The phrase Ultima Thule was created by Virgil, ancient Roman poet and author of the prominent Aenied epic poem. It had the meaning of some far-away land, beyond all human experience or knowledge. Utlimately it became a symbol of this notion of something which is very distant, or in some final distance.
The term Thule, though, is always attributed to a man who lived a number of Aeons before Virgil. That man was Pytheas, a notable geographer and explorer, a Greek from the city of Massalia (nowdays called Marseilles).
While Massalia started as a greek colony, founded by the Phocaeans, a people of the eponymous city in Ionia in the western coast of Asia minor (later destroyed by the Persians), it founded a number of notable colonies itself, in France Nikaia (today's Nice), Monaco (said to have had the original Greek name of Monoikos), Antibes (Antipolis) and Agde, and in Spain Emporion (now called Ampurias) and Hemeroscopion.
Pytheas, as mentioned by many later Greek and Roman geographers and other authors (such as Eratosthenes - of the 'sieve of Eratosthenes'- fellow Alexandrian Ptolemy the Astronomer, and Strabo, the famous early geographer from Pontus) was head of a small expedition to explore parts of Europe in the North. While only fragments of his work regarding that exploration survive, in works by others, it is most probable that the work of Pytheas was titled "Peri tou Okeanou" (of the Ocean, about the Ocean). Part of it is about his exploration of southern coastal Britain.
He also called a land far away from the larger British isle as "Thule".
The term Thule has also been used by the notable early Byzantine-era historian Procopius, who was known to have accompanied the general Bellisarios in his campaigns in the era of Justinian expansion of the Empire. Procopius refers to "Thule" and generally seems to place it in Sweden, according to some of the tribes he mentions are living there.
General belief is that Pytheas probably meant coastal southern Norway by the term "Thule". Later on the term, enhanced by Virgil's phrase, became a synonym for any distant and unknown territory. Sometimes in antique maps areas are titled as Ultima Thule, with images of monsters surrounding them
The term Thule, though, is always attributed to a man who lived a number of Aeons before Virgil. That man was Pytheas, a notable geographer and explorer, a Greek from the city of Massalia (nowdays called Marseilles).
While Massalia started as a greek colony, founded by the Phocaeans, a people of the eponymous city in Ionia in the western coast of Asia minor (later destroyed by the Persians), it founded a number of notable colonies itself, in France Nikaia (today's Nice), Monaco (said to have had the original Greek name of Monoikos), Antibes (Antipolis) and Agde, and in Spain Emporion (now called Ampurias) and Hemeroscopion.
Pytheas, as mentioned by many later Greek and Roman geographers and other authors (such as Eratosthenes - of the 'sieve of Eratosthenes'- fellow Alexandrian Ptolemy the Astronomer, and Strabo, the famous early geographer from Pontus) was head of a small expedition to explore parts of Europe in the North. While only fragments of his work regarding that exploration survive, in works by others, it is most probable that the work of Pytheas was titled "Peri tou Okeanou" (of the Ocean, about the Ocean). Part of it is about his exploration of southern coastal Britain.
He also called a land far away from the larger British isle as "Thule".
The term Thule has also been used by the notable early Byzantine-era historian Procopius, who was known to have accompanied the general Bellisarios in his campaigns in the era of Justinian expansion of the Empire. Procopius refers to "Thule" and generally seems to place it in Sweden, according to some of the tribes he mentions are living there.
General belief is that Pytheas probably meant coastal southern Norway by the term "Thule". Later on the term, enhanced by Virgil's phrase, became a synonym for any distant and unknown territory. Sometimes in antique maps areas are titled as Ultima Thule, with images of monsters surrounding them
by Lucian (Lucianos of Samosata)
