Thinker in Geographical Thought – Pytheas of Massalia

According to NEP 2020, the syllabus has been changed at the university level. New content has been added. Several changes are also noticeable in the subject of geography. The syllabus of the subject of development of geographical thought has also been updated, it has got a touch of modernity. According to the syllabus, the books required for the development of geographical thought are almost insufficient. In an attempt to overcome this predicament, our smallest attempt to develop geographical thought is the post named Thinker in Geographical Thought – Pytheas of Massalia.

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Thinker in Geographical Thought – Pytheas of Massalia

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Pytheas of Massalia: The name that rises to the top of ancient Greek geography towards the end of Aristotle’s life and during the time of Alexander’s expeditions is Pytheas. Pytheas was a Greek navigator from the colony of Massalia in Gaul (now Marseilles in southern France). The first mention of Pytheas is found in the works of Aristotle’s disciple Dicaearchus. According to M. Cary, Dicaearchus’ explorations took place between 322 and 285 BC. Although geographers from Strabo to Pliny mention Pytheas‘ activities, a clear idea of ​​his personal life remains elusive. Different people have mentioned different periods about his life, in some cases the period from 380 to 310 BC, and in some cases the period from 350-310 BC has been mentioned as his life period. Incidentally, the period from 384 to 322 BC was the life period of Aristotle. Although he wrote many books, Pythias is not mentioned in any of his books. Scott (Dr. Lionel Scott) mentions that, “Pythias was the first Greek who sailed across the North Atlantic Ocean and traveled to Britain“. Scott includes the period of Pythias’s journey in his book as the period from 330-325 BC. The period of Alexander the Great’s expedition is in the contemporary period, i.e. 330-325 BC. Again, Cameron McPhail, considering all the aspects and information, claims that Pythias’ journey began in 325 BC. Landstrom (Bjorn Landstrom) mentions that Pythias was born in 380 BC and that he began his journey by avoiding the attention of the Carthaginians at the age of 50, i.e. by 330 BC. People are remembered through their actions. Perhaps because Pythias did not play a significant role during Aristotle’s lifetime, he is not mentioned in Aristotle’s books despite being a contemporary, and for the opposite reason, Pythias is mentioned in the works of Aristotle’s disciple Deciarchus. Therefore, it can be assumed that Pythias was born around 380 BC and died around 300 BC.

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    Pythias and Greek Geography: Although there is no precise information about Pythias’ personal life, there are many writings about his travels in the Atlantic Ocean. He probably wrote about his travel experiences around 325 BC and his writings were published two years later, around 323 BC. Starting from the Mediterranean, Pythias traveled the Atlantic coast of Iberia and Gaul in search of tin-mining islands. On the one hand, he participated in sea voyages and recorded various experiences, on the other hand, his scientific works are also found. The aspects of the geographical consciousness of ancient Greece that are revealed through the works of Pythias are:
i. Sea voyage: According to Scott, “Pythias was the first Greek to sail to Britain in the North Atlantic“. Pythias’s travelogue “On the Ocean” (Gk. Peri tou Okeanou) states that he sailed the entire European coastline from Cadiz to the mythological northern mouth of the Tanais (Don) and circumnavigated Britain. He gave the first written account of his voyage, the Prettanike. He gave the circumference of the British Isles as 40,000 stadia. From there he sailed northwards past Wales and the Hebrides to the Orkney Islands. From there he sailed north for another 6 days to Thule, now known as Iceland. He defined Thule as the northernmost region of the British Isles. He described Thule and the remote places to its north as ‘there is neither land, nor sea, nor air, but there is a combination of them, like mollusks’. He also referred to this place as the “Bed of the Sun“. He gave the length of the Thule day as 21–22 hours, which later became the standard for the “24-hour day” in northern geographical descriptions, which later established the scientific basis for the six-month day at the North Pole during the solstice and the six-month night at the South Pole. He found it after a six-day voyage north of Britain and close to the Arctic Circle (66°N). He wrote that in terms of its latitudinal position, the warm tropics and the Arctic Circle merge here. From Thule, Pythias followed the fishermen’s route northwards and reached Burgos (probably the Bergen region of Norway). From there he travelled further north to the present-day Arctic Circle and returned via the Baltic Sea. He visited Belerion (Land’s End, Cornwall) and discovered tin mines. He described the presence of ice accumulating in the land-sea juncture beyond Thule, which he considered an obstacle to his further northward voyages. This description was probably an early description of the Arctic pancake ice. His voyages extended the extent of the known world in ancient Greece, changing the 6th-century BC concept of the extent of land outside the Mediterranean. His discovery of Thule Island was to become a resource for later seafarers in the discovery of new lands by sea.

