15th century adaptation of a T-O map. This kind of medieval mappa mundi illustrates only the reachable side of a round Earth, since it was thought that no one could cross a torrid clime near the equator to the other half of the globe.

The idea of a flat Earth is that the surface of the Earth is flat (a plane), rather than the view that it is a very close approximation of the surface of a sphere. This was a common belief until the Classical Greeks began to discuss the Earth's shape about the 4th century BC. Flat Earth could refer to: Flat Earth, the theory that the Earth is flat The Flat Earth, a 1984 album by Thomas Dolby Flat Earth Records, a record label Flat Earth Crisps, a food product manufactured by Frito Lay Category: ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (519x663, 263 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Flat Earth ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (519x663, 263 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Flat Earth ... Earliest printed example of a classical T and O map (by Guntherus Ziner, Augsburg, 1472), illustrating the first page of chapter XIV of the Etymologiae. ... The Hereford Mappa Mundi, about 1300, Hereford Cathedral, England. ... Medieval artistic representation of a spherical Earth - with compartments representing earth, air, and water (c. ... The seven climes (klima, plural klimata, meaning inclination, referring to the angle between the axis of the celestial sphere and the horizon) was a notion of dividing the Earth into zones in Classical Antiquity. ... World map showing the equator in red For other uses, see Equator (disambiguation). ... This article is about Earth as a planet. ... The intuitive idea of flatness is important in several fields. ... This article is about the mathematical construct. ... Medieval artistic representation of a spherical Earth - with compartments representing earth, air, and water (c. ... Parthenon This article is on the term Classical Greece itself. ...

Regardless of the Earth's actual shape, local regions of its surface can be considered approximately flat for many purposes. The large-scale shape of the Earth is only relevant when considering large distances. Consequently, in antiquity only sailors, astronomers, philosophers, and theologians would have been concerned about the Earth's large-scale shape.

The modern belief that especially medieval Christianity believed in a flat earth has been referred to as The Myth of the Flat Earth.^[1] In 1945, it was listed by the Historical Association (of Britain) as the second of 20 in a pamphlet on common errors in history.^[2] Several scholars^[3] have argued that "with extraordinary [sic] few exceptions no educated person in the history of Western Civilization from the third century B.C. onward believed that the earth was flat" and that the prevailing view was of a spherical earth.^[1] Topics in Christianity Preaching Prayer Ecumenism Relation to other religions Movements Music Liturgy Calendar Symbols Art Criticism Christianity Portal This box:      Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. ... Illustration of the spherical Earth in a 14th century copy of LImage du monde (ca. ...

Jeffrey Russell states that the modern view that people of the Middle Ages believed that the Earth was flat is said to have entered the popular imagination in the 19th century, thanks largely to the publication of Washington Irving's fantasy The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus in 1828.^[1] Although these writers reject the idea of a flat earth, others such as the Flat Earth Society accept or promote the hypothesis. The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American author of the early 19th century. ... The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus is a novel about Christopher Columbus written by Washington Irving in 1838. ... A rendered picture of the Flat Earth model. ...

Validity and usefulness

Regardless of whether the entire earth is flat or not, the surface of the Earth can be approximated as flat over small distances. Assuming the whole earth to be flat was actually a sophisticated insight by primitive people: they realized that all the local accidents of geography: hills, valleys, rivers, and so on, were merely unevennesses of a surface which was on average flat as far as they could go. When surveying and direction-finding we assume that the angles of a triangle add up to 180°, which is not true for a triangle on the surface of a sphere.^[4] Surveyor at work with a leveling instrument. ... Spherical geometry is the geometry of the two-dimensional surface of a sphere. ...

Antiquity

Belief in a flat Earth is found in mankind's oldest writings. In early Mesopotamian thought, the world was portrayed as a flat disk floating in the ocean, and this forms the premise for early Greek maps such as those of Anaximander and Hecataeus of Miletus. Mesopotamian mythology is the collective name given to Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, and Babylonian mythologies from the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Iraq. ... This article is about the Pre-Socratic philosopher. ... Hecataeus (c. ...

Some theologians and biblical researchers maintain that writers of the Bible had a Babylonian world view, according to which Earth is flat^[5] and stands on pillars, and is covered by a solid sky-dome^[6][7] (the Firmament). The firmament was the heaven in which God set the sun (Psalm 19:5) and the stars (Gen 1:14).^[8] However this is clarified in (Isaiah 40:22) where it spoke of god "dwelling above the circle of earth" but this means a literal circle, from the word chuwg. In Isaiah 22:18, the word duwr is used to describe a ball. Job 26:7)makes the meaning clear when it said god was "hanging the earth upon nothing" and the same verse also described the north (of the Earth) as hanging over nothing too. This in in conflict with the Babylonian world view and the non-biblical book of Enoch where the Sun and Moon were thought to move in and out of the Firmament dome through a series of openings (reflecting the apparent movement of their rising and setting points throughout the year). This is explained in considerable detail in the non-canonical Book of Enoch (the following is an excerpt):^{[citation needed]} For other uses, see Bible (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Babylon (disambiguation). ... Firmament is a name for the sky or the heavens, generally used in the context of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. ... Sol redirects here. ... This article is about the astronomical object. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

"This is the first commandment of the luminaries: The sun is a luminary whose egress is an opening of heaven, which is (located) in the direction of the east, and whose ingress is (another) opening of heaven, (located) in the west. I saw six openings through which the sun rises and six openings through which it sets. The moon also rises and sets through the same openings, and they are guided by the stars; together with those whom they lead, they are six in the east and six in the west heaven. All of them (are arranged) one after another in a constant order. There are many windows (both) to the right and the left of these openings. First there goes out the great light whose name is the sun; its roundness is like the roundness of the sky; and it is totally filled with light and heat. The chariot in which it ascends is (driven by) the blowing wind. The sun sets in the sky (in the west) and returns by the northeast in order to go to the east; it is guided so that it shall reach the eastern gate and shine in the face of the sky" (1 Enoch 72:2-5).

