Himilco

Who is Himilco?

Himilco, a Carthaginian navigator and explorer, lived during the height of Carthaginian power, the 5th century BC.

Himilco is the first known explorer from the Mediterranean Sea to reach the northwestern shores of Europe. His lost account of his adventures is quoted by Roman writers. The oldest reference to Himilco's voyage is a brief mention in Natural History by the Roman scholar Pliny the Elder. Himilco was quoted three times by Rufus Festus Avienus, who wrote Ora Maritima, a poetical account of the geography in the 4th century AD.

We know next to nothing of Himilco himself. Himilco sailed north along the Atlantic coast of present-day Spain, Portugal, England and France. He reached northwestern France, the territory of the Oestrimni tribe living in Portugal probably to trade for tin to be used for making bronze and for other precious metals, the voyages of the Carthaginian Himilco take note of the islands of Albion and Ierne. Avienus asserts that the outward journey to the Oestriminis took the Carthaginians four months. Himilco was not the first to sail the northern Atlantic ocean; according to Avenius, Himilco followed the trade route used by the Tartessians of southern Iberia.