24 NOVEMBER 2001, Page 40

An isle too far

From Mr James Young Sir: Pace Steve King (Books, 17 November) we cannot say for certain that the island(s) known to the ancients as Ultima Thule is/are today's Iceland. Indeed, Shetland has a much stronger claim, as borne out by the map drawn from the co-ordinates given in Ptolemy's Geography (2nd century AD). More significant, Tacitus states that a Roman fleet under his father-in-law Agricola rounded the coast of northern Scotland 'and pronounced the insularity of Britain; by the same voyage [my italics] it discovered the islands called Orcades [Orkneys] . . . and conquered them. Even the shores of Thule were seen. . ' It seems most unlikely that this was Iceland, which lies many hundreds of miles to the north-west.

James Young

London Ni