The Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek

Penguin Books

Chapter One

Pytheas the Massaliot

All cities are proud of their heroes. Their statues staregrandly down from their pedestals, telling more about theage that sculpted them than about the people themselves or thetimes in which they lived. Marseille ancient and modern hasalways seen itself as a great maritime power, and on its entrepreneurialtrade reputations and fortunes have been and continueto be made. Where better, then, to proclaim its ancientheroes, Pytheas and Euthymenes, than framed in temple-likeniches set in the façade of the Marseille Bourse?the stockexchange?staring out across its famous enclosed harbor, theCalanque, now crammed with pleasure boats but until comparativelyrecently, when the size of oceangoing ships and containervessels demanded more accessible berths along the nearby coastat La Joliette, the greatest natural commercial harbor of theMediterranean.

    Pytheas and Euthymenes?shadowy figures of the fourth centuryB.C. but worthy role models for more recent city fathers. Bothwere adventurers prepared to move out of the comfortable, familiarwaters of the Mediterranean to explore the monster-riddenocean beyond the Pillars of Hercules. Euthymenes sailed southalong the coast of Africa, reaching at least Dakar and Senegal,and he may even have got as far as Ghana, while Pytheas sailednorth, bringing back tales of tin-producing lands, islands whereamber was washed up by the sea and, in the far, far north, Thule,where the ocean waters congealed. "Rubbish," said later Greekcommentators, "the man was a charlatan and made most of it up."Yet here he stands in a place of honor?the place of honor high onthe front of the Bourse?heavily cloaked against the northerncold, survey gear in his left hand, and a beefy right arm foldedacross his body in a stance of aggressive protection as he staressteadfastly into the distance?out to sea. A charlatan or a heroicadventurer? A mere collector of anecdotes or an original observationalscientist? These are the questions this book will explore.

    On his return Pytheas wrote a book, On the Ocean (Peri touOkeanou), sometime about 320 B.C. The actual Greek text nolonger exists but it was quoted by at least eighteen other writersover the next nine hundred years. How many of them actuallyhad access to an original manuscript or were quoting some secondaryor tertiary source is difficult to say, but as with Chinesewhispers the passing down of information has led to some curiouslygarbled results. How many copies of On the Ocean wereever made? No doubt the Massaliots had one and there musthave been at least one in Athens. Copies would also have beenproduced for the great libraries of Pergamum and Alexandria, butall have disappeared?destroyed in acts of violence or dispersedto monasteries to lie forgotten and to crumble away. The chancesof a fragment surviving in one of the few remaining monasticlibraries or preserved in the mud of a Mediterranean harbor waitingto be found by archaeologists are remote indeed. Historiansmust be content with what has come down to us in the works ofothers?and relish the challenge of making sense of it all.

    But there is far more than the chance survival of a few classicaltexts on which to build this story. The activities of archaeologistsover the last century or so have revolutionized ourunderstanding of the past. In the world of literate Mediterraneancivilization archaeology has gradually built up a systematic, andlargely objective, structure against which to judge the reliabilityof, and to create the context for, the limited array of biasedanecdotes that come down to us in the guise of "ancient history"(though I must admit that not all scholars of ancient historywould be prepared to see it in this way). In the barbarian worldbeyond, the impact of archaeology has been even greater, creatingfrom the earth a picture of the social and economic developmentof all the preliterate peoples. We now know a great deal about theplaces Pytheas claims to have visited and the people who livedthere?far more than any of his contemporaries could possiblyhave known. But even more important is that the totality of thedata now available allows us to glimpse the dynamics of the worldthat Pytheas inhabited. It was a world of change, of developinghorizons, of contacts over huge distances, of commodities andideas flowing and knowledge expanding. The Mediterraneanstates were part of a fast-growing world system incorporating thewhole of Europe and North Africa, characterized by increasinginterdependence. Tip the balance in one place, however remote,and the dislocation would have been felt throughout. There wasa degree of equilibrium, but it was unstable. This was the worldof Pytheas and an expanded knowledge of it enables a betterunderstanding of the actions of this remarkable man.

