Cassiterides – Tin Islands Phantom of Herodotus & Strabo
Kassiterides · Tin Islands
Greek geographic phantom (500 BCE – 300 CE)·Greek geographer / Phoenician trade secrecy·🇬🇧 Atlantic, British Isles / Brittany phantom, United Kingdom
About
About Cassiterides – Tin Islands Phantom of Herodotus & Strabo
5 where Phoenicians allegedly fetched tin beyond the Pillars, are variously placed off Cornwall, Brittany or Iberia as a deliberate trade-secret phantom. 22 says tin was carted by wagons at low tide. No distinct archipelago existed – the phantom was tenfold duplication of Cornwall's tin beaches. Herodotus himself doubted their existence ('I have no precise knowledge of them'). The ten-island phantom inflated a single beach into an archipelago to hide the Cornish source until Pytheas.
Why it mattersFamous Herodotus aporia; Cassiterides study anchors ancient tin trade secrecy and Cornwall's Ictis question.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Which beach was Ictis – St Michael's Mount vs Mount Batten
Theories
- 01Phoenician traders deliberately inflated Ictis into ten islands to hide its tidal causeway access
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- 500 BCE (Herodotus first mentions)
- Period
- Greek geographic phantom (500 BCE – 300 CE)
- Culture
- Greek geographer / Phoenician trade secrecy
- Purpose
- Trade-secret phantom – hide Cornish tin monopoly
- Abandoned
- 300 CE (Ptolemy's Tin Islands fixed on Cornwall)
- Rediscovered
- Herodotus 3.115
- Excavation
- Not applicable
c. 500 BCE
Herodotus 3.115 says 'I know nothing of the Cassiterides' – phantom noted
c. 20 CE
Strabo 3.5 locates ten Kassiterides north of Celtiberian Artabri
On the ground
Structures & features
50.1160° N · 5.4770° W · 10 m · 3 mapped features
Ictis (St Michael's Mount)
island50.116°N 5.477°W – tidal tin island with causeway – real Ictis candidate at Cassiterides – Tin Islands Phantom of Herodotus & Strabo
50.1160° N · 5.4770° WTen Islands Phantom Archipelago
harbourTen phantom Cassiterides at 50°N 5°W – duplicated Cornwall at Cassiterides – Tin Islands Phantom of Herodotus & Strabo
50.0000° N · 5.0000° WCornish Tin Beach
harbourCornish beach where tin was dug – single beach behind phantom at Cassiterides – Tin Islands Phantom of Herodotus & Strabo
50.1080° N · 5.4830° W
Gallery