Comment by nonbel | Hacker News Reader

Comment by nonbel | Hacker News Reader

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According to Aristotle the Carthagineans had a secret island they treated as a military secret. It fits a description of the Americas:

> "In the sea outside the Pillars of Hercules they say that an island was discovered by the Carthaginians, desolate, having wood of every kind, and navigable rivers, and admirable for its fruits besides, but distant several days' voyage from them. But when the Carthaginians often came to this island because of its fertility, and some even dwelt there, the magistrates of the Carthaginians gave notice that they would punish with death those who should sail to it, and destroyed all the inhabitants. lest they should spread the report about it, or a large number might gather together to the island in their time, get possession of the authority, and destroy the prosperity of the Carthaginians."

http://www.archive.org/stream/demirabilibusaus00arisrich#pag...

It fits a description of the Americas in that it lies in the Atlantic (beyond "the Pillars of Hercules", the Gibraltar Strait). I think anything beyond that is a massive stretch.

It says navigable rivers. Most islands don't have that.

I think the Americas are more than several days travel from Carthage.

I don't know the original term used, but in greek the same word translates to "several" and "some": https://translate.google.com/#view=home&op=translate&sl=el&t...

So could have been "some days' voyage".

Correct. Sailing the Atlantic back then took over a month.

12 days was only achieved in 1905, and the official route is far shorter than a sail from Carthage.

Are there any other places that fit the description ?

Azores, Canary Islands, Madeira

Those have navigable rivers?

British Isles ?

Perhaps. Weren't they already known at that time though?

>"Britain was known to the Classical world; the Greeks, Phoenicians and Carthaginians traded for Cornish tin in the 4th century BC." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Britain

That desn't fit with the idea that you don't go past the Pillars of Hercules though.

Whose idea is that?

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