    A few meters from the edge of the Vieux Port de Marseille,at the lower end of La Canebière, a large bronze plaque has beenset into the concrete. It reads, "Ici vers l'an 600 avant J. C. desmarins Grecs ont abordé venant de Phocée cité Grecque d'AsieMineure. Ils fondèrent Marseille d'où rayonna en occident lacivilisation": "Here around 600 B.C. Greek sailors arrived fromPhocaea, a Greek city in Asia Minor. They founded Marseille,from where civilization spread to the west." As civic accounts ofhistory go it is a straightforward and accurate statement,although whether Marseille could lay claim to being the sole fontof civilization in the western Mediterranean might reasonablyhave been contested by the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and Etruscans.A rather more questionable rendering of the Greekarrival is to be found, somewhat inappropriately, on the monumentalstairway of Marseille's main railway station, the GateSt.-Charles. Here we are greeted by a statue of a stern Greekmatron accompanied by two healthy children riding in the prowof a ship. The meaning of all this, made more puzzling by theaccompanying dolphins, looking distinctly like Pekinese, is clarifiedby the inscription explaining the allegory?Marseille ColonieGrecque?Marseille, a Greek colony.

    That Marseille?or Massalia, as it was known to theGreeks?was a Greek colony is not in doubt, nor is its settlementby Phocaeans from the Greek town of Phocaea on the Aegeancoast of Asia Minor (not to be confused with Phoenicians fromthe coast of what is now Lebanon and Syria, who colonized thecoast of North Africa, parts of Sicily and Sardinia, and southernIberia). The Phocaeans were among the more entrepreneurialof the eastern Greeks, renowned, according to the historianHerodotus, for sailing in warships called penteconters to explorethe Aegean and the northern part of the western Mediterranean.It was as a result of these voyages of reconnaissance that theyidentified potential sites for settlement, eventually choosing toestablish colonies at Massalia in about 600 B.C. and Alalia, on theeast coast of Corsica, about 565 B.C.

    Among the ancient writers there are two different traditionsfor the date of Massalia's foundation, one about 600 B.C., the otherfifty-five years later. The first is most likely to be correct and isgiven strong support by the archaeological evidence, which showsthat the earliest Greek pottery from the site dates to this time.How the erroneous later date came to be accepted by reputablehistorians like Thucydides and Pausanias is not without interest.It seems that they were simply conflating events. In about 545 thePersian armies led by Cyrus the Great, intent on establishing controlof the cities of Asia Minor, attacked the mother city of Phocaea,forcing the inhabitants to flee in their ships. They made fortheir colony of Alalia with the intention of settling, but the suddenbuildup of Greeks here was seen as an escalating threat by theEtruscans facing them just across the Tyrrhenian Sea.

    Until the Phocaeans had arrived in the region sixty yearsbefore, the Etruscans had controlled the maritime traffic of thenorthern part of the western Mediterranean and were tradingwidely around the shores, from the Alpes Maritimes far down thecoast of Iberia. The foundation of Massalia curtailed these activities,though not disastrously; but the new influx of refugees wasthe last straw. An inconclusive sea battle ensued, withCarthaginians weighing in on the side of the Etruscans.Although the Greeks had the upper hand, they showed considerablediscretion and decided to take themselves off to southernItaly to establish a new home at Velia safe among the otherGreek colonies already there. It is easy to see how the ancienthistorians became confused, and without the conclusive archaeologicalevidence for the earliest settlement at Massalia its foundationdate might still be in dispute.

    Leaving aside the subtleties of dates, Massalia has a splendidfoundation myth. It comes in two parts: The first is recorded bythe Greek geographer Strabo. He tells how when the first groupof settlers were about to set out from their home city of Phocaeathey received an oracle advising them to take with them a guideprovided by the great temple of Artemis at Ephesus. Since nocolonial expedition would dare to leave without heeding divineguidance, they sailed down the coast of Asia Minor and put inat the port of Ephesus, there taking on board their guide,Aristarche, "a woman held in very high honour," as well as anumber of sacred images among which was a wooden statue ofthe deity, the many-breasted Artemis. The story ends appropriatelywhen, after sailing the length of the Mediterranean, andmaking a successful landing at the site of their new city, theybuilt a temple to the Ephesian Artemis to house the sacredobjects and installed Aristarche as the priestess.

