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Did people ever think the earth was flat?

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    #32
    brianthebard
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16,165 ✭✭✭✭brianthebard


    asdasd, your questions been answered and this conversation is dragging the thread ever more off-topic. I suggest if either of you have more to discuss you start a new thread. Mod.


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    #33
    Medievalist
    Closed Accounts Posts: 246 ✭✭Medievalist


    Just out of curiosity, if anyone has come across any evidence to suggest that some people did believe the earth was flat, I'd love to know about it. My interest has been piqued :)


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    #34
    Amtmann
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,093 ✭✭✭Amtmann


    Medievalist wrote: »
    Just out of curiosity, if anyone has come across any evidence to suggest that some people did believe the earth was flat, I'd love to know about it. My interest has been piqued :)

    In that case the book you need to read is "Inventing the Flat Earth" by J.B. Russell. It looks at ancient, medieval and modern ideas. I haven't read it myself, but I'm assured by one 'in the know' that it's the best study of the subject.


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    #35
    Ponster
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 10,912 Mod ✭✭✭✭Ponster


    Medievalist wrote: »
    Just out of curiosity, if anyone has come across any evidence to suggest that some people did believe the earth was flat, I'd love to know about it. My interest has been piqued :)

    Wiki says that China believed that the Earth was flat until Jesuits spread the idea of a spherical earth though China has always had a history of some thinkers dismissing this idea and stating that the Earth was in far round.*

    * Science and civilisation in China By Joseph Needham, Ling Wang (P498, available on Google Books)


    IMHO 99% of the people who have ever lived have had more important things to worry about then if the world was round or not, so asking "What people thought?" should be translated as "What did the learned people of period x think about the flatness or lack of of the Earth".


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    #36
    Medievalist
    Closed Accounts Posts: 246 ✭✭Medievalist


    Furet wrote: »
    In that case the book you need to read is "Inventing the Flat Earth" by J.B. Russell.

    Thanks Furet. Must look out for that book so.


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