Classical Antiquity

By classical times the idea that Earth was spherical began to take hold in Ancient Greece. Pythagoras in the 6th century BC, apparently on aesthetic grounds, held that all the celestial bodies were spherical. However, most Presocratic Pythagoreans considered the world to be flat.^[9] According to Aristotle, pre-Socratic philosophers, including Leucippus (c. 440 BC) and Democritus (c. 460-370 BC) believed in a flat earth.^[10] Anaximander believed the Earth to be a short cylinder with a flat, circular top which remained stable because it is the same distance from all things.^[11] It has been suggested that seafarers probably provided the first observational evidence that the Earth was not flat.^[12] Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, which begins roughly with the earliest-recorded Greek poetry of Homer (7th century BC), and continues through the rise of Christianity and the fall of the Western Roman Empire (5th century AD... The term ancient Greece refers to the periods of Greek history in Classical Antiquity, lasting ca. ... Pythagoras of Samos (Greek: ; born between 580 and 572 BC, died between 500 and 490 BC) was an Ionian Greek mathematician[1] and founder of the religious movement called Pythagoreanism. ... See lists of astronomical objects for a list of the various lists of astronomical objects in Wikipedia. ... The Pythagoreans were a Hellenic organization of astronomers, musicians, mathematicians, and philosophers who believed that all things are, essentially, numeric. ... For other uses, see Aristotle (disambiguation). ... The Pre-Socratic philosophers were active before Socrates or contemporaneously, but expounding knowledge developed earlier. ... This article is about the philosopher. ... ‎ Democritus (Greek: ) was a pre-Socratic Greek materialist philosopher (born at Abdera in Thrace ca. ... This article is about the Pre-Socratic philosopher. ...

Around 330 BC, Aristotle provided observational evidence for the spherical Earth,^[13] noting that travelers going south see southern constellations rise higher above the horizon. He argued that this was only possible if their horizon was at an angle to northerners' horizon and thus the Earth's surface could not be flat.^[14] He also noted that the border of the shadow of Earth on the Moon during the partial phase of a lunar eclipse is always circular, no matter how high the Moon is over the horizon. Only a sphere casts a circular shadow in every direction, whereas a circular disk casts an elliptical shadow in all directions apart from directly above and directly below.^[15] Writing around 10 BC, the Greek geographer Strabo cited various phenomena observed at sea as suggesting that the Earth was spherical. He observed that elevated lights or areas of land were visible to sailors at greater distances than those which were less elevated, and stated that the curvature of the sea was obviously responsible for this.^[16] He also remarked that observers can see further when their eyes are elevated, and cited a line from the Odyssey^[17] as indicating that the poet Homer was already aware of this as early as the 7th or 8th century BC. For other uses, see Aristotle (disambiguation). ... This article is about the star grouping. ... This article is about Earths moon. ... Time lapse movie of the 3 March 2007 lunar eclipse A lunar eclipse occurs whenever the Moon passes through some portion of the Earth’s shadow. ... Elliptical redirects here. ... The Greek geographer Strabo in a 16th century engraving. ... This article is about Homers epic poem. ... This article is about the Greek poet Homer and the works attributed to him. ...

The Earth's circumference was first determined around 240 BC by Eratosthenes. Eratosthenes knew that in Syene, in Egypt, the Sun was directly overhead at the summer solstice, while he estimated that a shadow cast by the Sun at Alexandria was 1/50th of a circle. He estimated the distance from Syene to Alexandria as 5,000 stades, and estimated the Earth's circumference was 250,000 stades and a degree was 700 stades (implying a circumference of 252,000 stades).^[18] Eratosthenes used rough estimates and round numbers, but depending on the length of the stadion, his result is within a margin of between 2% and 20% of the actual circumference, 40,008 kilometres. Note that Eratosthenes could only measure the circumference of the Earth by assuming that the distance to the Sun is so great that the rays of sunlight are essentially parallel. A similar measurement, reported in a Chinese mathematical treatise, the Zhoubi suanjing (1st c. BC), was used to measure the distance to the Sun– albeit by assuming that the Earth was flat.^[19] The circumference is the distance around a closed curve. ... This article is about the Greek scholar of the third century BC. For the ancient Athenian statesman of the fifth century BC, see Eratosthenes (statesman). ... Egypt: Site of Aswan (bottom). ... For other uses, see Solstice (disambiguation). ... Introduction Many systems of weights and measures have existed throughout history in different civilisations. ... Introduction Many systems of weights and measures have existed throughout history in different civilisations. ... Prism splitting light High Resolution Solar Spectrum Sunlight in the broad sense is the total spectrum of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun. ... Parallel may refer to: Parallel (geometry) Parallel (latitude), an imaginary east-west line circling a globe Parallelism (grammar), a balance of two or more similar words, phrases, or clauses Parallel (manga), a shōnen manga by Toshihiko Kobayashi Parallel (video), a video album by R.E.M. The Parallel, an...

Lucretius (1st. c. BC) opposed the concept of a spherical Earth, because he considered the idea of antipodes absurd. But by the 1st century AD, Pliny the Elder was in a position to claim that everyone agrees on the spherical shape of Earth,^[20] although there continued to be disputes regarding the nature of the antipodes, and how it is possible to keep the ocean in a curved shape. Pliny also considers the possibility of an imperfect sphere, "shaped like a pinecone".^[20] Lucretius Titus Lucretius Carus (c. ... This map shows the antipodes of each point on the Earths surface – the points where the blue and pink overlap are land antipodes. ... Pliny the Elder: an imaginative 19th Century portrait. ... Animated map exhibiting the worlds oceanic waters. ... A cone (in formal botanical usage: strobilus, plural strobili) is an organ on plants in the division Pinophyta (conifers) that contains the reproductive structures. ...

