Haha.
Eratosthenes
“c. 276 BC[1] – c. 195/194 BC[2]) was a Greek mathematician, geographer, poet, astronomer, and music theorist.”
“He is best known for being the first person to calculate the circumference of the Earth, which he did by applying a measuring system using stades, or the length of stadia during that time period. His calculation was remarkably accurate.”
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eratosthenes
So, if he was the first person to calculate the circumference, for how long earlier was it commonly accepted that the earth is round.
he was a music critic? what a multifaceted guy..
Eratosthenes had all these characters beat by more than a thousand years. LOL.
It was probably very early in human history. Up until about a century ago, street lights were unknown and the celestial bodies were bright and very visible to most people every night of the year.
Anyone with just a little bit of scientific thinking will immediately deduce the shape of the earth by looking at its shadow on the moon during a lunar eclipse. Plus, looking at the moon every night for many years will tell a good observer its shape. The similarities must have been obvious, even in the stone age.