Hanno the Navigator


Hanno the Navigator was a Carthaginian explorer of the sixth or fifth century BC, best known for his naval exploration of the western coast of Africa.
The only source of his voyage is a Greek periplus. According to some modern analyses of his route, Hanno's expedition could have reached as far south as Gabon; however, others have taken him no further than southern Morocco.

Expedition

Carthage dispatched Hanno at the head of a fleet of 60 ships to explore and colonize the northwestern coast of Africa. He sailed through the straits of Gibraltar, founded or repopulated seven colonies along the African coast of what is now Morocco, and explored significantly farther along the Atlantic coast of the continent. Hanno encountered various indigenous peoples on his journey and met with a variety of welcomes.

Gorillai

At the terminus of Hanno's voyage, the explorer found an island heavily populated with what were described as hirsute and savage people. Attempts to capture the men failed, but three of the women were taken. These were so ferocious that they were killed, and their skins preserved for transport home to Carthage. The skins were kept in the Temple of Juno on Hanno's return and, according to Pliny the Elder, survived until the Roman destruction of Carthage in 146 BC, some 350 years after Hanno's expedition. The interpreters travelling with Hanno called the people Gorillai. When the American physician and missionary Thomas Staughton Savage and naturalist Jeffries Wyman first described gorillas in the 19th century, the apes were named Troglodytes gorilla after the description in Hanno.

Periplus account

The primary source for Hanno's expedition is a Greek periplus, supposedly a translation of a tablet Hanno is reported to have hung up on his return to Carthage in the temple of Ba'al Hammon, whom Greek writers identified with Kronos. The full title translated from Greek is The Voyage of Hanno, commander of the Carthaginians, round the parts of Libya beyond the Pillars of Heracles, which he deposited in the Temple of Kronos.
In the fifth century, the text was translated into a rather mediocre Greek. It was not a complete rendering; several abridgments were made. The abridged translation was copied several times by Greek and Greek-speaking Roman clerks. Currently, there are only two copies, dating back to the ninth and the fourteenth centuries.
The first of these manuscripts is known as the Palatinus Graecus 398 and can be studied in the University Library of Heidelberg. The other text is in the Codex Vatopedinus 655, found in the Vatopedi monastery in Mount Athos, Greece, and dated to the beginning of the 14th century; the codex is divided between the British Library and the French Bibliothèque Nationale.

Ancient authors' accounts

The text was known to Herodotus, Pliny the Elder, and Arrian of Nicomedia.

Herodotus' account

The Greek historian Herodotus gives a story based probably upon Hanno's original report.

Pliny the Elder's account

According to Pliny the Elder, Hanno started his journey at the same time that Himilco started to explore the European Atlantic coast. Pliny reports that Hanno actually managed to circumnavigate the African continent, from Gades to Arabia.

Arrian's account

Arrian mentions Hanno's voyage at the end of his Anabasis of Alexander VIII :

Modern analysis of the route

A number of modern scholars have commented upon Hanno's voyage. In many cases, the analysis has been to refine information and interpretation of the original account. William Smith points out that the complement of personnel totalled 30,000, and that the core mission included the intent to found Carthaginian towns.
Some scholars have questioned whether this many people accompanied Hanno on his expedition, and suggest 5,000 is a more accurate number. Robin 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."
Harden reports a general consensus that the expedition reached at least as far as Senegal. Some agree he could have reached Gambia. However, Harden mentions disagreement as to the farthest limit of Hanno's explorations: Sierra Leone, Cameroon, or Gabon. He notes the description of Mount Cameroon, a volcano, more closely matches Hanno's description than Guinea's Mount Kakulima. Warmington prefers Mount Kakulima, considering Mount Cameroon too distant.
Warmington suggests that difficulties in reconciling the account's specific details with present geographical understanding are consistent with classical reports of Carthaginian determination to maintain sole control of trade into the Atlantic.
The historian Raymond Mauny, in his 1955 article "La navigation sur les côtes du Sahara pendant l'antiquité", argued that the ancient navigators could not have sailed south in the Atlantic farther than Cape Bojador. He pointed out that antique geographers knew of the Canary Islands but nothing further south. Ships with square sails, without stern rudder, might navigate south, but the winds and currents throughout the year would prevent the return trip from Senegal to Morocco. Oared ships might be able to achieve the return northward, but only with very great difficulties. Mauny assumed that Hanno did not get farther than the Drâa. He attributed artifacts found on Mogador Island to the expedition described in the Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax and notes that no evidence of Mediterranean trade further south had yet been found. The author ends by suggesting archaeological investigation of the islands along the coast, such as Cape Verde, or the île de Herné where ancient adventurers may have been stranded and settled.

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