Pytheas of Missalia conducted one of the first great voyages of discovery when he circumnavigated the island of Brian.

Episodes

Pytheas and the Circumnavigation of Britain
In about 325 BCE, Pytheas of Missalia set out into the land of the Celts to find the legendary island of Britain. In the process, he would circumnavigate the island – and even (according to some) – discover Iceland. It is one of the first recorded great voyages of discovery.

Download this episode or listen online.

Maps

Images

Resources

While there is not a lot of information about Pytheas available, here’s a list of a few of the better resources that I found.

• The Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek by Barry Cunliffe is the most complete and in-depth look at Pytheas.
• Pytheas’ Wikipedia page was a great help for researching this podcast.
• This article on Pytheas by Thomas S. Garlinghouse was one of the most complete online biographies of Pytheas.
• Guillaume Lamothe has a two part podcast on Pytheas at his excellent History of Exploration site.

All image courtesy of Wikipedia.