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.

Discusses ancient theories of a flat Earth with surprising new insights and interpretations Contrasts early Greek philosophy with ancient Chinese concepts Numerous images visualize ancient cosmology

Auteur
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).

Contenu

Introduction. - Preliminaries on Sources and Methodology.- Part One Ancient Greece.- Peculiarities of Presocratic Flat Earth Cosmology.- Anaximander's Images.- Anaximander's Phenomenological Cosmology.- Anaximander's Numbers.- Anaximenes' Cosmology.- Xenophanes' Cosmology.- Anaxagoras on The Milky Way and Lunar Eclipses.- Anaxagoras on The Light and Phases of the Moon.- Anaxagoras and the Measurement of the Sun and Moon.- Aristotle's Arguments for the Sphericity of the Earth.- Part Two Ancient China.- An Ancient Chinese Cosmology: Main Features.- An Ancient Chinese Flat Earth Cosmology. Details and Calculations.- Ancient Chinese Versus Greek Flat Earth Cosmology.- Two Appendices: Cosmas Indicopleustes and Samuel Birley Rowbotham.- Quotations from Ancient Greek and Roman Authors.- Quotations from the Zhou bi and Ancient Chinese Authors.- Bibliography.