    In his description of the city Strabo tells us that the templeof Artemis stood prominently on the headland above the harboralong with the temple of the Delphinian Apollo. Exactlywhere the two early temples were sited has not yet been established.Most likely they were on the high point of the promontoryoverlooking the harbor?now the Butte des Moulins?but itis possible that the lower hillock?the Butte St.-Laurent?at theend of the promontory just above the harbor mouth was chosen.Sited here the temple would have been the first building tobe seen from a ship approaching the harbor and the last to disappearfrom view on departure. Pytheas and his contemporarieswould have found the sight comfortingly familiar.

    Strabo's mention of the temple of the Delphinian Apollo isinteresting. This was not the Apollo of Delphi but a differentdeity, a sea god, who, taking the form of a dolphin, guided shipssafely across the oceans (and, incidentally, provided the iconographicreference for the pug-faced dolphins gracing the monumentoutside the railway station).

    Another variant of the foundation myth is given by Justin, ahistorian of the second century A.D. quoting an earlier local writerof the first century B.C. In this story the Greek expedition wascommanded by Protis. Their arrival corresponded with a ceremonyorganized by the local Celtic chieftain Nannos, at whichhis daughter Gyptis was to choose a husband from among hermany suitors. The newcomers were invited to the party and theinevitable happened?Gyptis chose Protis! Nannos acceptedhis daughter's choice, and to show his approval gave the Greeksland on which they founded their city. It is the stuff of all goodmyths?love, honor, and lasting friendship. What truth may liebehind it we shall never know, but again archaeology allowssomething of the background to be sketched in.

The Etruscans, as noted, were exploring and exploiting thecoastal region of what is now southern France before the foundationof Massalia. The archaeological evidence shows thatalready by c. 650 B.C. a lively trade had grown up?a fact amplydemonstrated by the large quantities of Etruscan wine amphoraeand drinking vessels found on a number of coastal sites, in particularat St.-Blaise in the Rhône delta near the mouth of theriver. Excavations here have shown that the site was alreadyoccupied by natives before the Etruscan imports made theirappearance, and with the earliest Etruscan finds there are indicationsof large-scale salt production and the manufacture ofjewelry from coral. Taken together the evidence suggests thatSt.-Blaise may have been the site of a regular trading port, oremporion, where Mediterranean luxuries were exchanged fornative products. There may well have been other similar sitesalong the coast, places such as Cap Couronne and Tamaris,where early material has also been found.

    Other finds from these early "trading" levels include distinctiveeastern Greek pottery and oil amphorae from Attica. Moreexotic imports, possibly from Greek workshops in the Greekcities of southern Italy, include bronze "Rhodian" flagons forpouring wine and cauldrons decorated with griffin heads. Thesemade their way inland into the heart of barbarian Europe, quitepossibly as diplomatic gifts for the native elite. It is impossibleto say whether these precolonial Greek goods were carried inGreek ships or were transported by Etruscans who could easilyhave picked up cargoes of this kind in the harbors of southernItaly?quite probably it was a combination of the two. But whatit all shows is that the native communities of the coastal regionwere entirely familiar with traders, who for fifty years or more hadbeen making regular summer visits to the established market sitesladen with goods, which the natives were pleased to acquire todisplay as symbols of their own prestige. It was against this backgroundthat the Phocaeans arrived about 600 B.C. to establishthe first permanent colony: it is little wonder that the nativeCelts were pleased to see them. It makes the foundation mythseem almost believable.

