Pytheas's voyage to the North Atlantic and Thule
Viaje de Piteas al Atlántico norte y Thule
- Date
- c. 325 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- British Isles and Thule (possibly Norway or Iceland)
- Credited to
- Pytheas of Massalia
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
The Greek Pytheas sailed from Marseille to Britain, described the tides, the midnight sun, the frozen sea and a land called Thule. He was the first to link the tides to the Moon and to measure latitude with the gnomon.
His work 'On the Ocean' was lost; known through citations by Strabo and Pliny, who branded him a liar. Approximate coordinates of the Norwegian coast, one of the identifications of Thule. The places visited were inhabited by Celtic and Germanic peoples.
What it led to
- The concept of Thule as the edge of the known world
- Latitude as a geographical tool
- Greek knowledge of British tin and amber
Built on
- Greek colonisation of Massalia
- Gnomon and Babylonian astronomy
Made possible
- Mathematical geography of Eratosthenes and Hipparchus