Greek Exploration Before 500bc

To the Greeks the sea now called the Mediterranean was the Great Sea, ¹ or, more tellingly, the Internal Sea or the Inside Sea, ² since at first it seemed to have no outlet. In fact there were two. To the northeast was the long narrow treacherous channel of the Hellespont and Bosphoros, leading to another enclosed sea, the Euxeinos – perhaps Persian aesaena, “dark” or “sombre” – or Black Sea, ³ which, although not mentioned in Greek literature until Herodotos, ⁴ was probably first explored a little after 700bc. Greeks discovered the western outlet at about the same time, sailing far beyond the Greek heartland. ⁵ At the westernmost extremity of the Great Sea were two prominent mountains, which at an early date came to be called the Stelai, or Pillars, of Herakles (Figure 1), so named because it was believed that this was the farthest point that the hero had reached. ⁶ Although there was some confusion as to exactly what constituted the Pillars, they are generally thought to be the two prominent peaks flanking the Mediterranean that today bear Islamic names: to the south Jebel Musa (862m elevation), and 30 miles to the north Gibraltar, corrupted from Jebel Tariq (423m elevation). These mark the entrance to a long passage, the Herakleian or Gadeian Strait (Figure 2). ⁷ It was as narrow as seven miles across and ran somewhat south of west for 35 miles. Sailors passing through the straits would find the water turning from blue to a less benign green, and increased swell and tidal phenomena. ⁸ Eventually they would be outside the Internal Sea and in a different world, where one could not only be out of sight of land, but be so forever, eternally lost in the great Ocean that encircled the world, on which sea travel was not advisable. ⁹ The Ocean could not be crossed, ¹⁰ for the gods would not allow it. ¹¹