    The founding fathers will have been intent to establish twothings above all, a suitable home for their gods and a constitutionto rule themselves by. The temples have already been mentioned,but what of the constitution? Aristotle, active at aboutthe time that Pytheas was growing up in Massalia, was impressedby the Massaliot constitution and wrote a detailed account of it.The original text does not survive, but it is referred to by Strabothree centuries later in sufficient detail to enable the main linesof government to be reconstructed. Strabo, too, was impressed:"The government under which the Massaliotes live is aristocratic,and of all aristocracies theirs is the best ordered since theyhave established an Assembly of six hundred men who hold thehonour of that office for life. These are called Timouchoi." Theword means simply the "holder of honors," but it almost certainlyconnotes a wealth qualification. To be eligible for election itwas necessary for the family to have held Massaliot citizenshipfor at least three generations and for the aspiring councilor tohave produced children. The unwieldy six hundred elected anexecutive committee of fifteen empowered to "carry on theimmediate business of government," and a triumvirate of thesewere given the ultimate power. Among the duties of the fifteenwould have been to serve as military leaders if the need arose andto provide the judiciary administering the laws, which, Strabotells us, were based on those of Ionia and were publicly displayedfor all to see.

    Isolated scraps of the law code, mentioned by contemporarywriters, suggest a somewhat austere regime, at least in theory.Women were allowed no wine, ribald theater was forbidden, andconspicuous consumption, such as heavy expenditure on elaboratefunerals and expensive bridal dresses, was restricted. Butthere were compensations. Those wishing to commit suicidecould make their case to the Timouchoi, and if convincing, thecity would provide the necessary dose of hemlock at no cost.Public order was maintained by requiring all foreigners to handin their weapons on entering the city, and for the dispatch ofcriminals it appears that a rusty sword was kept?rusty, somehave suggested, not to inflict greater agony but because of underuse. For the wealthy and the free it was a comfortable, well-orderedexistence.

Massalia's prosperity was based on its ability to control the tradearound the shores of the northern half of the western Mediterraneanand from these coastal regions into the barbarian hinterlandsbeyond. Westward from Massalia, across the Golfe du Lion,lay Emporion (the market), modern Ampurias. It was probablyfounded by the Phocaeans thirty or forty years after Massalia atabout the same time as Alalia. Since it was only "two days andone night's" sailing from Massalia, it provided a convenient firststopping-point on the trade route that led down the Spanishcoast toward the lucrative metal resources of southern Iberia.These were largely under the control of Phoenicians and theirsuccessors the Carthaginians, but Greeks had been penetratingthe markets since the seventh century. In the middle of the fifthcentury a fortified Greek trading post was built at Santa Polanear the mouth of the river Segura. This was a carefully chosenlocation, because the Segura valley provided a major route westwardto the upper reaches of the Guadalquivir valley along thenorth flank of which lay the silver-rich Sierra Morena, with thesilver and copper resources of Tartessus farther west. By controllingthe estuary of the Segura, the Greeks had access to the variedresources of western Iberia without having to contend withthe competing, and increasingly hostile, interests of theCarthaginians, who controlled the southern coasts of Iberia andthe approaching seaways.

    Between Emporion and Massalia lay another Greek port,founded by the Massaliots, at Agde. Not only was it a convenientstopping-point on the coastal route, but it was also convenientlyclose to the mouth of the river Aude?the first leg of an ancientand vital route that led, via the Carcassonne Gap, to the riverGaronne and its wide estuary, the Gironde, a route that linkedthe Mediterranean to the Atlantic and had been in use for manymillennia.

    To the east of Massalia the narrow coastal strip between thesea and the Alpes Maritimes was lined with Greek ports, amongthem Olbia, Antipolis (Antibes), and Nikaia (Nice), all establishedby Massalia. All had fertile hinterlands producing wineand fruit and, no doubt, aromatic herbs, gathered from theupland garrigue, of the type which still enliven the flower marketof Nice.

