Hanno the Navigator

Hello One and All!

Today we look at a tale so fantastical that it's hard to believe it could have really happened. The story in question is Hanno's voyages, which would continue to be a source of fascination for readers over many centuries as well as lead to unintended consequences.



Hanno the Navigator

Carthage (Punic: Qart-hadasht), a former Phoenician colony, grew into a powerful state in its own right. The city's trade links were extensive, which stretched as far west as the Atlantic coast of northern Africa and Spain. Despite this large network, one voyage might even have gone even further. In the temple of Baal Hammon, in Carthage, there reportedly hung a Punic inscription that detailed how Hanno set out with sixty ships on an expedition to found or strengthen Phoenician settlements on Morocco's Atlantic coast. This momentous event was thought to have taken place in the 6th to 5th centuries BCE. The story comes down to us as a Greek adaptation, called The Periplus of Hanno.

Carthaginian glass head pendant of the 4th to 3rd century BCE.

The naval convoy came to the Draa River (in present day Morocco), where they disembarked and earned the trust of the local people, called the Lixitai. These nomads, who were perhaps the ancestors of modern Berbers, told the Carthaginians of people who lived in the mountains above them with the ability to outrun horses. After taking on board Lixitai interpreters, Hanno sailed south again, until he came upon an island, which they settled and dubbed Cerne. After achieving its main aim, the expedition did not immediately return to Carthage. For some unknown reason, Hanno continued sailing south. Perhaps it was in search of riches or to gain knowledge about what was the unknown to the Carthaginians.

Limestone stele decorated with a ship. From the Carthage National Museum.
Source

Next they sailed up a great river called the Khretes until they reached a great lake, wherein three large islands lay. They attempted a landing but people dressed in animal skins pelted them with rocks and forced them to leave. The convoy sailed to yet another river, where they encountered hippopotami and crocodiles. The ships returned to the island of Cerne and then went southwards again. They kept going until even the Lixitai didn't recognize the languages being spoken by the locals. Sailing on for a further seven days, they came to a place called by interpreters the Horn of the West. They disembarked at an island with a salt water lake; at night there were great fires within the forest and the sound of voices, cymbals, flutes and drums. These noises disconcerted them so that they fled from the island.

Hanno the Navigator's possible route.
Source 

Despite the growing fear within the expedition, Hanno still ventured southward for a couple of days, when they came upon a massive mountain bathed in flames, called Theon Ochema. This might have been the volcanically active Mount Cameroon. The sight must have been even more impressive for this Carthaginian convoy, so far from home. For three days the ships sailed beside torrents of flame. They arrived at the Southern Horn and at the far end of this was an island inhabited by hairy individuals, called by the interpreters Gorillae. The expedition would capture three females of the Gorillae and skin them. In the 19th-century, the scientist Thomas Savage would use the term and apply it to African apes, and it may well have been these animals that were caught by Hanno. The expedition would return to Carthage and two of the Gorillae skins would be displayed in the temple of Tanit, where they remained until the city's destruction in 146 BCE. The third skin, the one unaccounted for, might have been lost along the way or gifted to an ally.

Thank you for reading!

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