As a spur to the romantic imagination, Thule has been more successful--or, at least, influential.

FORBES: The Top Of The World

Since then, explorers and geographers have fruitlessly sought to identify Thule based on these scant ancient references.

FORBES

Nationalist pride has also led Lennart Meri, a former Estonian president, to identify Thule with his own country.

FORBES

For Sebottendorf, steeped in the myths of the Norse sagas, Thule was the ancient Aryan homeland (and probably Iceland).

FORBES

They will be visiting sites of many kinds, she says, including Independence 1, Dorset, and Thule, but they must never, never take anything.

NEWYORKER: Stone Mattress

The U.S. has also got in on the act, naming its air base in northern Greenland Thule, though no one has ever suggested that Pytheas made it that far west.

FORBES: The Top Of The World