Therefore in the Ancient world only sailors, astronomers, philosophers, and theologians would have cared about the Earth's large-scale shape. The large-scale shape of the Earth only matters when considering large distances, as it is hard to see the Earth's curve from the ground. Aristotle knew the Earth was round, that is to say, roughly spherical. From then on, few educated people ever believed in its being flat, though the idea of a flat earth was still common among the less educated. One of the "giveaways" is that ships' masts disappear as they move away from shore.Įratosthenes (276 BC–194 BC) calculated the circumference of the Earth quite well. This was a common belief until the Classical Greeks began to discuss the Earth's shape about the 4th century BC. Early Mesopotamian maps showed the world as a flat disk floating in the ocean. Belief in a flat Earth is found in writings predating around 500 BC. The flat earth is a scientifically false hypothesis that the surface of the Earth is not roughly a sphere, but rather flat (a plane).
This kind of medieval mappa mundi illustrates only the reachable side of a round Earth.
15th century adaptation of a T and O map.
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