did flat earth theory come from greek mythalogy?

Ancient Norse thought postulated a circular flat Earth surrounded by a sea inhabited by a giant serpent. The ancient Chinese were also virtually unanimous in their view of the Earth’s flatness, although – in this system – the heavens were spherical and the Earth was square.Ī number of ancient Indian conceptions, common – with some degree of variation – to ancient Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, tie their cosmography to botanical images, with the earth being comprised of four continents surrounding a mountain, akin to the way petals encircle the bud of a flower. The ancient Greek conception, in turn, has some parallels with that of early Egyptian and Mesopotamian thought, with both thinking that the Earth was a large disc surrounded by a gigantic body of water.

This was maintained by Thales, considered by many one of the first philosophers, Lucretius, an avowed materialist, as well as Democritus, the founder of atomic theory. Both the poets Homer and Hesiod described a flat Earth. It was a common belief in ancient Greece, as well as in India, China and in a wide range of indigenous or “pre-state” cultures. Different cultures at different times have posited a staggeringly diverse array of worldviews which cannot easily be summed up with the phrase “flat Earth.” Nor is the idea of a flat Earth something that is exclusive to the Western world.Įven the most cursory historical survey shows that the idea that the Earth is flat has been a notion shared by an extraordinarily wide range of cultures and tied to vastly different metaphysical systems and cosmologies.

Edge of the worldīut what exactly is a “flat Earth theory”? In fact, there never has been anything called “the flat Earth theory”. What do we do, then, when someone actually does believe that the Earth is flat, as the American rapper B.o.B expressed recently? The usual path seems to be blocked it’s difficult to insult someone with a term that they themselves happily adopt.

Did flat earth theory come from greek mythalogy?