In the Second century the Alexandrian astronomer Ptolemy advanced many arguments for the sphericity of the Earth. Among them was the observation that when sailing towards mountains, they seem to rise from the sea, indicating that they were hidden by the curved surface of the sea. He also gives separate arguments that the Earth is curved north-south and that it is curved east-west.^[21] Ptolemy derived his maps from a curved globe and developed the system of latitude, longitude, and climes. His writings remained the basis of European astronomy throughout the Middle Ages, although Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (ca. 3rd to 7th centuries) saw occasional arguments in favor of a flat Earth. This article is about the geographer, mathematician and astronomer Ptolemy. ... For other uses, see Mountain (disambiguation). ... This article is about the geographer, mathematician and astronomer Ptolemy. ... This article is about the geographical term. ... Longitude is the east-west geographic coordinate measurement most commonly utilized in cartography and global navigation. ... The seven climes (klima, plural klimata, meaning inclination, referring to the angle between the axis of the celestial sphere and the horizon) was a notion of dividing the Earth into zones in Classical Antiquity. ... For other uses, see Astronomy (disambiguation). ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... Late Antiquity is a rough periodization (c. ... Justinians wife Theodora and her retinue, in a 6th century mosaic from the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. ...

In late antiquity such widely read encyclopedists as Macrobius (4th c.) and Martianus Capella (5th c.) discussed the circumference of the sphere of the Earth, its central position in the universe, the difference of the seasons in northern and southern hemispheres, and many other geographical details.^[22] In his commentary on Cicero's Dream of Scipio, Macrobius described the Earth as a globe of insignificant size in comparison to the remainder of the cosmos.^[22] Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius, Roman grammarian and philosopher, flourished during the reigns of Honorius and Arcadius (395-423). ... Martianus Minneus Felix Capella was a writer of the late Latin period, whose career flourished some time during the 5th century, before the year 439. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Northern hemisphere highlighted in yellow. ... southern hemisphere highlighted in yellow (Antarctica not depicted). ... For other uses, see Cicero (disambiguation). ... The Dream of Scipio (Latin, Somnium Scipionis) is a dream-vision by the Roman philosopher Cicero in which Scipio Aemilianus Africanus meets his grandfather by adoption, Scipio Africanus Major (236 BC - 184 BC), hero of the Second Punic War against Hannibals Carthage. ...

India

Further information: Indian astronomy

From antiquity, a cosmological view prevailed in India that held the Earth to consist of four continents grouped around the central mountain Meru like the petals of a flower; surrounding these continents was the outer ocean. This view was elaborated in traditional Buddhist cosmology, which depicts the world as a vast, flat oceanic disk (of the magnitude of a small planetary system), bounded by mountains, in which the continents are set as small islands.^{[citation needed]} In the center of this disk is the immense Mount Sumeru, the linchpin of the world, around which the stars, the Sun, and the Moon revolve; the change of day and night is caused by the occultation of the Sun by this mountain. This world is only one of an infinite number of similar worlds, which extend in all directions.^{[citation needed]} The astronomy and the astrology of Ancient India (Jyotisha) is based upon sidereal calculations. ... For the mountain in Tanzania, see Mount Meru, Tanzania. ... Buddhist cosmology is the description of the shape and evolution of the universe according to the canonical Buddhist scriptures and commentaries. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Mount Meru (Mythology). ...

During the later Vedic period (in the Shatapatha Brahmana, ca. 6th century BC), the idea that Earth was spherical appeared in ancient India.^[23] This is also recognized in another Vedic Sanskrit text Aitareya Brahmana composed around the same time, and in a later Sanskrit commentary Vishnu Purana.^[24][23] Map of early Iron Age Vedic India after Witzel (1989). ... Shatapatha Brahmana (Brahmana of one-hundred paths) is one of the prose texts describing the Vedic ritual. ... The astronomy and the astrology of Ancient India (Jyotisha) is based upon sidereal calculations. ... Vedic Sanskrit is the language of the Vedas, which are the earliest sacred texts of India,. The Vedas were first passed down orally and therefore have no known date. ... The Aitareya Brahmana is the Brahmana associated with the Rigveda in the Shakala school. ... Sanskrit ( , for short ) is a classical language of India, a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. ... The Vishnu Purana is one of the oldest of the Puranas (dating to maybe the 5th century), containing some 23,000 shlokas, presented as a dialogue between Parasara with his disciple Maitreya. ...

China and the Far East

Further information: Chinese astronomy

In ancient China, the prevailing belief was that the earth was flat and square, while the Heavens were round,^[25] an assumption which remained dominant until the introduction of European astronomy in the 17th century.^[26][27] The Dunhuang map from the Tang Dynasty (North Polar region). ... China is the worlds oldest continuous major civilization, with written records dating back about 3,500 years and with 5,000 years being commonly used by Chinese as the age of their civilization. ...

In the Mo Jing, compiled by the followers of Mozi the 4th century BC during the Warring States Period, there are a two passages which deal with space time continuum.^[28] Historians Hu Shi and Joseph Needham points out that the followers of Mozi's philosophical school of Mohism perhaps recognized the sphericity and some form of movement of the earth.^[29] Needham outlines these two propositions as given by Hu Shi's translation into English of chapters 13 and 33 of the Mo Jing: Mozi (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Mo Tzu, Lat. ... Warring States redirects here. ... In physics, spacetime is any mathematical model that combines space and time into a single construct called the space-time continuum. ... Mohism (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally School of Mo) or Moism is a Chinese philosophy founded by Mozi. ...

