History tends to cluster its explorers in the same few centuries, frequently ignoring older figures whose expeditions left fewer evidence. Long before Marco Polo travelled east or Columbus crossed the Atlantic, a Greek adventurer from the Mediterranean is believed to have sailed into portions of Europe that were well outside the known globe at the time. Pytheas of Massalia lived in the fourth century BC, a time when Greek understanding of the Atlantic was limited and unclear. What remains of his work suggests a journey north over foreign seas, possibly hitting Britain and even distant regions such as the Arctic. His stories were broken down later repeated and debated, but they continue to influence how historians see early exploration in northern Europe.
