Sallow
The Big Bad Wolf.
- Thread starter
- #101
I guess you don't sail. Every sailor who ever put out to sea knew the Earth is round, no matter what idiots who lived inland thought. Or did you learn from one of those history books that insisted that no one ever sailed out of sight of land?
I learned from one of those history books that said most of Europe would punish people for going against religious dogma.
Do you know who led the charge against Galileo? The scientists who thought Aristotle was right when he said that the Earth was the center of the universe. They had more political power than Galileo, even though the Pope was a personal friend, and they managed to force the Pope to allow the trial, despite the fact that there were actually Cardinals that thought there shouldn't be one. If there hadn't been a trial the Church would have torn itself apart over the internal schism from Catholics fighting Catholics over science and faith. While it is completely true that the Aristotelians won that particular battle, not one of them thought the Earth was flat because Aristotle knew better.
All of that is just to prove you are actually reading the wrong history books. Everyone who studied science, and every sailor, knew the Earth was round. The educated people even knew how big it is. For some reason Columbus thought it was significantly smaller, and wanted to prove it by sailing west to get to the east. The kings he talked to didn't want to give him money because they thought his math was bad, not because they thought the Earth is flat. Turns out they were right.
Sometimes the claim is made that those who opposed Columbus thought the Earth was flat, but that wasn't the case at all. Even in ancient times sailors knew that the Earth was round and scientists not only suspected it was a sphere, but even estimated its size.
If you stand on the seashore and watch a ship sailing away, it will gradually disappear from view. But the reason cannot be the distance: if a hill or tower are nearby, and you climb to the top after the ship has completely disappeared, it becomes visible again. Furthermore, if on the shore you watch carefully the way the ship disappears from view, you will notice that the hull vanishes first, while the masts and sails (or the bridge and smokestack) disappear last. It is as if the ship was dropping behind a hill, which in a way is exactly the case, the "hill" being the curve of the Earth's surface.
To find out how the distance to the horizon is calculated, click here Eratosthenes, Posidonius and El Mamun
The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC) argued in his writings that the Earth was spherical, because of the circular shadow it cast on the Moon, during a lunar eclipse. Another reason was that some stars visible from Egypt are not seen further north The full quotation can be found here.
The Round Earth and Christopher Columbus
Go read some accurate books about history before you dismiss the Catholic Church as a bunch of idiots who thought the Earth was flat.
Originally the term characterized the bulk of the Middle Ages, or roughly the 6th to 13th centuries, as a period of intellectual darkness between the extinguishing of the "light of Rome" after the end of Late Antiquity, and the rise of the Italian Renaissance in the 14th century.[5] [3] This definition is still found in popular usage,[1][2][6] but increased recognition of the accomplishments of the Middle Ages since the 19th century has led to the label being restricted in application. Since the 20th century, it is frequently applied only to the earlier part of the era, the Early Middle Ages (c. 5th10th century).[7][8] However, many modern scholars who study the era tend to avoid the term altogether for its negative connotations, finding it misleading and inaccurate for any part of the Middle Ages.[9][10][11]
The concept of a Dark Age originated with the Italian scholar Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca) in the 1330s, and was originally intended as a sweeping criticism of the character of Late Latin literature.[3][12] Petrarch regarded the post-Roman centuries as "dark" compared to the light of classical antiquity. Later historians expanded the term to refer to the transitional period between Roman times and the High Middle Ages (c. 11th13th century), including not only the lack of Latin literature, but also a lack of contemporary written history, general demographic decline, limited building activity and material cultural achievements in general. Later historians and writers picked up the concept, and popular culture has further expanded on it as a vehicle to depict the Middle Ages as a time of backwardness, extending its pejorative use and expanding its scope.[13]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Ages_(historiography)
Oh..lookie..here come the Republicans!
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grbSQ6O6kbs]Monty Python-Bring out your dead! - YouTube[/ame]
Republican..health care..gotta love it.