• Chapter 13.24.13, Space and time
  • The Boundaries of space (the spatial universe) are consistently shifting. The reason is given under 'extension'.^[29]
  • There is the South and the North in the morning, and again in the evening. Space, however, has long changed its place.^[29]
• Chapter 33.63.24, Space and time
  • Spatial relationships are names for that which is already past. The reason is given under 'reality'.^[29]
  • Knowing that 'this' is no longer 'this', and that 'this' is no longer 'here', we still call it South and North. That is, what is already past is regarded as if it were still present. We called it South then and therefore we continue to call it South now.^[29]

In the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) text of the Da Dai Li Ji (大戴禮記) (Records of Ritual Matters by Dai Senior), it quotes the earlier Zeng Shen (505 BC-436 BC) replying to a question of Shanchu Li, admitting that it was hard to conceptualize the orthodox Chinese view of the four corners of the earth and how they could be properly covered.^[25] According to the historian Needham, Zhang Heng (78-139 AD) theorized that the universe was in the oval shape of a hen's egg, while the earth itself was like the curved yolk within (in a geocentric model of thinking similar to Europe before Galileo).^[25] However, the English sinologist Cullen objects that Han Dynasty in 87 BC Capital Changan (206 BC–9 AD) Luoyang (25 AD–220 AD) Language(s) Chinese Religion Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Chinese folk religion Government Monarchy History  - Establishment 206 BC  - Battle of Gaixia; Han rule of China begins 202 BC  - Interruption of Han rule 9 - 24  - Abdication... Zengzi (曾子; also called Zeng Shen, 曾參; or Ziyu, 子輿) (505 BCE - 436 BCE) was a philosopher and student of Confucius. ... Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (December 9, 1900 – March 24, 1995) was a British biochemist and pre-eminent authority on the history of Chinese science. ... For other uses, see Zhang Heng (disambiguation). ... Galileo can refer to: Galileo Galilei, astronomer, philosopher, and physicist (1564 - 1642) the Galileo spacecraft, a NASA space probe that visited Jupiter and its moons the Galileo positioning system Life of Galileo, a play by Bertolt Brecht Galileo (1975) - screen adaptation of the play Life of Galileo by Bertolt Brecht...

In a passage of Zhang Heng's cosmogony not translated by Needham, Chang himself says: "Heaven takes its body from the Yang, so it is round and in motion. Earth takes its body from the Yin, so it is flat and quiescent". The point of the egg analogy is simply to stress that the earth is completely enclosed by heaven, rather than merely covered from above as the kai t'ien describes. Chinese astronomers, many of them brilliant men by any standards, continued to think in flat-earth terms until the seventeenth century; this surprising fact might be the starting-point for a re-examination of the apparent facility with which the idea of a spherical earth found acceptance in fifth-century B.C. Greece.^[30]

Yu Xi (c. 330 AD) influenced many Chinese thinkers afterwards when he expressed his own criticisms about the square and flat earth, while Li Ye wrote of similar ideas, arguing that the movements of the round heaven would be hindered by a square earth.^[25] Li Ye argued that it was spherical like the heavens, only much smaller, a belief that was shared by the followers of the Hun Tian theory.^[25] Li Ye (born 26 December 1983) is a Chinese short track speed skater. ...

Shortly after the collapse of the Ming Dynasty, the Ge Chi Cao treatise of Xiong Ming-yu was written (1648 AD), and showed a printed picture of the earth as a spherical globe, with the text stating that "The Round Earth certainly has no Square Corners".^[31] The text also pointed out that sailing ships could return to their port of origin after circumnavigating the waters of the earth.^[31] Xiong Ming-yu, in order to persuade the elite class of his time, harkened back to ideas of the Hun Tian theorists to defend his ideas, with the earth 'as round as a crossbow bullet' ('yuan ru dan wan').^[31] For other uses, see Ming. ...

However, the influence of the map is distinctly Western, as traditional maps of Chinese cartography held the graduation of the sphere at 365.25 degrees, while the Western graduation was of 360 degrees. Also of interest to note is on one side of the world, there is seen towering Chinese pagodas, while on the opposite side (upside-down) there were European cathedrals.^[31] Western influence of geographical knowledge was used by Xiong to enforce what he believed had already been argued by earlier Chinese astronomers, something which the French sinologist Jean-Claude Martzloff regards as a retrospective interpretation: The Chinese Pagoda is a landmark in Birmingham. ... For other uses, see Cathedral (disambiguation). ... For the books called Geography by Ancient Greek authors, see Geographia (Ptolemy) and Geographica (Strabo) For the magazine of the Royal Geographical Society, see Geographical (magazine) Geography is the study of the earth and its features, inhabitants, and phenomena. ...

European astronomy was so much judged worth consideration that numerous Chinese authors developed the idea that the Chinese of antiquity had anticipated most of the novelties presented by the missionaries as European discoveries, for example, the rotundity of the earth and the “heavenly spherical star carrier model.” Making skillful use of philology, these authors cleverly reinterpreted the greatest technical and literary works of Chinese antiquity. From this sprang a new science wholly dedicated to the demonstration of the Chinese origin of astronomy and more generally of all European science and technology.^[26]

Nevertheless, the Chinese, through observation of lunar eclipse and solar eclipse, understood that the celestial bodies (if not the earth) were spherical in shape. The polymath Chinese scientist Shen Kuo (1031-1095 AD) once wrote: Time lapse movie of the 3 March 2007 lunar eclipse A lunar eclipse occurs whenever the Moon passes through some portion of the Earth’s shadow. ... Photo taken during the 1999 eclipse. ... Leonardo da Vinci is regarded in many Western cultures as the archetypal Renaissance Man. A polymath (Greek polymathēs, πολυμαθής, having learned much)[1][2] is a person with encyclopedic, broad, or varied knowledge or learning. ... This is a Chinese name; the family name is Shen Shen Kuo or Shen Kua (Chinese: ; pinyin: ) (1031–1095) was a polymathic Chinese scientist and statesman of the Song Dynasty (960–1279). ...

