Editing Pytheas (section)

{{Short description|Ancient Greek geographer (born ca. 350 BC)}}
{{Distinguish|Pythias}}
{{For|the ancient Athenian orator|Pytheas (Athenian)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name             = Pytheas of Massalia
| image            = Pythéas.jpg
| image_size       = 200px
| alt              =
| caption          = A statue of Pytheas outside the [[Palais de la Bourse (Marseille)|Palais de la Bourse]], [[Marseille]]
| birth_date       = {{circa}} 350 BC{{Sfn|Kaplan|2013}}
| birth_place      = [[Massalia]]
| death_date       = 
| citizenship      = Massaliote
| nationality      = [[Greeks|Greek]]
| fields           = Geography, exploration, navigation
| notable_students = 
| known_for        = Earliest [[Greeks|Greek]] voyage to [[Great Britain|Britain]], the [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]], and the [[Arctic Circle]] for which there is a record, author of ''[[Periplus]]''.
| footnotes        =  
}}
'''Pytheas of Massalia''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|ɪ|θ|i|ə|s}}; [[Ancient Greek]]: Πυθέας ὁ Μασσαλιώτης ''Pythéās ho Massaliōtēs''; [[Latin]]: ''Pytheas Massiliensis''; born {{circa}} 350 BC, {{fl.}} {{circa}} 320–306 BC){{Sfn|Cunliffe|2002|p=2}}{{Sfn|Kaplan|2013}}{{Sfn|Warmington|Spawforth|2015}} was a [[Greeks|Greek]] [[List of Graeco-Roman geographers|geographer]], explorer and astronomer from the [[Greek colonies|Greek colony]] of [[Massalia]] (modern-day [[Marseille]], France).{{Sfn|Kaplan|2013}}<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Stein-Hölkeskamp|first1=Elke|last2=Engels|first2=Johannes|last3=Gärtner|first3=Hans Armin|last4=Albiani|first4=Maria Grazia|date=2006|title=Pytheas|journal=Brill's New Pauly|doi=10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e1016010}}</ref> He made a voyage of exploration to Northern Europe in about 325&nbsp;BC, but his account of it, known widely in [[Ancient history|antiquity]], has not survived and is now known only through the writings of others.

On this voyage, he circumnavigated and visited a considerable part of the [[British Isles]]. He was the first known Greek scientific visitor to see and describe the Arctic, [[polar ice]], and the [[Celtic peoples|Celtic]] and [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] tribes. He is also the first person on record to describe the [[midnight sun]]. The theoretical existence of some Northern phenomena that he described, such as a frigid zone, and temperate zones where the nights are very short in summer and the sun does not set at the [[summer solstice]], was already known. Similarly, reports of a country of perpetual snow and darkness (the country of the [[Hyperboreans]]) had reached the [[Mediterranean]] some centuries before.

Pytheas introduced the idea of distant [[Thule]] to the geographic imagination, and his account of the [[tide]]s is the earliest one known that suggests the moon as their cause.