When the Earth Was Flat

This book is a sequel to Heaven and Earth in Ancient Greek Cosmology (Springer 2011). With the help of many pictures, the reader is introduced into the way of thinking of ancient believers in a flat earth. The first part offers new interpretations of several Presocratic cosmologists and a critical discussion of Aristotle's proofs that the earth is spherical. The second part explains and discusses the ancient Chinese system called gai tian. The last chapter shows that, inadvertently, ancient arguments and ideas return in the curious modern flat earth cosmologies.

Autorentext
Dirk L. Couprie is a retired scholar (University of Leiden). Doctoral dissertation at University of Amsterdam with a thesis on Anaximander.Current position: leader of a project on Presocratic Philosophy at the philosophical department of the faculty of philosophy and arts, University of West Bohemia in Pilsen.Areas of work: Presocratic philosophy, more especially Presocratic cosmology; also ancient cosmology in a broader perspective (ancient Egyptian, ancient Jewish, ancient Chinese).

Klappentext
This book is a sequel to Heaven and Earth in Ancient Greek Cosmology (Springer 2011). With the help of many pictures, the reader is introduced into the way of thinking of ancient believers in a flat earth. The first part offers new interpretations of several Presocratic cosmologists and a critical discussion of Aristotle's proofs that the earth is spherical. The second part explains and discusses the ancient Chinese system called gai tian. The last chapter shows that, inadvertently, ancient arguments and ideas return in the curious modern flat earth cosmologies.

Inhalt

Spherical versus Flat

Foreword

Acknowledgements

References

Introduction

Chapter 1 Preliminaries on Sources and Methodology

Sources

Methodology

References

Part One Ancient Greece

Chapter 2 Peculiarities of Presocratic Flat Earth Cosmology

The shape of the earth

Arguments concerning the shape of the earth

Geographical issues

The tilt of the celestial axis

The alleged tilt of the earth

Climatological issues

Falling on a flat earth

Distance of the heavens

Temporal issues

References

Chapter 3 Anaximander's Images

Introduction

The cosmic tree

The tilted tree

The reversal in the relationship between air and fire

Tamed fire

Turning wheels

Two images for escaping fire

Tilted wheels * ...