Voyage of Hanno the Navigator (c. 500 BCE)

Biography

The name of Hanno was given to many Carthaginians. Ancient texts which specifically mention Hanno the Navigator do not provide much in the way of positively identifying him; some authors referred to him as a king, while others referred to him with the Latin words dux (leader, general) or imperator (commander, emperor). The Greek translation of Hanno's periplus account names him a basileus, a term which may be interpreted as "king", but was commonly used for other high-level Carthaginian officials.

The consensus of scholarship places Hanno as living sometime in the 5th century BC, identifying him as a member of the aristocratic Magonid family. R.C.C. Law identifies Hanno as the son of Hamilcar I.

Periplus account

Hanno's account, the Periplus (lit. circumnavigation), is one of the few "extant" accounts of ancient exploration penned by the explorer himself; however, the original version, probably written in the Punic language, has been lost, and the only surviving variants of it are Greek-language manuscripts—first translated in the fifth century— which abridged it to 101 lines.

The initial Greek-language abridgement was copied several times by subsequent Greek and Greek-speaking Roman clerks; two remain extant, dating to the 9th and 14th centuries. Conrad Gessner produced the first Latin translation, printed at Zurich in 1559. While these translations contain contradictions and obvious errors, those are probably derived from an original Carthaginian text. Thus, despite its complicated situation, the periplus has survived as "the nearest we have to a specimen of Carthaginian 'literature'".

Summary

This summary is based on a translation by Al. N. Oikonomides. The proper names are unchanged from the translation. It reflects the views of the translator and may ignore more widely accepted theories among scholars.

As the work begins, "this is the report of the periplus of Hanno, king of the Carthaginians, into the Libyan areas of the earth beyond the Pillars of Hercules which he dedicated in the sanctuary of Kronos." With 60 ships and 30,000 people, Hanno intends to found cities along the African coast. He first founds one city, then sails some distance and founds five others. Arriving at a river, the Carthaginians meet the Lixitae, a friendly nomadic tribe. They learn of the nearby Ethiopians, and taking aboard several Lixitae, set sail again. At the small island Kerne, another settlement is built. Around the lake Chretes and an unnamed river, there are savage men and large wild beasts respectively. After returning to Kerne, they sail further south down Africa, finding Ethiopians whose language even the Lixitae interpreters do not understand. Passing further, Hanno finds an "immense opening of the sea", from which fires may be sighted. At a bay called the "Horn of the West", they land on an island where humans live. The Carthaginians hurry away in fear and reach lands where there are many flames. A very tall mountain is there. Finally arriving at a bay, the "Horn of the South", there is an island with hostile, hirsute men named "Gorillas" (see § Gorillai).

Textual criticism

Both ancient and modern authors have criticized the work. Most attempts to locate the places described in the periplus based on the reported sailing distances and directions have failed. To make the text more accurate, scholars have tried textual criticism. Ultimately, the Carthaginians probably edited the real account to protect their trade: other countries would not be able to identify the places described, while Carthaginians could still boast about their accomplishments.

Oikonomides theorizes that the hypothetical Punic manuscript that was translated into Greek was incomplete itself: it left out the later parts of the original periplus. The ending of the narrative is abrupt, and it would also have been logically impossible for the expedition to end as described. Therefore, he argues, the final two lines must have been inserted to compensate for an incomplete manuscript.

Expedition

Carthage dispatched Hanno, at the head of a fleet of 60 ships, to explore and colonize the northwestern coast of Africa. He sailed west from Carthage toward the Iberian Peninsula, passing through the Strait of Gibraltar and founding or repopulating seven colonies along the coast of (what is now) Morocco. He then continued at least some distance further south along the continent's Atlantic coast, allegedly encountering various indigenous peoples along his way, who met the fleet with a range of "welcomes".

The gold trade had been a vital foundation of the Carthaginian empire from the fifth century BC, and the desire to secure the gold route to West Africa may have been the original motivation for the exploration of sub-Saharan Africa.

A number of scholars have commented upon Hanno's voyage, stating that, in many cases, the analyses have been to refine information and interpretation of the original account. William Smith points out that the complement of personnel totalled 30,000 men, and that the core mission included the intent to found Carthaginian (or in the older parlance 'Libyophoenician') towns. Other sources have questioned this high number of men, with some suggesting 5,000 to be a more accurate number. R.C.C. Law notes that "It is a measure of the obscurity of the problem that while some commentators have argued that Hanno reached the Gabon area, others have taken him no further than southern Morocco."

Ancient authors' accounts

While the power of Carthage was at its height, Hanno published an account of a voyage which he made from Gades [modern Cádiz] to the extremity of Arabia; Himilco was also sent, about the same time, to explore the remote parts of Europe.

Pliny may have recorded the time vaguely because he was ignorant of the actual date. His claim that Hanno completely circumnavigated Africa, reaching Arabia, is considered unrealistic by contemporary scholarship.

Hannon the Libyan set out from Carthage with Libya on his left and sailed out beyond the Pillars of Heracles into the Outer Sea, continuing his voyage then in an easterly direction for a total of thirty-five days: but when he eventually turned south he met a number of crippling obstacles—lack of water, burning heat, streams of lava gushing into the sea.