4 Groundbreaking Explorers of the Ancient World

Incredible journeys of exploration took place in antiquity, even before standard tools of navigation (like the sextant and compass) were invented.Show more

In this video we take a look at four ancient explorers who covered huge distances by sea and overland.

The explorers covered include:

1. The first explorer in recorded history;

2. A Carthaginian admiral who led a massive flotilla around the coast of West Africa;

3. An ancient Greek sailor who may have sighted the Arctic;

4. The Chinese ambassador who paved the way for the Silk Road while surviving multiple captures by hostile nomads.

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Intro
00:28 - Harkhuf
02:30 - Hanno the Navigator
05:56 - Pytheas
08:54 - Zhang Qian
13:17 - Such an amazing journey

SOURCES
"Carthage Must Be Destroyed" by Richard Miles

"The Classical World" by Robin Lane Fox

"The History of the Ancient World" by Susan Bauer

https://www.worldhistory.org/article/913/hanno-carthaginian-explorer/

Cameron McPhail. “PYTHEAS OF MASSALIA’S ROUTE OF TRAVEL.” Phoenix 68, no. 3/4 (2014): 247–57. https://doi.org/10.7834/phoenix.68.3-4.0247.

Whitaker, Ian. “The Problem of Pytheas’ Thule.” The Classical Journal 77, no. 2 (1981): 148–64. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3296920.

Cooper, Julien. “Reconsidering the Location of Yam.” Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 48 (2012): 1–21. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24555437.

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