Alasdair Anderson:
Howard Leamon:
the first evidence of knowledge of the spherical shape of the Earth in Scandinavia is a 12th-century Old Icelandic translation of Elucidarius.To quote your words, Howard, I cannot believe that statement is accurate. The ancient Greeks knew that the earth was not flat since at an eclipse of the moon, whichever direction the shadow of the earth was cast on the moon is was seen as round - hence they deduced that the earth was spherical. Unfortunately I only have my memory to rely on for the evidence of this as I can't quote sources, but there is the famous experiment of Eratosthenes in 205 BC when he measured the circumference of the Earth by measuring the altitude of the sun at Alexandria and the altitude of the sun at Syene (overhead) to conclude that the circumference was 24,000 stadia.
Alasdair
After all, until 1600 AD we all were taught and believed that the earth was flat; it was a no brainer; obvious. But do you think it is flat now???
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