On Mon, 18 Oct 2004 09:55:14 -0500, Brian Densmore [email protected] wrote:
-----Original Message----- From: Monty J. Harder The majority thought the earth was flat, until Columbus and Magellan proved them wrong.
BS! This is a legend (as in urban legend). Everyone knew the Earth was round, especially sailors. This story came about because of a fiction novel written by I believe Dante.
If one reads "The Divine Comedy" (The work by Dante Alighieri cited in this post) you will find this is not true. I do not know if Dante himself provided illustrations, but the version I have clearly depicts the earth as round in Canto II. Through the story, Dante travels _through_ the earth by was of Jerusalem to Purgatory, which is on the other side. (Oh and all that hell stuff in the center!)
Given the original text was written in Italian, and the illustrations in my reference are in English, I expect they are merely a supplement provided by the translators. Hard to say... my source is the Carlyle-Wicksteed Unabridged translation, Random House circa 1932.
So... it must have been another work of fiction. D.