Editing Flat Earth (section)

=====Philosophers=====
[[Image:Anaximander world map (mul).svg|thumb|right|Possible rendering of Anaximander's world map<ref>According to John Mansley Robinson, ''An Introduction to Early Greek Philosophy'', Houghton and Mifflin, 1968.</ref>]]
Several [[Pre-Socratic philosophy|pre-Socratic philosophers]] believed that the world was flat: [[Thales of Miletus|Thales]] (c. 550&nbsp;BC) according to several sources,<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Physical World of the Greeks |last=Sambursky |first=Samuel |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=9780691024110 |date=August 1987|pages=12}}</ref> and [[Leucippus]] (c. 440&nbsp;BC) and [[Democritus]] (c. 460–370&nbsp;BC) according to Aristotle.<ref name=Burch>{{Cite journal |last= Burch |first= George Bosworth |title= The Counter-Earth |journal= Osiris |volume= 11 |publisher= Saint Catherines Press |issue= 1 |date= 1954 |pages= 267–94 |doi= 10.1086/368583 |s2cid= 144330867 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |first= Didier |last= De Fontaine |title= Flat worlds: Today and in antiquity |journal= Memorie della Società Astronomica Italiana |volume= 1 |issue= 3 |pages= 257–62 |date= 2002 |url= http://www.mse.berkeley.edu/faculty/deFontaine/flatworlds.html |access-date= August 3, 2007 |bibcode= 2002MmSAI..73S.257D |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070825010821/http://www.mse.berkeley.edu/faculty/deFontaine/flatworlds.html |archive-date= August 25, 2007 |url-status= dead }}</ref><ref>Aristotle, ''De Caelo'', 294b13–21</ref>

Thales thought that the Earth floated in water like a log.<ref>Aristotle, ''De Caelo'', II. 13. 3; 294a 28: "Many others say the Earth rests upon water. This... is the oldest theory that has been preserved, and is attributed to Thales of Miletus."</ref> It has been argued, however, that Thales actually believed in a spherical Earth.<ref>{{cite book |title=Thales of Miletus: the beginnings of Western science and philosophy |last=O'Grady |first=Patricia F. |author-link=Patricia O'Grady|date=2002 |publisher=[[Ashgate Publishing]] |isbn=9780754605331 |location=[[Aldershot]] |pages=87–107}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Pseudo-Plutarch |title=Placita Philosophorum |at=V.&nbsp;3, Ch.&nbsp;10 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0404%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D10 |publisher=Perseus Digital Library |access-date=December 24, 2014 }}</ref> [[Anaximander]] (c. 550&nbsp;BC) believed that the Earth was a short cylinder with a flat, circular top that remained stable because it was the same distance from all things.<ref>[[Hippolytus of Rome|Hippolytus]], ''Refutation of all Heresies'', i. 6.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal| author = [[Anaximander]] | editor-last = Fairbanks | editor-first = Arthur | translator-last = Fairbanks | translator-first = Arthur  | title = Fragments and Commentary | journal = The Hanover Historical Texts Project | url = http://history.hanover.edu/texts/presoc/anaximan.html }} (Plut., ''Strom.'' 2; ''Dox''. 579).</ref> [[Anaximenes of Miletus]] believed that "the Earth is flat and rides on air; in the same way the Sun and the Moon and the other heavenly bodies, which are all fiery, ride the air because of their flatness".<ref>Hippolytus, ''Refutation of all Heresies'', i. 7; Cf. Aristotle, ''De Caelo'', 294b13–21.</ref> [[Xenophanes]] (c. 500&nbsp;BC) thought that the Earth was flat, with its upper side touching the air, and the lower side extending without limit.<ref>Xenophanes [[Diels-Kranz|DK]] 21B28, quoted in Achilles, ''Introduction to Aratus'' 4.</ref>

Belief in a flat Earth continued into the 5th century BC. [[Anaxagoras]] (c. 450&nbsp;BC) agreed that the Earth was flat,<ref>[[Diogenes Laërtius]], ii. 8.</ref> and his pupil [[Archelaus (philosopher)|Archelaus]] believed that the flat Earth was depressed in the middle like a saucer, to allow for the fact that the Sun does not rise and set at the same time for everyone.<ref>Hippolytus, ''Refutation of all Heresies'', i. 9.</ref>