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The Massaliote Periplus or Massaliot Periplus is the name of a now-lost merchants' handbook possibly dating to as early as the sixth century BC describing the searoutes used by traders from Phoenecia and Tartessus in their journeys around Iron Age Europe.
It was preserved by the Roman poet Avienus in his work Ora Maritima (The Maritime Shores) who wrote down parts of it much later, during the fourth century AD.
It describes seaways running northwards from Cadiz in Spain along the coast of Atlantic Europe to Brittany, Ireland and Britain. The Periplus is the earliest work to describe the trade links between northern and southern Europe and that such a manual existed indicates the importance of these trade links. The trade in tin and other raw materials from the British Isles southwards is attested by archaeological evidence from this period and earlier and the riches to be won probably attracted numerous adventurers to explore and exploit the Atlantic coasts.
Pytheas of Massilia described a similar expedition in more detail a few centuries later, around 325 BC.
Reference
- Iron Age Britain, Barry Cunliffe, English Heritage, London, 1995, p38. ISBN 0-7134-8839-5
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