Pliny the Elder (23/24-79) mentions Himilco and Hanno exploring the Atlantic coast north and south, respectively. Hanno’s report has survived; Himilco’s has not, but may have reached Britain. His date depends on that of Hanno, which is itself uncertain, but was perhaps shortly after 500 BC.
The only other reference to Himilco’s journey is in the Ora Maritima (‘On the Seacoast’), a fourth century AD poem by Festus Avienius. Its value lies in the inclusion of material drawn from early sources though now lost was probably used by Greek authors. Himilco himself is not in the list of sources for the poem but is mentioned three times.
Pytheas (c.380-c.305 BC), a Greek explorer from the Greek colony of Massalia (Marseilles), sailed through the Gibraltar Strait, turned northwards up the Atlantic coast and discovered Britain. His On the Ocean (c.325 BC), a description of his travels, is lost excerpts of it though are used by later authors.
Polybius (c.200-c.118 BC), Diodorus Siculus (1st century BC) and Strabo (63-00-c.24) refer to the inhabitants of Britain as Pritani, or Prettani. Ireland was known by several names: Iris (Diodorus), Ierne (Strabo) and Pomponius Mela (fl.c.43-c.45) called it Iuvernia. Strabo called the island group Brettanic.
The author of De Mundo (‘On the Cosmos’), referred to as Pseudo-Aristotle, and writing probably c.40-20 BC), mentions the Brettanic Islands, Albion and Ierne.
Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) and Pliny the Elder (23/24-79) both use the Latin form for Ireland, Hibernia. Pliny also used the term Albion (Britain), but this was already an archaism in the first century BC. He also noted that the group of islands was known as Britanniae, though in later Roman times Britanniae also referred to the British provinces (Britain).
Geological History
The oldest rocks in Britain date from 2700 mya and are found in northwest Scotland and the Outer Hebrides. Ireland’s oldest rocks date from 1700 mya and are found on the island of Inishtrahull, County Donegal, Ulster (N).
The Pleistocene (2600-11.7 kya) was dominated by glaciations. At its maximum the ice covered Ireland and much of Britain, obliterating all the life in its path. In the warm periods the climate became suitable for plants, animals and humans.
In the Tertiary Period (66-2.6 mya) a chain of volcanoes produced the volcanic rocks in Ireland and Britain, e.g. the Giant’s Causeway in Co. Antrim, Ulster (N), and many of the islands in the west of Scotland (Skye, Mull, Rùm). At around the same time the granite that forms the Mourne mountains in Co. Down, Ulster (N), was intruded deep in the Earth’s crust.
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