resourcefulness.
Im a greek, great video!
Ayeeeeeeee love greece
I wander if Pytheas was also uploading information about the Greek civilisation to the Britons
and if there was some kind of influence left behind him.
I also wander if Pytheas picked up locals who followed him around his travels.
We need to find that book of his. It'll answer so many questions and fill in gaps.
He visited Britons or how did he know about ancient tin mining operations he didn't discover it and start a culture, that is very misleading and dishonest..
WOW!!!
Pytheas was astronomer and his measurnents IS latitudes. Angle between horizon and North star IS your latitude whereever you are, always, at summer winter or between, at day or night, North star never moves. You can try my words by yourself, it is not hard
I would think that Thule probably refers to scandinavia. It was thought to be an island by southerners for a long time since it was assumed that the Baltic eventually joined with the Atlantic ocean to the north. It would seem unplausible that Iceland would have been known to the british peoples since centuries BC and for it to have never been properly settled before the Norse in the 800's
When it comes to the amber cost, since the gutones are mentioned it would seem likely that the island of Abalus might either be Öland which is indeed directly north of the settlements of the goths and which directly translated to protogermanic would be called "Awjolanda" or he might have asked the name of the island and gotten the name "Awjoz" which would just have meant "island" and then it might have been just any island, possibly Rügen.
Wow wow wow
Great video. Thank you. I am a professor in Brazil and I would like to create videos like that. Could you kindly explain me what the name and kind of software you are using?
I use the Adobe Creative cloud:
Photoshop to create the pictures and assets
After Effects to create the virtual space and annimation
Premiere Pro to add any final touches
👍👍👍
A night where the sun sets but provides ambient light all night is possible in Shetland
I think pithius was mistaken in looking for tule after visiting Cornwall was the phonecians called the British Isles tule. The tidal islands could be haling or thorny island. Even skmething thats not an island anymore
Enters Optional Chronology : " Zeus simultaneously sets his two entangled eagles : one from the Tulomaa River Delta and the other from the Blue Nile Rivulet to determine the superposition of the Delfi Temple's building site right in the middle of their incoming flights...
And Leto is the river upstream of the Tulomaa right to the Saariselka magnetic mountain..."
Any relation with Magma's Kobaïan?
Make a video about the Greeks of southern Ukraine.
Ha ha , " the Barbarians ( Brits ) showed us where the Sun goes to rest " . Priceless 😂
Would you not consider the Faroe Islands for Thule?
The Ancient Greecs was Teutonen. The same who huilt the Akropolis in Athens.