When the Earth Was Flat: Studies in Ancient Greek and Chinese Cosmology

by Dirk L. Couprie

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783319970516
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	11/02/2018
Series:	Historical & Cultural Astronomy
Edition description:	1st ed. 2018
Pages:	361
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

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).

Table of Contents

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.

Editorial Reviews

Highly specialized and learned exposition much is made of the textual, conceptual, and … relevant literature. The author is also to be congratulated on his clarity and thoroughness.” (David W. Hughes, The Observatory, Vol. 139 (1270), June, 2019)

From the Publisher