That the earth is a sphere was known
to scholars since the dawn of history. The ancient Greek sculpture of the Farnese
Atlas shows him holding the globe on his shoulders. Pythagoras, Parmenides, Eudoxus,
Plato, Aristotle, Erastosthenes, Euclid, Aristarchus, Archimedes, Strato, Ptolemy, and the Talmudic sages all held the world to be a globe.