OVER THE WATER AND ACROSS THE DESERT – TRANS-SAHARAN CONTACTS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD IN THE 6TH AND 5TH CENTURY BC

After presenting the picture of Africa in Mediterranean minds of antiquity,this paper seeks by ways of a combined interpretation of the periplus of Hanno and Herodotus’logos on the Nasamones to investigate Carthaginian and Greek knowledge about the trans-Saharan routes und contacts of the 6th and 5th century BC.Further comparison with recent archaeological discoveries from the Iron Age in Senegal,the Niger Bend and Lake Chad illustrate that these sites were the destination of travellers from the North and that universal geographical theses concerning the course of the river Nile provided fundamental patterns of explanation and orientation for ancient explorers.Finally,it is considered why any further explorations both of the Inner African hinterland and the western seaway around the African continent were suspended in Antiquity.