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ii. Astronomical knowledge: In addition to his skill in navigation and navigation, Pythias was well-versed in mathematics, geography, astronomy, and other sciences. Pythias was also a skilled astronomer. Many consider him to have been the ideal student of Eudoxus of Cnidus (391/0–337). Eudoxus ‘made an important contribution to transforming astronomy into a mathematical science’. Pythias observed in his sea voyages that the Pole Star was not exactly at the Pole, and he seems to have been the first person to determine the latitude of a place from the shadow of the sun; and it is expressly stated that he determined the position of Massilia by observing the shadow of the sun cast by Nomon (Strabo ii. pp. 71, 115). Pythias calculated its positional latitude several times, starting from the point of departure at Massalia. He determined the latitudes of three places north of Massalia, namely York, northern Scotland and the Faroes, by measuring the altitude of the sun at the winter solstice. Carpenter (cf. Carpenter) writes that “Pytheas derived his values ​​for determining the length of daylight at different latitudes from calculations, after having determined latitudes in various ways, rather than from observation.” He realized that distant places on the Earth’s surface could be connected to each other by calculating latitudes, which eventually made possible Eratosthenes’s oikoumenic grid a century later.
iii. Concepts of tides: Pythias practiced science. He also paid considerable attention to the environmental effects of tides and was well aware of the influence of the moon on the tides. (Fuhr, De Pythea, P.19.) . He wrote that he was probably confronted by something 80 Cubits high (over 100 feet) due to a storm. In any case, he came to the important conclusion that high tides are the result of lunar activity, and he was the first person to give the idea that tides occur due to the attraction of the moon. Among his other contributions, this contribution initiated the modern study of tidal phenomena.
Although the name Pythias is in many ways a mystery in the development of geographical thought and his expeditions are controversial, modern geographers, including Strabo, Pliny, Polybus, Eratosthenes, and others, have repeatedly quoted the writings of Pythias. His biographical information may not have been revealed yet, but his observations such as being the first person to travel to the North Pole, discovering tin mines, observing a 24-hour day, determining the latitude of a place based on the angle of the sun’s rise, exploring the Arctic Circle, accurately describing the entire maritime route, and observing the gravitational effects of cosmic elements on tides are still regarded as one of the primary elements in the advancement of geographical knowledge.

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References:
“A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology”; Vol-3; William Smith;1867
“The Ancient Explorers”; M. Cary & E.H. Warmingston; 1929
“PYTHEAS OF MASSALIA : Texts, Translation, and Commentary” Lionel Scott; 2024
“PYTHEAS OF MASSALIA’S ROUTE OF TRAVEL” Cameron McPhail; 2014
“The Quest for India : A History of Discovery and Exploration from the Expedition”; Bjorn Landstrom; 2015
“GEOGRAPHERS of the ANCIENT GREEK WORLD : Selected Texts in Translation volume ii”; 2024; D. Graham J. Shipley; Professor of Ancient History at the University of Leicester
“Pytheas and Hecataeus: Visions of the North in the Late Fourth Century B.C.”; Tomislav Bilić; 2020
“Ancient geography : the discovery of the world in classical Greece and Rome”; Roller, Duane W.; 2017
“Pytheas and Thule: Facts and Fictions”; Paul Dunbavin (2025)
“The Growth of an Empirical Cartography in Hellenistic Greece,”; Germaine Aujac; “The History of Cartography”; Chap-9;
“Greek Cartography in the Early Roman World”; Germaine Aujac; “The History of Cartography”; Chap-10;
“Crates of Mallos and Pytheas of Massalia: Examples of Homeric Exegesis in Terms of Mathematical Geography” Transactions of the American Philological Association 142 (2012) 295–328; Tomislav Bilić; Archeological Museum, Zagreb
“PYTHEAS OF MASSALIA AND HIS VOYAGE TO THE NORTH ATLANTIC IN THE LIGHT OF ONOMASTICS”; KRZYSZTOF TOMASZ WITCZAK, MIKOŁAJ RYCHŁO; Eos CX 2023
“Pytheas the Massaliot and the Baltic. Myth or Reality?”; Søren Skriver Tillisch; Archaeologia Lituana 2022, vol. 23, pp. 176–194