Western Civilization I / Unit 4 WC1 0321 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Pytheas Sails Past Gibraltar
Captions available
The idea
Greeks knew the Mediterranean, Black Sea, Egypt and Persia directly and the rest by hearsay. Carthage's garrison at Gibraltar closed the Atlantic. About three thirty Pytheas of Massalia slipped past, sailed around Britain, and fixed his home's latitude within eight miles.
In practice
His book was scorned for lacking monsters.
Where people slip
Pytheas rests on the anchor alone. The Greek world stayed Mediterranean.
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