How did they explain a lunar eclipse 500 years ago?

Question

At the time, they thought the Earth was flat. So how did they explain a lunar ecipse (since we now know it as the shadow of the Earth on the moon)?

Should this question be asked in "History"?!

Answer 1

They would have thought that the gods where sending them a sign about something and the priests would have made up some reason. Back then, lots of things were blamed on the gods since science couldn't understand it or explain it.

Answer 2

Most educated people knew the Earth was not flat 500 years ago. Eratosthenes proved that it wasn't in 240 B.C. Many sailors also noticed that as a ship moved away from you at sea, the last thing you would see is the ships mast "sinking" as it dropped down out of view at the horizon. Also, many in antiquity did surmise that the Earth was round by seeing the Earths shadow on Moon. Much of all of this was discovered in ancient times, however, the masses believed the Earth was flat until long after the printing press was invented.

Answer 3

Depends on the area of earth, Usually Gods haves been used to explain things we dont understand!

Inuit mythology has many similarities to the religions of other polar regions. Inuit traditional religious practices could be very briefly summarised as a form of shamanism based on animist principles.

In some respects, Inuit mythology stretches the common conception of what the term “mythology” means. Unlike Greek mythology, for example, at least a few people have believed in it, without interruption, from the distant past up to and including the present time. While the dominant religious system of the Inuit today is Christianity, many Inuit do still hold to at least some element of their traditional religious beliefs. Some see the Inuit as having adapted traditional beliefs to a greater or lesser degree to Christianity, while others would argue that it is rather the reverse that it true: The Inuit have adapted Christianity to their worldview.

Inuit traditional cosmology is not religion in the usual theological sense, and is similar to what most people think of as mythology only in that it is a narrative about the world and the place of people in it. In the words of Inuit writer Rachel Attituq Qitsualik:

The Inuit cosmos is ruled by no one. There are no divine mother and father figures. There are no wind gods and solar creators. There are no eternal punishments in the hereafter, as there are no punishments for children or adults in the here and now.

Indeed, the traditional stories, rituals and taboos of the Inuit are so tied into the fearful and precautionary culture required by their harsh environment that it raises the question as to whether they qualify as beliefs at all, much less religion. As Knud Rasmussen's Inuit guide told him when asked about Inuit religious beliefs "We don't believe. We fear." Living in a varied and irregular world, the Inuit traditionally did not worship anything, but they feared much.

Answer 4

We frequently get 2 lunar eclipses a year, it somewhat is commonly used. The moon orbits the Earth at an perspective in comparison to the solar's obvious direction interior the sky. So at 2 factors interior the moon's orbit it crosses that solar direction (stated as the ecliptic). At those 2 circumstances we can frequently get an eclipse (although not certain, there are different variables which could make it omit).

Answer 5

Actually, educated people have understood that the Earth is round since classical Greece, and possibly before. Reasonably correct understanding of the nature of eclipses goes back to at least Anaxagoras, in the 5th century BCE.

Answer 6

well eyedoc, not everyone thought it was flat. but the catholic church forced them to keep their mouths shut. they thought it was flat. most people then were very superstitious. they thought this was an evil sign and would pay profiteers money for potions to protect themselves and their livestock. this also happened in 1910 when Haley's comet came around. people didn't have history books to know these things were natural phenomenons, so they thought the worse and got taken advantage of. today we are much better informed. and smarter i might add.

Answer 7

Jesus, christianity. This was one of the reasons that religions started, not knowing what they were seeing.

What did they literally think it was? There are literally thousands of examples from cultures all over the world as to what they thoguht it was. Snakes swallowing the moon. God moving across the sky. There are many of them.

Answer 8

Something about god being mad at people or something.