The Director of the Astronomical Observatory asked me about the shapes of the sun and moon; whether they were like balls or (flat) fans. If they were like balls they would surely obstruct (ai) each other when they met. I replied that these celestial bodies were certainly like balls. How do we know this? By the waxing and waning (ying khuei) of the moon. The moon itself gives forth no light, but is like a ball of silver; the light is the light of the sun (reflected). When the brightness is first seen, the sun(-light passes almost) alongside, so the side only is illuminated and looks like a crescent. When the sun gradually gets further away, the light shines slanting, and the moon is full, round like a bullet. If half of a sphere is covered with (white) powder and looked at from the side, the covered part will look like a crescent; if looked at from the front, it will appear round. Thus we know that the celestial bodies are spherical.^[32]

Writing more than a thousand years before Shen, however, Jing Fang of the Han Dynasty wrote in the 1st century BC: For other uses, see Zhang Heng (disambiguation). ...

The moon and the planets are Yin; they have shape but no light. This they receive only when the sun illuminates them. The former masters regarded the sun as round like a crossbow bullet, and they thought the moon had the nature of a mirror. Some of them recognized the moon as a ball too. Those parts of the moon which the sun illuminates look bright, those parts which it does not, remain dark.^[33] This article is about the weapon. ...

Apparently this idea of spherical celestial bodies had become the dominant accepted theory even by the ancient Han Dynasty, since it was the philosopher Wang Chong (27-97 AD) who was ardently opposed to this idea that the mainstream 'Confucian scholars' were propagating.^[34] Wang Chung (27 – 97 C.E.) (Traditional Chinese: 王充; Simplified Chinese: 王充; pinyin: Wáng Chōng) was a Chinese philosopher during the Han Dynasty who developed a rational, secular, naturalistic, and mechanistic account of the world and of human beings. ... Confucianism (儒家 Pinyin: rújiā The School of the Scholars), sometimes translated as the School of Literati, is an East Asian ethical, religious and philosophical system originally developed from the teachings of Confucius. ...

However, in a more recent work reviewing Needham's hypotheses, the English scholar Cullen emphasizes the point that there was actually no concept of a round earth in ancient Chinese astronomy:

A century later Chiang Chi attempted to meet the objection with a hypothesis of the curvilinear propagation of light along the celestial sphere. Here, if at all, we might have expected to find some reference to the sphericity of the earth, but, as already noted, Chinese astronomy shows no trace of this idea.^[35]

Early Christian Church

From Late Antiquity, and from the beginnings of Christian theology, knowledge of the sphericity of the Earth had become widespread.^[36] There was some debate concerning the possibility of the inhabitants of the antipodes: people imagined as separated by an impassable torrid clime were difficult to reconcile with the Christian view of a unified human race descended from one couple and redeemed by a single Christ. Late Antiquity is a rough periodization (c. ... Christian doctrine redirects here. ... The seven climes (klima, plural klimata, meaning inclination, referring to the angle between the axis of the celestial sphere and the horizon) was a notion of dividing the Earth into zones in Classical Antiquity. ... Michelangelos Creation of Adam, from the Sistine Chapel. ...

Saint Augustine (354–430) argued against assuming people inhabited the antipodes: Augustinus redirects here. ...

But as to the fable that there are Antipodes, that is to say, men on the opposite side of the earth, where the sun rises when it sets to us, men who walk with their feet opposite ours, that is on no ground credible. And, indeed, it is not affirmed that this has been learned by historical knowledge, but by scientific conjecture, on the ground that the earth is suspended within the concavity of the sky, and that it has as much room on the one side of it as on the other: hence they say that the part which is beneath must also be inhabited. But they do not remark that, although it be supposed or scientifically demonstrated that the world is of a round and spherical form, yet it does not follow that the other side of the earth is bare of water; nor even, though it be bare, does it immediately follow that it is peopled.^[37]

Since these people would have to be descended from Adam, they would have had to travel to the other side of the Earth at some point; Augustine continues: Michelangelos The Creation of Adam, a fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, shows God creating Adam, with Eve in His arm. ...

It is too absurd to say, that some men might have taken ship and traversed the whole wide ocean, and crossed from this side of the world to the other, and that thus even the inhabitants of that distant region are descended from that one first man.

Scholars of Augustine's work have traditionally assumed that he would have shared the common view of his educated contemporaries that the earth is spherical. That assumption has recently been challenged, however.^[38][39]

Some authors and artists less prominent in the Church's history directly opposed the round Earth. After his conversion to Christianity, Lactantius (245–325) became a trenchant critic of all pagan philosophy. In Book III of The Divine Institutes^[40] he ridicules the notion that there could be inhabitants of the antipodes "whose footsteps are higher than their heads". After presenting some arguments which he claims advocates for a spherical heaven and earth had advanced to support their views, he writes: Lucius Caelius (or Caecilius?) Firmianus Lactantius was an early Christian author who wrote in Latin (c. ...

Cosmas Indicopleustes' world picture - flat earth in a Tabernacle.

But if you inquire from those who defend these marvellous fictions, why all things do not fall into that lower part of the heaven, they reply that such is the nature of things, that heavy bodies are borne to the middle, and that they are all joined together towards the middle, as we see spokes in a wheel; but that the bodies which are light, as mist, smoke, and fire, are borne away from the middle, so as to seek the heaven. I am at a loss what to say respecting those who, when they have once erred, consistently persevere in their folly, and defend one vain thing by another; Image File history File links Cosmas_Indicopleustes_-_Topographia_Christiana_1. ... Image File history File links Cosmas_Indicopleustes_-_Topographia_Christiana_1. ...

