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To: DannyTN

Ok, this article says that Talmudic scholars held one of four views:

1) The earth is flat and is resting on some sort of foundation.

2) The earth is flat but is floating in the air or nothingness.

3) The earth is round but its "bottom" half is immersed in water.

4) The earth is round and both sides are inhabitable.

The scholar quoted as supporting the fourth view is R' Yonah. Your article states: "R' Yonah quotes a Greek legend and accepted the fact that the earth is round. The seas, however, are flat according to R' Yonah, similar to the water in a bowl that flattens out on top despite the roundness of the bowl. This would be the fourth view we mentioned above."

A bowl-like earth with flat seas seems far from the globaularist views of Aquinas and later scholars. This article does not show that ancient Hebrews realized the world was round, it only shows that there was disagreement amongst Talmudic scholars over which (incorrect as it truns out) view of the world was best.


113 posted on 02/08/2005 4:34:34 PM PST by free_european
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To: free_european

But two of the three views does have a round earth, even if their understanding wasn't perfect.


116 posted on 02/08/2005 4:41:36 PM PST by DannyTN
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