Pytheas

Related Category: Ancient History, Greece: Biographies

(pĭth´ēəs), Greek mariner and geographer, fl. late 4th cent. B.C. A native of the Greek colony of Massilia (modern Marseilles), he explored the Atlantic coasts of Spain and France, circumnavigated Britain, and sailed to Thule (perhaps the Shetlands or Iceland) and to the Baltic. His account of his voyage, now lost, is referred to by Strabo and Pliny the Elder.

See study by B. Cunliffe (2001).