In his Homilies Concerning the Statutes^[41] St.John Chrysostom (344–408) explicitly espoused the idea, based on his reading of Scripture, that the Earth floated on the waters gathered below the firmament, and St. Athanasius (c.293–373) expressed similar views in Against the Heathen, though in context he is clearly speaking of the landmasses of the earth floating upon the ocean. As he supports the assumption in chapter 27 that the Sun revolves around the earth, this is unlikely to be support for a flat earth.^[42] Diodorus of Tarsus (d. 394) also argued for a flat Earth based on scriptures; however, Diodorus' opinion on the matter is known to us only by a criticism of it by Photius.^[43] Severian, Bishop of Gabala (d. 408), wrote: "The earth is flat and the sun does not pass under it in the night, but travels through the northern parts as if hidden by a wall".^[44] The Egyptian monk Cosmas Indicopleustes (547) in his Topographia Christiana, where the Covenant Ark was meant to represent the whole universe, argued on theological grounds that the Earth was flat, a parallelogram enclosed by four oceans. This article refers to the Christian saint. ... Athanasius of Alexandria (Greek: Αθανάσιος, Athanásios; c 293 – May 2, 373) was a Christian bishop, the Bishop of Alexandria, in the fourth century. ... After the early School of Antioch came into decline, the presbyter Diodore of Tarsus re-founded it in the middle of the fourth century as a semi-monastic community. ... Photius (b. ... Cosmas Indicopleustes (literally Mr. ... A parallelogram. ...

At least one early Christian writer, Basil of Caesarea (329–379), believed the matter to be theologically irrelevant.^[45] Basil (ca. ...

In the Middle Ages

Early Medieval Europe

9th century Macrobian cosmic diagram showing the sphere of the Earth at the center, (globus terrae).

12th century T-O map representing the inhabitated world as described by Isidore of Seville in his Etymologiae. (chapter 14, de terra et partibus).

12th century depiction of a spherical earth with the four seasons (book "Liber Divinorum Operum" by Hildegard of Bingen).

With the end of Roman civilization, Western Europe entered the Middle Ages with great difficulties that affected the continent's intellectual production. Most scientific treatises of classical antiquity (in Greek) were unavailable, leaving only simplified summaries and compilations. Still, the dominant textbooks of the Early Middle Ages supported the sphericity of the Earth. For example: many early medieval manuscripts of Macrobius include maps of the Earth, including the antipodes, zonal maps showing the Ptolemaic climates derived from the concept of a spherical Earth and a diagram showing the Earth (labeled as globus terrae, the sphere of the Earth) at the center of the hierarchically ordered planetary spheres.^[46] Further examples of such medieval diagrams can be found in medieval manuscripts of the Dream of Scipio. In the Carolingian era, scholars discussed Macrobius's view of the antipodes. One of them, the Irish monk Dungal, asserted that the tropical gap between our habitable region and the other habitable region to the south was smaller than Macrobius had believed.^[47] Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (2272x2264, 438 KB) Summary Macrobian Diagram of the Planets. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (2272x2264, 438 KB) Summary Macrobian Diagram of the Planets. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (608x767, 93 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Flat Earth Isidore of Seville ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (608x767, 93 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Flat Earth Isidore of Seville ... earliest printed example of a classical T and O map (by Guntherus Ziner, Augsburg, 1472), illustrating the first page of chapter XIV of the Etymologiae. ... Saint Isidore of Seville (Spanish: or , Latin: ) (c. ... First printed edition of 1472 (by Guntherus Ziner, Augsburg), title page of chapter 14 (de terra et partibus), illustrated with a T and O map. ... Illumination from the Liber Scivias showing Hildegard receiving a vision and dictating to her scribe and secretary Hildegard of Bingen (German: Hildegard von Bingen; Latin: Hildegardis Bingensis; 1098 – 17 September 1179), also known as Blessed Hildegard and Saint Hildegard, was a German magistra who later founded convents (Rupertsberg in 1150... A current understanding of Western Europe. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, which begins roughly with the earliest-recorded Greek poetry of Homer (7th century BC), and continues through the rise of Christianity and the fall of the Western Roman Empire (5th century AD... The Hereford Mappa Mundi, about 1300, Hereford Cathedral, England. ... The Dream of Scipio (Latin, Somnium Scipionis) is a dream-vision by the Roman philosopher Cicero in which Scipio Aemilianus Africanus meets his grandfather by adoption, Scipio Africanus Major (236 BC - 184 BC), hero of the Second Punic War against Hannibals Carthage. ... Sample of Carolingian minuscule, one of the products of the Carolingian Renaissance. ... Saint Dungal, born in Ireland and died after 827, was an Irish monk, who served Charlemagne as an astronomer. ...

Europe's view of the shape of the Earth in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages may be best expressed by the writings of early Christian scholars: Late Antiquity is a rough periodization (c. ... Justinians wife Theodora and her retinue, in a 6th century mosaic from the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. ...

