Hibernia is the
Classical Latin name for the
island of
Ireland. The name
Hibernia was taken from
Greek geographical accounts. During his exploration of
northwest Europe (c. 320 BC),
Pytheas of Massilia called the island
Iérnē (written ). In his book
Geographia (c. 150 AD),
Claudius Ptolemaeus ("Ptolemy") called the island
Iouerníā (written , where "ου"-
ou stands for
w). The Roman historian
Tacitus, in his book
Agricola (c. 98 AD), uses the name Hibernia. The Romans also sometimes used
Scotia, "land of the
Scoti", as a geographical term for Ireland in general, as well as just the part inhabited by those people.