When The Earth Was Flat: Studies In Ancient Greek And Chinese Cosmology

Historical & Cultural Astronomy Series Editor: Wayne Orchiston Dirk L. Couprie When the Earth Was Flat Studies in Ancient Greek and Chinese Cosmology Historical & Cultural Astronomy Historical & Cultural Astronomy Series Editor: WAYNE ORCHISTON, Adjunct Professor, Astrophysics Group, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia ([email protected]) Editorial Board: JAMES EVANS, University of Puget Sound, USA MILLER GOSS, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, USA JAMES LEQUEUX, Observatoire de Paris, France SIMON MITTON, St. Edmund’s College Cambridge University, UK MARC ROTHENBERG, AAS Historical Astronomy Division Chair, USA VIRGINIA TRIMBLE, University of California Irvine, USA XIAOCHUN SUN, Institute of History of Natural Science, China GUDRUN WOLFSCHMIDT, Institute for History of Science and Technology, Germany More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15156 Dirk L. Couprie When the Earth Was Flat Studies in Ancient Greek and Chinese Cosmology Dirk L. Couprie Department of Philosophy Faculty of Philosophy and Arts, University of West Bohemia Pilsen, Czech Republic Amsterdam, The Netherlands ISSN 2509-310X ISSN 2509-3118 (electronic) Historical & Cultural Astronomy ISBN 978-3-319-97051-6 ISBN 978-3-319-97052-3 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97052-3 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018951782 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland To the memory of my brother Jan (1924–2012), who could calculate in the dozenal system This book was supported by the Czech Grant Agency Project, GACR 15-08890S. Foreword Whether or not there was an actual relationship between e