• Boethius (c. 480 – 524), who also wrote a theological treatise On the Trinity, repeated the Macrobian model of the Earth as an insignificant point in the center of a spherical cosmos in his influential, and widely translated, Consolation of Philosophy.^[48]
• Bishop Isidore of Seville (560 – 636) taught in his widely read encyclopedia, the Etymologies, that the Earth was round. His meaning was ambiguous and some writers think he referred to a disc-shaped Earth; his other writings make it clear, however, that he considered the Earth to be globular.^[49] He also admitted the possibility of people dwelling at the antipodes, considering them as legendary^[50] and noting that there was no evidence for their existence.^[51] Isidore's disc-shaped analogy continued to be used through the Middle Ages by authors clearly favouring a spherical Earth, e.g. the 9th century bishop Rabanus Maurus who compared the habitable part of the northern hemisphere (Aristotle's northern temperate clime) with a wheel, imagined as a slice of the whole sphere.
• The monk Bede (c.672 – 735) wrote in his influential treatise on computus, The Reckoning of Time, that the Earth was round, explaining the unequal length of daylight from "the roundness of the Earth, for not without reason is it called 'the orb of the world' on the pages of Holy Scripture and of ordinary literature. It is, in fact, set like a sphere in the middle of the whole universe." (De temporum ratione, 32). The large number of surviving manuscripts of The Reckoning of Time, copied to meet the Carolingian requirement that all priests should study the computus, indicates that many, if not most, priests were exposed to the idea of the sphericity of the Earth.^[52] Ælfric of Eynsham paraphrased Bede into Old English, saying "Now the Earth's roundness and the Sun's orbit constitute the obstacle to the day's being equally long in every land."^[53]
• Bishop Vergilius of Salzburg (c.700 – 784) is sometimes cited as having been persecuted for teaching "a perverse and sinful doctrine ... against God and his own soul" regarding the sphericity of the earth. Pope Zachary decided that "if it shall be clearly established that he professes belief in another world and other people existing beneath the earth, or in another sun and moon there, thou art to hold a council, and deprive him of his sacerdotal rank, and expel him from the church."^[54] The issue involved was not the sphericity of the Earth itself, but whether people living in the antipodes were not descended from Adam and hence were not in need of redemption. Vergilius succeeded in freeing himself from that charge; he later became a bishop and was canonised in the thirteenth century.^[55]

A non-literary but graphic indication that people in the Middle Ages believed that the Earth was a sphere, is the use of the orb (globus cruciger) in the regalia of many kingdoms and of the Holy Roman Empire. It is attested from the time of the Christian late-Roman emperor Theodosius II (423) throughout the Middle Ages; the Reichsapfel was used in 1191 at the coronation of emperor Henry VI. There are several persons called Bo thius: Philosophers: Anicius Manlius Severinus thius - to many scholars this is the Bo thius, a late-Roman writer best known for his works in philosophy and theology. ... This early printed book has many hand-painted illustrations depicting Lady Philosophy and scenes of daily life in fifteenth-century Ghent (1485) Consolation of Philosophy (Latin: Consolatio Philosophiae) is a philosophical work by Boethius written in about the year 524 AD. It has been described as the single most important... Saint Isidore of Seville (Spanish: or , Latin: ) (c. ... First printed edition of 1472 (by Guntherus Ziner, Augsburg), title page of chapter 14 (de terra et partibus), illustrated with a T and O map. ... Rabanus Maurus (left) presents his work to Otgar of Mainz Rabanus Maurus Magnentius (c. ... For other uses, see Aristotle (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Bede (disambiguation). ... Computus (Latin for computation) is the calculation of the date of Easter in the Christian calendar. ... De Temporum Ratione is a treatise on the reckoning of time written in Latin by the Northumbrian Anglo-Saxon monk Bede. ... Also see: France in the Middle Ages. ... Wikisource has original works written by or about: Ælfric of Eynsham Ælfric of Eynsham (the Grammarian) (c. ... Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon[1], Old English: ) is an early form of the English language that was spoken in parts of what is now England and southern Scotland between the mid-fifth century and the mid-twelfth century. ... Vergilius of Salzburg (born about 700 in Ireland; died 784 November 27 in Salzburg) was a holy bishop of the Diocese Salzburg. ... Pope Saint Zachary (Greek Zacharias), pope (741-752). ... For other uses, see Salvation (disambiguation). ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      This article... ... Queen Elizabeth II held a globus cruciger, called the Sovereigns Orb, for her coronation portrait in 1953. ... Theodosius II Flavius Theodosius II (April, 401 - July 28, 450 ). The eldest son of Eudoxia and Arcadius who at the age of 7 became the Roman Emperor of the East. ... Henry VI (November 1165 – 28 September 1197) was King of Germany from 1190 to 1197, Holy Roman Emperor from 1191 to 1197 and King of Sicily from 1194 to 1197. ...

A recent study of medieval concepts of the sphericity of the Earth noted that "since the eighth century, no cosmographer worthy of note has called into question the sphericity of the Earth."^[56] However, the work of these intellectuals may not have had significant influence on public opinion, and it is difficult to tell what the wider population may have thought of the shape of the Earth, if they considered the question at all.

Later Medieval Europe

Picture from a 1550 edition of On the Sphere of the World, the most influential astronomy textbook of the 13th century.

Illustration of the spherical Earth in a 14th century copy of L'Image du monde (ca. 1246).

John Gower prepares to shoot the world, a sphere with compartments representing earth, air, and water (Vox Clamantis, around 1400).

