When did people learn that the world was round? The Greeks figured it out and taught the West and the Arabs, and I presume the Indians as well. The Chinese seemed to
consider it flat until Ricci et al, though perhaps that was due to the representation of the Earth (a grid) in the language, taken mystically (Yin/Yang) or at face value by the unlearned. Though apparently it took a while for Chinese astronomers to buy into Ricci's notions. The Chinese weren't lacking in
good astronomers, but astronomical knowledge about the stars and planets doesn't demand that you understand the shape of the Earth.
I read claims that the Maya knew the world was round, but I haven't yet found an explanation, just bald assertions. Once again, astronomy doesn't have to tell you the shape of the Earth unless you ask the right question (Earth's shadow on the Moon).
The lies of Draper and White have been dreadfully long-lasting, and clutter up google search badly enough to make finding information tough.
4 comments:
Draper and White clearly did not read the "Purgatorio", did they?
And they probably did not bother to read anything on the subject from before Dante either.
I had believed the myth - though I thought little about it - as far back as I can remember. I think I did read a few places that dispelled the Columbus part of it over the years, but it didn't penetrate.
Not until I read CS Lewis's takedown, not only in The Discarded Image but before that, in God In The Dock did it sink in that the accusation was 99% fraudulent.
BTW James, the Eowyn-Meriadoc debate is still going on over at Grim's
Funny thing is that so did I, even though I knew about Eratosthenes (not all about him--I'll be summarizing The Lost Revolution later). I just figured knowledge had been lost. I have trouble with names and dates, and didn't have a clear notion that (as YD notes) Dante came before Columbus--there wasn't a single narrative that linked the two, just parallel strands. I've since taken a greater interest in history--but my problem with dates means some things still slip by.
I don't recall when I learned that everybody (in the West) knew, but it wasn't until much later --maybe it was Lewis-- that I discovered that certain historians had been deliberately lying.
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