5th century BCE – 5th century BCE
Atlantic coast of North-West Africa
The Periplus of Hanno is a reported Carthaginian expedition associated with the exploration and possible settlement of Atlantic Morocco and the coast farther south. Its traditional dating places it in the fifth century BC, during Carthage’s period of power, but its authenticity and geographical reliability are strongly disputed. Later scholarship cited in the passage regards much of the surviving text as a Hellenistic literary forgery, especially beyond northern Morocco.
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The Story
The Periplus of Hanno presents itself as an account of a Carthaginian expedition undertaken at the height of Carthage’s power. Its stated purposes were to settle the Atlantic coasts of Morocco and to explore the coastline farther south. The survival of an eighteen-paragraph narrative is exceptional in light of the destruction of most Carthaginian writing after the Roman capture of Carthage in 146 BC.
For a long time, commentators accepted the account as authentic and treated its episodes as evidence for Carthaginian maritime activity beyond Morocco. Proposed identifications of the expedition’s landmarks differ sharply: Cary and Warmington associated the fiery mountain called the “Chariot of the Gods” with Mount Kakulima in Guinea and the “Horn of the South” with Sherbro Sound in Sierra Leone, while other scholars placed the mountain at Mount Cameroon and the southern landmark in the Gulf of Gabon.
The passage emphasizes that these interpretations face both navigational and geographical difficulties. Carthaginian sailors would have struggled to return northward against prevailing trade winds, while the text’s descriptions cease to resemble recognizable West African conditions after its opening account of northern Morocco. Henri Tauxier argued that the Periplus was a Hellenistic forgery from the first century BC, and Gabriel Germain likewise judged most of it to be the work of a later and mediocre writer.
5th century BCE – 5th century BCE
Atlantic coast of North-West Africa
The Periplus of Hanno is a reported Carthaginian expedition associated with the exploration and possible settlement of Atlantic Morocco and the coast farther south. Its traditional dating places it in the fifth century BC, during Carthage’s period of power, but its authenticity and geographical reliability are strongly disputed. Later scholarship cited in the passage regards much of the surviving text as a Hellenistic literary forgery, especially beyond northern Morocco.
Continue exploring
The Story
The Periplus of Hanno presents itself as an account of a Carthaginian expedition undertaken at the height of Carthage’s power. Its stated purposes were to settle the Atlantic coasts of Morocco and to explore the coastline farther south. The survival of an eighteen-paragraph narrative is exceptional in light of the destruction of most Carthaginian writing after the Roman capture of Carthage in 146 BC.
For a long time, commentators accepted the account as authentic and treated its episodes as evidence for Carthaginian maritime activity beyond Morocco. Proposed identifications of the expedition’s landmarks differ sharply: Cary and Warmington associated the fiery mountain called the “Chariot of the Gods” with Mount Kakulima in Guinea and the “Horn of the South” with Sherbro Sound in Sierra Leone, while other scholars placed the mountain at Mount Cameroon and the southern landmark in the Gulf of Gabon.
The passage emphasizes that these interpretations face both navigational and geographical difficulties. Carthaginian sailors would have struggled to return northward against prevailing trade winds, while the text’s descriptions cease to resemble recognizable West African conditions after its opening account of northern Morocco. Henri Tauxier argued that the Periplus was a Hellenistic forgery from the first century BC, and Gabriel Germain likewise judged most of it to be the work of a later and mediocre writer.