In the fifth century b.c. the Greek historian Herodotus described several successful long-distance trade expeditions: he included in his Histories the story of a ship captained by a man called Colaeus, whose crew were the first Greeks to venture all the way from Greece to “Tartessus” (southern Spain) and back. “The profits made . . . on their cargo, once they had returned home, were larger than those of any other Greek trader for whom we have reliable information,” Herodotus wrote.
