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.
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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
...