Editing Flat Earth (section)

====Greece: spherical Earth====
[[File:Partial Lunar Eclipse 2019-07-16.jpg|thumb|Semi-circular shadow of Earth on the [[Moon]] during a partial [[lunar eclipse]]]]
[[Pythagoras]] in the 6th century BC and [[Parmenides]] in the 5th century BC stated that the [[spherical Earth|Earth is spherical]],<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofplaneta00dreyuoft |title=A History of Astronomy from Thales to Kepler |last=Dreyer |first=John Louis Emil |date=1953 |publisher=[[Dover Publications]] |isbn=978-0-486-60079-6 |location=New York, NY |pages=[https://archive.org/stream/historyofplaneta00dreyuoft#page/20/mode/1up 20], [https://archive.org/stream/historyofplaneta00dreyuoft#page/37/mode/1up 37–38] |ref=Reference-Dreyer-1953 |author-link=J. L. E. Dreyer |orig-year=1905}}</ref> and this view spread rapidly in the Greek world. Around 330&nbsp;BC, [[Aristotle]] maintained on the basis of physical theory and observational evidence that the Earth was spherical, and reported an estimate of [[Earth's circumference|its circumference]].<ref>''On the Heavens'', Book ii Chapter 14. {{Cite book |last=Lloyd |first=G. E. R. |author-link=G. E. R. Lloyd |url=https://www.archive.org/details/aristotlegrowths0000lloy/page/162 |title=Aristotle: The Growth and Structure of His Thought |date=1968 |publisher=Cambridge Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-521-07049-2 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/aristotlegrowths0000lloy/page/162 162–64]}}</ref> The Earth's [[circumference]] was first determined around 240&nbsp;BC by [[Eratosthenes]].<ref>{{Cite book |first= Albert |last= Van Helden |title= Measuring the Universe: Cosmic Dimensions from Aristarchus to Halley |publisher= University of Chicago Press |date= 1985 |pages= 4–5 |isbn= 978-0-226-84882-2}}</ref> By the 2nd century AD, [[Ptolemy]] had derived [[Geography (Ptolemy)|his maps]] from a globe and developed the system of [[latitude]], [[longitude]], and [[clime]]s. His ''[[Almagest]]'' was written in Greek and only translated into Latin in the 11th century from Arabic translations.

[[Lucretius]] (1st century BC) opposed the concept of a spherical Earth, because he considered that an infinite universe had no center towards which heavy bodies would tend. Thus, he thought the idea of animals walking around topsy-turvy under the Earth was absurd.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Lucretius and the Transformation of Greek Wisdom |last=Sedley |first=David N. |date=2003 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-54214-2 |place=Cambridge |pages=78–82 }}</ref><ref>Lucretius, ''De rerum natura'', 1.1052–82.</ref> By the 1st century AD, [[Pliny the Elder]] was in a position to say that everyone agreed on the spherical shape of Earth,<ref>''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'', 2.64.</ref> though disputes continued regarding the nature of the [[antipodes]], and how it is possible to keep the [[ocean]] in a curved shape.