    The wine production of this coastal strip from Nice to Massaliawas a significant part of the Massaliot economy and is one ofthe activities that lends itself well to archaeological investigation.The reason for this is simple. Wine at this time was transportedin thick-walled pottery containers called amphorae that,once emptied of their contents, were generally discarded. Beingso robust, the shards are virtually indestructible and tend thereforeto bulk large in archaeological excavations. From this unprepossessingmaterial much valuable evidence can be gleaned. Theshapes of the amphorae, changing through time, are a good indicatorof date, while petrographic analysis of the amphora fabricscan usually tell in what region they were made, since heavy mineralsin the clay or fine grits added as temper, once identified,may be found to be quite specific to a particular locality. Armedwith these minutiae, archaeologists studying amphorae from aparticular site occupied over a period of time should be able toshow how the quantity of imported wine varied with time andfrom what regions and in what quantities the wine, at any onetime, was coming. In this way the subtleties of the ancient economycan begin to be teased out.

    One of the tools beloved of archaeologists is the distributionmap?a map showing where a particular artifact has been found.Although there are dangers in relying too heavily on these maps,not least because the evidence is always very incomplete, they canbe helpful. One, of particular interest, shows the distribution ofdistinctive Massaliot wine amphorae of the type in use between540 and 350 B.C. As might be expected, they cluster in the coastalarc between Ampurias and Nice, but some traveled surprisinglyfar, right down the coast of Italy, with a concentration aroundthe Bay of Naples, to the southern tip of Sicily, and along theIberian coast to beyond Cape de Palos just east of Cartagena. Oneinteresting feature of the Spanish distribution is the number ofwreck sites identified offshore?a stark reminder that not all tradingenterprises were entirely successful. The map, then, showssomething of the maritime reach of the Massaliot entrepreneurs,but it has one or two other stories to tell. The amphorae seem tohave been drawn inland along the two main river routes?theAude and the Rhône. Beyond that a few turn up in the valley ofthe Garonne and rather more in the barbarian heartland of westcentral Europe from Burgundy across to southern Germany. Theseare witnesses to quite different processes at work, which deservesome explanation.

The few amphorae in the valley of the Garonne are probably areflection of local systems of exchange between neighboringtribes allowing a fairly low level of exotic goods to be moved overconsiderable distances. Much the same pattern is reflected in thedistribution of painted Greek pottery arriving in boatloads fromAttica to Massalia and Agde. The amphorae and fine wares are,of course, only the archaeologically visible part of what musthave been a far more extensive "trade." But what passed theother way, from the barbarian world to the Mediterranean? Wecan only guess. Slaves perhaps?always a desirable commodity inthe Mediterranean world?and it is a fair assumption that oneof the most valuable of the trade goods was tin coming ultimatelyfrom southwestern Britain and Brittany. Tin was an essentialcomponent of bronze (crucial for making a whole range ofthings, from feasting gear and statues to brooches and hairpins),making up some 10 or 11 percent of the alloy, but little was tobe had in the classical world. The most prolific sources lay alongthe edges of the Atlantic, a region of which many tales were told.There can be little doubt that Pytheas would have known thesestories, and he may well have talked to traders about the routeacross Gául via the Garonne to the Atlantic along which themetal was carried.

    Judging by the distribution of Massaliot amphorae, the Rhôneand the Saône route was well used at this time. But it was notonly wine that flowed north. Along with the amphorae wentAttic cups to drink it from, bronze flagons to pour it, and elaboratebronze mixing vessels like the huge krater found at Vix inBurgundy and the cauldron decorated with crouching lions fromHochdorf near Stuttgart. In fact, what was finding its way northwardinto the barbarian communities of west central Europe werethe complete sets of wine-drinking equipment that would havegraced the Greek ceremony of the symposion?a structured socialoccasion of good conversation well lubricated with alcohol. Thissaid, it is doubtful whether the elite of western central Europe, inaccepting the equipment of wine drinking, were adopting themanners and mores of the Greeks any more than the gentry ofeighteenth-century England, in drinking tea poured from teapotsinto cups, had any serious appreciation of the subtleties of theJapanese tea ceremony. Both were simply adopting the trappingsof exotic foreign behavior to demonstrate their own social preeminence.

Continues...
Excerpted from The Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greekby Barry Cunliffe Copyright © 2003 by Barry Cunliffe. Excerpted by permission.
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