Why Didn't Rome Explore the Atlantic?

In the spring of the year forty-three, a Roman army stood on a beach in Gaul and refused to climb into the boats for Britain. Rome ruled the Mediterranean, sent ships to India, and built an empire across three continents. So why did it never send a fleet west across the Atlantic? In this video, we first correct the question: Rome did sail the Atlantic coast, but it never crossed the open ocean. Then we walk through the Roman encounters with the Ocean, one after another. We start with the Carthaginians and Hanno, then Pytheas of Massalia and the land of Thule, then Eudoxus and his attempt to sail around Africa. After that come Julius Caesar and the Veneti, the shock of the Atlantic tides, the invasion of Britain, Agricola’s fleet and Juba II and the Canary Islands. We look at what Strabo, Eratosthenes, Seneca and Ptolemy thought lay beyond the sea. Then we weigh five reasons: no clear reward, the shape of the Roman state, ships and sailing habits, the winds of the Atlantic, and the problem of navigation. We end by comparing Rome with the Norse and asking whether any Roman ever reached the Americas. Where the evidence is thin, late, or told by a single ancient writer, the video says so. Subscribe, and tell me in the comments which Roman mystery you want me to explore next. I read every one. Sources Julius Caesar, Gallic War (the war with the Veneti and the tides in Britain) Cassius Dio, Roman History (the invasion of Britain in AD 43) Tacitus, Agricola (the voyage around Britain and the sighting of Thule) Strabo, Geography (Pytheas, Eudoxus, the tin islands, the idea of sailing west) Pliny the Elder, Natural History (Juba II and the Fortunate Islands; trade with India) Seneca, Medea (the lines about new worlds beyond the Ocean) Ptolemy, Geography Vegetius, De Re Militari (the sailing season) Periplus of Hanno Periplus of the Erythraean Sea Barry Cunliffe, The Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek Barry Cunliffe, Facing the Ocean: The Atlantic and Its Peoples Lionel Casson, Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World Archaeological reports on L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, and on the tree-ring dating of cut wood there (published in Nature) #AncientRome #RomanHistory #RomanEmpire #AtlanticOcean #AncientExploration #HistoryExplained #JuliusCaesar #HistoryDocumentary