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Re: Flat Earth



At 17:44 -0700 2/11/02, Jim Green wrote:

When , if ever, was the common view that the Earth was "flat"??

Common amongst whom? I suspect that among educated people it was
pretty much accepted from Greek times. After all Eratosthenes first
measure the earth's circumference in about 350 B.C.E. Since
historians don't spend much time talking with the uneducated, I don't
know how widespread that idea was with them much before Columbus'
time. Contrary to the stories about Columbus' sailors, I doubt many
seamen by that time doubted the sphericity of the earth. After all,
they had been watching ships disappear hull down for centuries, and
they had lots of opportunities to see lunar eclipses and watch the
earth's shadow move across the lunar surface, looking much like at
least a disc.

So I would say that the idea that the earth was flat was most likely
limited to those who lived a goodly distance from the sea, were
illiterate, and didn't spend much time looking up. In other words,
after, probably, the third century B.C.E., it was limited to
relatively isolated areas where the populace never had much reason to
think about it.

Hugh
--

Hugh Haskell
<mailto://haskell@ncssm.edu>
<mailto://hhaskell@mindspring.com>

(919) 467-7610

Let's face it. People use a Mac because they want to, Windows because they
have to..
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