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Thule: Echoes from the Ancient World's Northernmost Frontier

An exploration of Thule, the mythical northernmost land mentioned in ancient Greek and Roman literature and cartography, tracing its evolution through history, literature, and modern interpretations.

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Origins of the Legend

Pytheas's Voyage

The earliest known written account of Thule originates from the Greek explorer Pytheas of Massalia (modern-day Marseille) around 320 BC. In his lost work, On The Ocean, Pytheas described Thule as the northernmost known location, a six-day sail north of Britain. While later writers often referred to it as an island, Pytheas himself did not explicitly state this.3

"Ultima Thule"

The term Ultima Thule, meaning "farthest Thule," emerged in classical and medieval literature. It evolved into a metaphor for any distant, unknown place situated beyond the recognized boundaries of the known world, representing the ultimate limit of exploration and understanding.7

Early Interpretations

The Greek astronomer Geminus suggested the name derived from an archaic word for the polar night phenomenon, signifying "the place where the sun goes to rest."12 Avienius noted that during the summer solstice in Thule, daylight lasted only two hours, a clear reference to the phenomenon of the midnight sun.15

Classical and Medieval Accounts

Greek and Roman Geographers

Ancient writers offered varied perspectives on Thule. Strabo, in his Geographica, cited Pytheas but expressed skepticism, noting that other travelers who had visited Britain and Ireland did not mention Thule. He placed it near the frozen sea and acknowledged the uncertainty surrounding its existence and location, calling it "the farthest of all the countries that are named."18 Pliny the Elder, referencing Pytheas, described Thule as a place with perpetual daylight during the summer solstice and perpetual night during the winter solstice, lasting six months each.21

Peoples and Practices

Descriptions of Thule's inhabitants varied. Strabo, quoting Pytheas, depicted them as subsisting on herbs, fruits, and roots, using stored grain for beverages and processing it in large storehouses due to rain.19 Silius Italicus and Claudian alluded to the inhabitants being painted blue, possibly linking them to the Picts.2326 Procopius, in the 6th century, described Thule as a large island with thirteen tribes, including the Geats and Sami people, practicing paganism and human sacrifice, and experiencing a forty-day period without sunrise during the winter solstice.3233

Shifting Geography

Over time, the geographical identification of Thule shifted. Early medieval writers like Isidore of Seville placed it northwest of Britain, near Orkney.34 Dicuil, an Irish monk, described clerics who had visited an island where daylight varied significantly around the solstices, and noted that the sea north of it was frozen.34 Bede and Adam of Bremen also discussed Thule, often identifying it with Iceland or Greenland, reflecting the evolving geographical knowledge of the era.35

Modern Research and Hypotheses

Historical and Linguistic Links

In the 18th century, antiquarians like Charles Vallancey proposed Ireland as Thule.37 In the 19th century, W.F. Skene identified Thule with the Kintyre peninsula in Scotland.38 More recently, Lennart Meri hypothesized that the Estonian island of Saaremaa (ร–sel) could be Thule, noting a linguistic connection to the Estonian word for fire ("tule-") and the presence of the Kaali crater lake, linked to local folklore about the sun resting.45

Geographical Identifications

In 2010, researchers from Technische Universitรคt Berlin suggested that corrected calculations of Ptolemaic maps indicated Thule might correspond to the Norwegian island of Smรธla.6 These diverse hypotheses highlight the enduring ambiguity and interpretative nature of Thule's geographical placement across different historical periods.

Namesakes and Legacy

Geographical and Astronomical

The name "Thule" has been applied to various real-world locations. Captain Cook named the southernmost islands in the South Sandwich Islands "Southern Thule."45 The element Thulium (Tm) in the periodic table is named after Thule.42 In 2019, NASA's New Horizons probe visited the Kuiper Belt object Arrokoth, which was nicknamed "Ultima Thule" prior to its official naming.4344

Settlements and Bases

Explorer Knud Rasmussen established a settlement named "Thule" in northwest Greenland in 1910, which became the namesake for the Thule people, ancestors of modern Inuit Greenlanders.41 The nearby United States Air Force base, now Pituffik Space Base, was originally known as Thule Air Base.41

Geological and Cultural

Within the Mammoth Cave system in Kentucky, a significant passage terminus is known as "Ultima Thule," reflecting its status as a boundary of exploration within the cave's vast network.43

Thule in Literature

Classical and Medieval Echoes

Virgil coined the term Ultima Thule in his Georgics to signify a remote, unattainable goal.45 Seneca the Younger envisioned future discoveries beyond Thule, a concept later associated with Christopher Columbus' voyages.46 Antonius Diogenes' novel The Wonders Beyond Thule (c. AD 150) presented a narrative set in this mythical land.47 Boethius referenced Thule as the western boundary of the known world in his Consolation of Philosophy.48

Renaissance to Romanticism

During the Renaissance, Thomas Weelkes' madrigal "Thule" referenced the volcano Hekla in Iceland.52 Later, Ambrose Philips began a poem on the "Fable of Thule." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's poem "Der Kรถnig in Thule" (later incorporated into Faust I) explored a mythical kingdom, inspiring musical settings by Schubert and Liszt.53 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's collection Ultima Thule (1880) also invoked the concept.53

Modern and Contemporary

Edgar Allan Poe's poem "Dream-Land" begins with a journey "From an ultimate dim Thule."55 John Henry Wilbrandt Stuckenberg's 1885 work The Final Science used Thule metaphorically for the ultimate philosophical inquiry.53 Thule appears in novels by Henry Handel Richardson, Hal Foster's Prince Valiant, Vladimir Nabokov's short story "Ultima Thule," Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, Jorge Luis Borges' poetry, Bernard Cornwell's novels, and the Asterix series. It also features in modern sci-fi by Cassandra Clare, Sue Burke, and Christopher Paolini.565758

Thule in Ideology

Nazi Association

In the early 20th century, certain circles within German ariosophy, including the Thule Society (Thule Gesellschaft), associated Thule with the mythical homeland of the ancient Aryan race. This esoteric belief system influenced early Nazi ideology, with figures like Heinrich Himmler seeking to find evidence of this connection in places like Iceland.40 The society's name was explicitly linked to Pytheas' Thule.59

The Oera Linda Book

The discredited Oera Linda Book, purportedly found in the 19th century, played a role in these ideological interpretations. Its partial translation into German by Herman Wirth was favored by Himmler. While intended as a hoax by its authors, it contributed to the mystique surrounding Thule in esoteric and nationalist circles.60

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References

References

  1.  Andreas Kleineberg, Christian Marx, Eberhard Knobloch und Dieter Lelgemann: Germania und die Insel Thule. Die Entschlรƒยผsselung von Ptolemaios' "Atlas der Oikumene". Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2010.
  2.  L. Sprague de Camp (1954). Lost Continents, p. 57.
  3.  Polybius. Book XXXIV, 5, 3
  4.  The Problem of Pytheas' Thule, Ian Whitaker, The Classical Journal, Vol. 77, No. 2 (Dec., 1981 รขย€ย“ Jan., 1982), pp. 55รขย€ย“67
  5.  Book IV, Chapter 5.
  6.  Book VI, Chapter 34.
  7.  Tacitus, Agricola, 10.
  8.  Ab Orcadibus Thylen usque quinque dierum ac noctium navigatio est; sed Thyle larga et diutina Pomona copiosa est.[1]
  9.  Gilberg (1976) page 86. Hunting activities here are described in the January 2006 National Geographic.
A full list of references for this article are available at the Thule Wikipedia page

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