Some historians consider that the early advocates of the flat Earth were influential (19th century view typified by Andrew Dickson White); others that they were relatively unimportant (typified by Religious Studies Scholar Jeffrey Burton Russell in the 1990s^[1]) in the later Middle Ages. Image File history File links Sacrobosco-1550-B3r-detail01. ... Image File history File links Sacrobosco-1550-B3r-detail01. ... De sphaera mundi (Latin meaning Of the Spheres of Worlds, sometimes rendered The Sphere of the Cosmos; the Latin title is also given as Tractatus de sphaera, or simply De sphaera) is a medieval astronomy textbook written by Johannes de Sacrobosco c. ... For other uses, see Astronomy (disambiguation). ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Medieval artistic representation of a spherical Earth - with compartments representing earth, air, and water (c. ... Illustration of the spherical Earth in a copy of LImage du monde. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (757x1171, 164 KB) Summary John Gower in a portrait from a book with his Vox Clamantis and Chronica Tripertita MS Hunter 59 (T.2. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (757x1171, 164 KB) Summary John Gower in a portrait from a book with his Vox Clamantis and Chronica Tripertita MS Hunter 59 (T.2. ... John Gower shooting the world, a sphere of earth, air, and water (from an edition of his works c. ... An illustration from a manuscript of Vox Clamantis, showing Gower shooting the world: I throw my darts and shoot my arrows at the world. ... Andrew Dickson White in 1885 Andrew Dickson White (November 7, 1832 – November 4, 1918) was a U.S. diplomat, author, and educator, best known as the co-founder of Cornell University. ... http://id-www. ...

By the 11th century Europe had learned of Islamic astronomy. The Renaissance of the 12th century from about 1070 started an intellectual revitalization of Europe with strong philosophical and scientific roots, and increased appetite for the study of nature. Abundant records suggest that by then Europeans generally believed that the Earth was spherical. For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... This is a sub-article of Islamic science and astronomy. ... New technological discoveries allowed the development of the gothic style. ... Philosophy (from the Greek words philos and sophia meaning love of wisdom) is understood in different ways historically and by different philosophers. ... For the scientific journal named Science, see Science (journal). ...

Hermannus Contractus (1013–1054) was among the earliest Christian scholars to estimate the circumference of Earth with Eratosthenes' method. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), the most important and widely taught theologian of the Middle Ages, believed in a spherical Earth; and he even took for granted his readers also knew the Earth is round.^[57] Lectures in the medieval universities commonly advanced evidence in favor of the idea that the Earth was a sphere.^[58] Also, "On the Sphere of the World", the most influential astronomy textbook of the 13th century and required reading by students in all Western European universities, described the world as a sphere. Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologica, wrote, "The physicist proves the earth to be round by one means, the astronomer by another: for the latter proves this by means of mathematics, e.g. by the shapes of eclipses, or something of the sort; while the former proves it by means of physics, e.g. by the movement of heavy bodies towards the center, and so forth."^[59] Hermannus Contractus (also called Hermannus Augiensis, Hermann of Reichenau) (1013 July 18 – 1054 September 24) was an 11th century scholar, composer, and music theorist. ... This article is about the Greek scholar of the third century BC. For the ancient Athenian statesman of the fifth century BC, see Eratosthenes (statesman). ... Aquinas redirects here. ... The first European medieval universities were established in Italy and France in the late 12th and early 13th Century for the study of arts, law, medicine, and theology. ... De sphaera mundi (Latin meaning Of the Spheres of Worlds, sometimes rendered The Sphere of the Cosmos; the Latin title is also given as Tractatus de sphaera, or simply De sphaera) is a medieval astronomy textbook written by Johannes de Sacrobosco c. ... For other uses, see Astronomy (disambiguation). ... Summa theologiae, Pars secunda, prima pars. ...

The shape of the Earth was not only discussed in scholarly works written in Latin; it was also treated in works written in vernacular languages or dialects and intended for wider audiences. The Norwegian book Konungs Skuggsjá, from around 1250, states clearly that the Earth is round - and that it is night on the other side of the Earth when it is daytime in Norway. The author also discusses the existence of antipodes - and he notes that they (if they exist) will see the Sun in the north of the middle of the day, and that they will have opposite seasons of the people living in the Northern Hemisphere. For other uses, see Latins and Latin (disambiguation). ... Look up Vernacular in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A page from Konungs skuggsjá. Konungs skuggsjá (Old Norse for Kings mirror; Latin: Speculum regale, modern Norwegian: Kongespeilet) is a Norwegian educational scripture from around 1250, dealing with politics and moral. ...

Dante's Divine Comedy, the last great work of literature of the Middle Ages, written in Italian, portrays Earth as a sphere, discussing implications such as the different stars visible in the southern hemisphere, the altered position of the sun, and the various timezones of the Earth. Also, the Elucidarium of Honorius Augustodunensis (c. 1120), an important manual for the instruction of lesser clergy which was translated into Middle English, Old French, Middle High German, Old Russian, Middle Dutch, Old Norse, Icelandic, Spanish, and several Italian dialects, explicitly refers to a spherical Earth. Likewise, the fact that Bertold von Regensburg (mid-13th century) used the spherical Earth as a sermonic illustration shows that he could assume this knowledge among his congregation. The sermon was held in the vernacular German, and thus was not intended for a learned audience. Dante shown holding a copy of the Divine Comedy, next to the entrance to Hell, the seven terraces of Mount Purgatory and the city of Florence, with the spheres of Heaven above, in Michelinos fresco. ... This article is about (usually written) works. ... southern hemisphere highlighted in yellow (Antarctica not depicted). ... Sol redirects here. ... TimeZone is an Internet forum for discussion of watches and horology. ... Honorius Augustodunensis (Commonly known as Honorius of Autun; died c. ... Middle English is the name given by historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman invasion of 1066 and the mid-to-late 15th century, when the Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English, began to become widespread, a process aided by the... Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories corresponding roughly to the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from around 1000 to 1300. ... Middle High German (MHG, German Mittelhochdeutsch) is the term used for the period in the history of the German language between 1050 and 1350. ... The name Old Russian language has been applied to different things. ... Linguistically speaking, Middle Dutch is no more than a collective name for closely related languages or dialects which were spoken and written between about 1150 and 1500 in the present-day Dutch-speaking region. ... Old Norse or Danish tongue is the Germanic language once spoken by the inhabitants of the Nordic countries (for instance during the Viking Age). ... Bertold von Regensburg (c. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy &A