Greek experience in the outside world try heavily centered on hearsay; Greeks adored fantastical reports in the places past its instantaneous knowledge, and therefore even great historians such as for instance Herodotus reported that India was inhabited of the enchanting giants and by boys that have multiple brains. In turn, new quick education Greeks actually got worldwide longer in order to the new coasts of one’s Mediterranean, the fresh new Black Sea, Egypt, and you can Persia, as those individuals was indeed other areas they had colonized otherwise was in fact for the contact with owing to exchange. From the Ancient Ages, an effective naval garrison is handled because of the Carthaginians, Phoenician naval opponents of your Greeks, during the straits away from Gibraltar (the brand new slim gap anywhere between Northern Africa and you can southern The country of spain between your Mediterranean in addition to Atlantic Water), and therefore prevented Greek sailors from attaining the Atlantic and and therefore limiting its direct expertise in the country beyond.

An effective sailor on the quick Greek polis Massalia that was better-known for producing motorboat captains and you may navigators, Pytheas undertook probably one of the most unlikely voyages inside the old records, alongside the popular (albeit private) Phoenician trip as much as Africa before. Greek sailors already realized the nation was round together with developed a network for determining latitude that was surprisingly precise; Pytheas’ own calculation of the latitude from Massalia was just out of from the seven miles. Motivated by the a sense of how big the world must be, he stop to sail past the Carthaginian sentries and started to the ocean beyond. Leggi il resto di questo articolo »