Pifeius was one of the ancient Greekresearchers of the ocean. He lived approximately between 380 and 310 BC. e. The future navigator was born in the colony of Massalia (today it is the French city of Marseilles). Therefore it is not surprising that his life was connected with travel and discoveries.
Swimming Pythia
In 325 BC. e.The enterprising Hellenist went to his most famous and important voyage. What Pifeius discovered was outside the then known to the Greeks of the world. He left behind the Pillars of Hercules - the landmark heights that encircle the Strait of Gibraltar. Once inside the Atlantic Ocean, Pifei's ships headed north. So the ancient navigators discovered Britain.
All that Pipheus discovered was recorded in hiswritten works ("On the Ocean" and "Zemleopisanie"), which, unfortunately, did not reach us. However, such scientists as Polybius and Strabo refer to him. These historians distrusted the discoveries of the "northern land". Rumors and myths about Britain were confirmed only in the time of the Roman ruler Julius Caesar in the first century. BC. e. All information about the island up to this time, one way or another, went back to the works of Pythia. Thanks to the remaining quoted inconsistencies, we can conclude that this traveler first reached the shores of Britain, then visited the legendary island of Thule and finally found himself on the shores of the Baltic Sea, where local tribes mined precious amber. What Pifei discovered opened the imagination of his contemporaries, so many did not believe his stories.
Thule Island
Легендарный остров Туле, описанный мореходом, is mentioned in his essay "On the Ocean". So it is for certain and not known, about what land was said by Pifeus. Later Thule was often associated with Iceland or other archipelagoes of the northern seas (Faroe, Orkney, Shetland or Hebrides). This place was considered the edge of the universe, beyond which a person can not simply get to.
Some researchers, including Strabo,accused Pifei of the fact that all his stories about Tula are fiction. But the famous polar explorer Nansen already in the XX century believed that the ancient Greek navigator visited the shores of his native Norway. This assumption also has the right to exist. Expeditions of Pythia encountered such unprecedented phenomena as the polar day and the polar lights. Nothing like the inhabitants of the Mediterranean have not yet seen. These natural phenomena are typical for latitudes that are beyond the Arctic Circle. Therefore Nansen could be right in his assumption of Norway. In addition, Scandinavia until the Middle Ages was considered an island (as well as Thule). The eternal ice, which was the natural boundary of the northern seas, was accepted by the ancient Greeks for the otherworldly world and the kingdom of the god Kronos.
Organization of the expedition
What Pipheus discovered was practical as well.value for the inhabitants of Massalia. They wanted to find the shortest path to British tin and Baltic amber. These goods were highly valued in the antique market. Here, the competition between the numerous Greek and Phoenician colonies in the Mediterranean and Black seas affected. So it would be wrong to think that Pifeus was an adventurer and a poor man. He performed a matter of state importance, which concerned the influence and power of one of the largest colonial centers.
Of course, Pifeus had a wide knowledge ofgeography and astronomy. He managed to determine the latitude of his native city. Many scientists used his research and calculations. For example, among them was an astronomer and mathematician Hipparch of Nicaea, who lived in the II century BC. er To calculate the latitude, Pypheus also determined the height of the sun at noon.
However, in order to organize such a distantthe journey, knowledge of the ancient Greek navigator was clearly not enough. He had to face the resistance of the Phoenicians. They controlled the Pillars of Hercules and protected the shores of Iberia (modern Spain), where strangers were not allowed. Due to the fragmentaryness and incompleteness of the sources, it remained unclear how Pytheas managed to overcome this problem.
Coast of France and Britain
But we got his descriptions of the Celtic.So in antiquity France was called. The route of Pythaea passed along the shores inhabited by anustimia. The researcher described Britain, which he took to be a triangular island, as well as tin mining by local tribes. The south-western extremity of this land corresponded to the cape, which he called Belerion. Today is Cornwall.
Baltic Sea
Греки считали, что Балтийское побережье, на which ended the journey of Pythaeus, is a mythical land. The river Eridan, where amber was mined, was unattainable for the inhabitants of the Mediterranean. She was also associated with wild Scythia. These inconsistencies between the sources cause confusion, which makes it difficult to understand where Pytheas was. The geographical discoveries of the Greek could include the Jutland Peninsula. This land was the natural boundary between the North and Baltic Seas.
Tanais
It is interesting that the river also appears in the sources.Tanais, which describes Pypheus. The geographical discoveries of his expedition could not affect this region, because this word the Greeks called modern Don in the Black Sea steppes. The confusion is due to the fact that the Greeks had a remote idea of where Scythia ends. Most likely, Pipheus called Tanais Elbe, where he could visit during his trip to the Baltic Sea. In any case, the value of his discoveries is difficult to overestimate, since they expanded the Greeks' ideas about the world around them.
