- The Parallel of Thule was a Parallel of Latitude named by Ptolemy after Thule, the most northerly point known to the Ancient World.
- It’s location has never been confirmed but is thought to have been either the Shetland Islands, the Faroe Islands, Iceland or even Scandinavia.
Sources
- Eratosthenes (c.275-195 BCE)
- He located the Parallel of Thule as being at 66° North.
- Ptolemy (90-168 CE)
- He mentions Thule in his ‘Geographia’.
- Ptolemy describes the Parallel of Thule as being at 63° N, and not at 66° N as described by Eratosthenes.
- Ptolemy places Thule on his map to the north of the Orkney Islands (59° N), making it possibly the Shetland Islands (60° N), the Faroes (62° N), Trondheim (63° N) or Iceland (65° N).
Shetlands