[jaxie]

Just for the record, most folks in the world thought the earth was flat until the introduction of European Astronomy in the 17th century.

And it fact most, based on ancient Chinese theory, thought it was flat and square.

Though I'm sure here must have some theories,you only have to look at the moon for clues.

[user104658]

Originally Posted by jaxie

Though I'm sure here must have some theories,you only have to look at the moon for clues.

I was just thinking that actually. Surely from the first sparks of reasoning, some humans must have thought "hmm it's probably a sphere" just based on that. Clearly the sun and the moon are round, a few people must have guessed that the world would be the same. And then when the moon is about a week off full either side, the way the shadow is cast I think makes it a quite obvious sphere... There must ALWAYS have been some people thinking, "it's probably just the same as that" as a theory.

I guess the concept of gravity might have made it difficult to understand. But maybe they thought everyone just lived on the top of the sphere. There's a lot of talk in myths / legends of being afraid of falling off of the edge of the world, but that doesn't necessarily mean not understanding that the world is spherical... They might have imagined that if you travelled too far around the sphere you would slip off the side. It's actually the logical conclusion, if you don't know about gravity.