Pytheas (redirected from Pytheas of Marseilles)

Pytheas (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.

Bibliography

See study by B. Cunliffe (2001).

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Pytheas

4th century bc, Greek navigator. He was the first Greek to visit and describe the coasts of Spain, France, and the British Isles and may have reached Iceland