Necho

Necho’s expedition probably did happen, but Herodotus’s guardedness suggests it added little to the store of Greek geographical knowledge.

Herodotus recounts an earlier voyage that surpassed Nearchus and Pytheas in audacity: around 600, a Phoenician fleet hired by Pharaoh Necho actually circumnavigated the African continent.

Four hundred years before Eratosthenes, Africa had been circumnavigated by a Phoenician fleet in the employ of the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho.

Necho has made peace, and must pay tribute to Ashur.

Herodotus states that a Phœnician fleet, which was fitted out by Necho, King of Egypt, even circumnavigated Africa, and gives details which seem to place it within the category of the very greatest voyages.