In 330 BCE, little-known Greek merchant Pytheas, an equally talented navigator, astronomer, and mariner, set sail on the northern seas. Sailing west through the Pillars of Hercules and possibly all the way to the Arctic Ocean, Pytheas documented his firsthand account of his voyage in "On the Ocean." An equally grand and pivotal piece of writing, "On the Ocean" is now all but lost to time, existing only in reference from other writers. The precision and reliability of Pytheas' accounts have remained a topic of scholarly discourse and inquiry for centuries.
