Periplus of Hanno
Hannonos Periplous (surviving Greek title; the Punic original is lost)
Hanno's periplus asserts that he led a large Carthaginian colonizing fleet down the Atlantic coast of Africa, founding cities, trading with local peoples, and observing wonders such as volcanic fires and the hairy Gorillai as far as the fleet's provisions allowed.
- surviving only as a Greek digest of a lost Punic temple inscription
- colonizing voyage down the West African coast
- Punic trading colonies beyond the Pillars of Hercules
- disputed date and disputed southern extent of the voyage
Originally inscribed, according to ancient testimony, on a tablet in the temple of Baal Hammon at Carthage, the Punic original of Hanno's account is lost; what survives is a terse Greek digest preserved through a medieval manuscript tradition. It describes a Carthaginian fleet of sixty ships carrying settlers past the Pillars of Hercules and down the West African coast, founding trading colonies, bartering with local peoples through gesture and gift, and encountering a volcanic Chariot of the Gods, nocturnal drumming and fires, and an island of hairy, aggressive beings the interpreters called Gorillai. Scholars dispute both the voyage's date and how far south it reached, but the text stands as the closest surviving approximation of Carthaginian literature and a rare record of Phoenician Atlantic exploration.
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