4 Forgotten (groundbreaking) Ancient Explorers

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

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.

#ancienthistory #ancientexplorers #ancientegypt #ancientcarthage #listenable #ancientchina #hanno