Many of our northern European friends who today criticize Greece and its people on account of the debt crisis might not be aware that aside from the arts, sciences and politics, or even the name Europe itself an ancient explorer by the name of Pytheas discovered Britain and many of their very own countries. According to former Oxford Professor and present Emeritus Professor of European Archaeology, Barry Cunliffe, the first significant written record of Britain and its inhabitants was made by the Greek navigator Pytheas, who explored the coastal region of Britain around 325 BC.
According to the Professor, The Greek historian and explorer from the Greek colony of Marseilles, sailed north along the western shores of Europe to Britain and Norway and gave the world its first geographical descriptions of this coast. Some even say that he was the first explorer to reach either Iceland or the coast of Norway. Further to the north, he was turned back by "the congealed sea", suggesting that Pythias was the first Greek to see the frozen arctic ocean.
Although most of Pytheas' records have been lost, there are still many indirect references through other writings and Cunliffe has apparently used these as well as knowledge of history and archaeology and documented them in his book.
Cunliffe, who was a Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford (between 1972 until 2007) and today is acting Emeritus Professor of European Archaeology and an expert in his field describes how this remarkable sailor traveled out of the Mediterranean and along the Atlantic seaboard discovering the lands of "Brittany", or the British Isles -and even Scotland- (as well as the eastern coasts of the North Sea).
When he got there, says the Professor, the ancient explorer discovered colonies who were speaking the same language, in other words ancient Greek!
Pytheas’ account of his explorations, titled “On The Ocean,” was apparently published sometime in 320 BC, but is now lost. Only fragments are said to remain, and quoted in other Greek scholars’ works, as well as used by the former Oxford professor with very many other sources to bring a picture of Pytheas’ life, times and travels.
What sort of boat would he have sailed?
How would ha have navigated in unfamiliar waters?
What did he make of the peoples he met along the way?
It’s all in the book and it is absolutely fascinating.
Cunliffe makes the point that while many of Pythias’ readers must have regarded his stories with disbelief, others thought him a true pioneer and a scientist, and so do scholars of today; they place Pythias alongside Captain Cook and Christopher Columbus, not alongside Odysseus.
On his return from a sea journey north to the Atlantic, the Greek explorer said of Britain: 'The island is thickly populated ... has an extremely chilly climate…' Of its people, he wrote: 'They are unusually hospitable and gentle in manner ... Their diet is inexpensive and quite different from the luxury that is born of wealth ... It (Britain) has many kings and potentates who live for the most part in a state of mutual peace ...'
Yet no one believed him. It was the year 304 BC. and the explorer was Pytheas of Marseilles.
For 2000 years historians labelled him a charlatan, although they enjoyed his accounts of his travels as masterpieces of fabrication. Yet Pytheas was the first Greek to visit and describe Britain and its people and. possibly, to sail within sight of the Norwegian coast. He wrote: 'The people of Britannia are simple in their habits and far removed from the cunning of modern man .. , they do not drink wine. but a fermented liquor made from barley. which they call curmi.'
At the time of his epic journey. the northern waters of the Atlantic were unknown to Pytheas's contemporaries. How could they - familiar only with the warm waters of the Mediterranean - believe that he had seen chunks of floating ice larger than his ship? Or that further north the sea was entirely frozen and the sun never set?
Pytheas was discredited. and although later Greek historians included references to his travels in their books. their attitude was typified by Strabo (born about 63 BC). He wrote: 'Pytheas tells us that Thule [believed then to be an undiscovered northernmost land] is one day's sail from the congealed sea ... and this Pytheas saw with his own eyes - or so he would have us believe.'
- The Reader's Digest Book of Strange Stories Amazing Facts (AmE)
When one hears this story it sounds like something out of a Spielberg film, but when a former Oxford Professor and ancient scholars such as Plato, Homer, Socrates and many, many others recall and quote the same story in their writings as well, then it has to be taken very seriously. Even the Apostle Paul documented this adventure transforming what some may term as a "film scenario" into real history.
Sources -
The Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek: The Man Who Discovered Britain (2001), Walker & Co; ISBN 0-8027-1393-9 (2002 Penguin ed. with new post-script: ISBN 0-14-200254-2)
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