Flat earth

There is no doubt people once thought the world was flat. Early Greek philosophy portrayed the world as a circular disk floating in the ocean. According to Greek Mythology, Atlas was punished by being required to hold up the world. (See Hercules.) Some historians have taught that sailors as late as the renaissance era feared falling off the edge of the earth if they ventured too far West of the [Straits of Gibralter]?.

According to historian [Jeffrey Burton Russell]?, the Flat Earth Theory is a myth used to impugn pre-modern civilization, especially that of the Middle Ages in Europe. The allegation is that people in some past era believed that the world was flat and that those sailing too far would go off the edge. This legendary belief-system is frequently ascribed to the Catholic Church, especially in the time of Christopher Columbus. The attack is often validated by being linked to the genuine controversy over the geocentric and heliocentric models of the cosmos (see History of astronomy, Ptolemy, and Copernicus). Both sides in that debate had no doubt that the world was a sphere: the diameter of the world had been calculated quite accurately by Eratosthenes? in the 3rd century BC. The objection to Columbus' expedition was that Columbus disregarded this measurement and gravely underestimated the length of the voyage west - he would inevitably run out of supplies and fresh water before he could reach India. This objection was correct, but Columbus found a sponsor anyway, and found another continent instead of a shortcut to India.

However, there is little or no evidence that anyone ever believed that the world is flat, and no evidence that educated people ever did so. [Jeffrey Burton Russell]?, an American scholar whose main contribution to historical scholarship is a series of books on the history of concepts of evil and ideas of Satan, explored the issue in his Inventing the Flat Earth: Columbus and Modern Historians. Russell discovered that a series of 19th century popular historians and serious historians invented and perpetuated this legend in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Russell, Inventing the Flat Earth (ISBN 027595904X (amazon.com, search)).

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