- #1
jostpuur
- 2,116
- 19
http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1457.htm
If I had been around with Eratosthenes back then, I would have probably still assumed that the Earth is flat, and used this measurement to calculate the height of the Sun. Is there knowledge about how the Greeks succeeded assuming/deducing correctly that the Sun must be very far away?
Or no... in fact I would not have assumed Earth is flat, because that link already gives some reasons to assume that Earth was round. But I still wonder how Greeks got convinced, that Sun is so far away, that the Eratosthenes's calculation could be valid.
If I had been around with Eratosthenes back then, I would have probably still assumed that the Earth is flat, and used this measurement to calculate the height of the Sun. Is there knowledge about how the Greeks succeeded assuming/deducing correctly that the Sun must be very far away?
Or no... in fact I would not have assumed Earth is flat, because that link already gives some reasons to assume that Earth was round. But I still wonder how Greeks got convinced, that Sun is so far away, that the Eratosthenes's calculation could be valid.
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