Admiral Hanno and His Manuscript from a Journey to the Sources of Fear

In the 6th century BCE, a Carthaginian admiral Hanno

set off - on 60 ships with thousands of colonists aboard -
on a cruise along the west coast of Africa.
We know his account of the expedition
from later Greek translations; Hanno included it
in an instruction written for the next navigators,
in the so-called periplus.

This manuscript describes a sea expedition in laconic

soldierly words: from today's Morocco to the coast -
according to the boldest interpretations - of modern Gabon.

The admiral leaves settlers ashore in North-West Africa -

in places of earlier Punic colonization - and moves further south.
The expedition reaches the river full of crocodiles and hippos,
passes forests with unprecedented aromas and stops at the anchors
probably near the archipelago off the coast of today's Guinea-Bissau …

These islands, overgrown with dense forest, during the day

seem unpopulated, at night the sound of fifes, cymbals, drums
and screams comes from the side of the bonfires.
Concerned, the Carthaginians sail away, but their fear does not leave them,
because they pass the inaccessible, volcanic land
with streams of lava flowing into the sea.

Finally, they see the top of the active volcano, which at night
makes an impression on them as if touching the stars.
When their provisions end, the ships turn back,
taking away - among other things - to Carthage
three skins of captured gorillas.

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