Ancient Greeks view about the Earth's shape
Storyboard Text
- I wonder what the shape of the Earth is.
- Our great philosophers have concluded that the Earth is spherical in shape.
- How is that so?
- Well, there has been a lot of evidence and inference about it, which the great philosophers have carefully thought out.
- One of the natural observations was that sailors would have noticed that before the hulls of the ships became visible, the sails of approaching ships appeared because the surface of the sea is slightly curved, like the surface of an enormous ball.
- Hmm, I see.
- Our great Aristotle had many conclusions as well. He concluded that the Earth is spherical because when it eclipses the moon it always casts a curved shadow. In addition, in his observations of the stars, Aristotle also argued that not only is the earth circular, but it is also a circle of no great size. He pointed out that the stars that are overhead are significantly changed by a very small change of position to south or north, and the stars seen are different, as one moves north or south.
- Oh, even the great Aristotle, huh.
- One of our great scholars, Eratosthenes, approximated the circumference of our Earth! He used experimental measurements of shadows in two cities and geometry.
- Wow, that would really be a mind-numbing task.
- Yeah, our great philosophers really make arguments and knowledge, don't they. I guess I do believe that the Earth is a sphere now.
- So, how's that sound? You think that the Earth is a sphere now?
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