Increasing Knowledge. The third century marks the point of increasing knowledge about the inhabitants of the lands surrounding the Mediterranean basin. During this period Rome began its intermittent wars with Carthage. The conflict brought further contact with the peoples of Spain and France, since these were the passageways between Rome and Carthage by land. In addition to this contact, the period leading into the first century B.C.E. brought knowledge of Britain and its inhabitants. Toward the end of the fourth century (circa 310-306 B.C.E.) the Greek explorer Pytheas had already claimed to have sailed around the British Isles, reaching as far north as either Norway or Iceland. (Pythias sighted an island, Thule, north of the British Isles). By the first century B.C.E. Caesar would be able to report knowledge of the interior of Britain in his...