The Greek Exploration of Britain, Thule, the Arctic and the Amber Coast | Pytheas of Massalia

Playlist: My Patreon: My Twitter: My Discord Server: () 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: Casual Historian: Civil War Week By Week: Embrace Historia: History and Headlines: Veritas et Caritas: The art in the thumbnail is by JFoliveras on DeviantArt: 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 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 () Roseman, C. H. Pytheas of Massalia. Ares Pub, 1994. Stefansson, V. Ultima Thule. Macmillan, 2017. Whitaker, Ian (December 1982 – January 1982). “The Problem of Pytheas’ Thule“. The Classical Journal. 77 (2): 148–164 () Ictis - Wikipedia