What's the Bible reference that made Columbus think the world was round???

Question

I have to have an answer by Wen. and I can't find anything!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 1

It had nothing to do with some saying in the bible. During the time of Columbus it was common knowledge among sailors and scholars that the world was round and such knowledge was known for many years.

The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC) argued in his writings that the Earth was spherical, because of the circular shadow it cast on the Moon, during a lunar eclipse. Another reason was that some stars visible from Egypt are not seen further north The full quotation can be found here.
The Alexandria philosopher Eratosthenes went one step further and actually estimated how large the Earth was. He was told that on midsummer day (June 21) in the town of Syene in southern Egypt (today Aswan, near a huge dam on the river Nile) the noontime Sun was reflected in a deep well, meaning that it was right overhead, at zenith. Eratosthenes himself lived in Alexandria, near the river's mouth, north of Syene, about 5000 stadia north of Syene (the stadium, the size of a sports arena, was a unit of distance used by the Greeks). In Alexandria the Sun on the corresponding date did not quite reach zenith, and vertical objects still threw a short shadow. Eratosthenes established that the direction of the noon Sun differed from the zenith by an angle that was 1/50 of the circle, that is, 7. 2 degrees, and from that he estimated the circumference of the Earth to be 250,000 stadia.
Other estimates of the size of the Earth followed. Some writers reported that the Greek Posidonius used the greatest height of the bright star Canopus above the horizon, as seen from Egypt and from the island of Rhodes further north (near the southwestern tip of Turkey). He obtained a similar value, a bit smaller. The Arab Khalif El Ma'mun, who ruled in Baghdad from 813 to 833, sent out two teams of surveyors to measure a north-south baseline and from it also obtained the radius of the Earth. Compared to the value known today, those estimates were pretty close to the mark.
The idea of sailing westward to India dates back to the early Romans. According to Dr. Irene Fischer, who studied this subject, the Roman writer Strabo, not long after Erathosthenes and Posidonius, reported their results and noted:
"if of the more recent measurements of the Earth, the one which makes the Earth smallest in circumference be introduced--I mean that of Posidonius who estimates its circumference at about 180,000 stadia, then. . . "
and he continues:
"Posidonius suspects that the length of the inhabited world, about 70,000 stadia, is half the entire circle on which it had been taken, so that if you sail from the west in a straight course, you will reach India within 70,000 stadia. "


Tell whoever said to get this from the bible to become better educated.

Answer 2

I never heard there was a bible reference that Columbus read. I always understood that most of the ocean-going countries knew the earth was round, and had pretty good estimates on it's diameter. The way early sailors knew it was round, is by number one, you can see the curvature of the earth at sea. The left and right points of the horizon are always lower than the center. Number two; when approaching another ship head on, the mast always appears first, then the rest of the ship. As if the two vessels were going to meet at the top of a hill. And three, and most important, all nations used mathematical navigation (based on stars) that was formulated on a round planet. If a star constellation is 55 degrees up from the ship to the north, for example, and the same constellation is 63 degrees up 24 hours later, the crew knew they were going north. If they had been going south, the constellation would be lower in the sky. They knew if they continued south, eventually the constellation would get so low they could no longer see it, being blocked from view by the round earth. Hope this helps you.

Answer 3

I think it's in Job, it says something about the circle of the earth... hold on, I'll look it up.

edit: Okay, it's in Job 26:10: "He described a circle upon the face of the waters, until the day and night come to an end." and Isaiah 40:21-22: "Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in."

"Also, Luke 17:34-36 depicts Christ's Second Coming as happening while some are asleep at night and others are working at day-time activities in the field-an indication of a rotating earth with day and night at the same time."

Apparently, by the time of Columbus, most educated people believed the earth was a sphere, and most of the church did, too. It was just a few backward people who still thought it was flat, but they were loud enough to look like the majority of the church. :(

Answer 4

The others gave the Biblical references, but I'd suggest he might have used such a reference as a justification, and he would have known independently the Earth is round, as would any blue-water sailor. All you have to do is see the masts of a ship appear on the horizon and later the hull to know there's a curvature; moreover, he had his pick of previously calculated circumferences, and he picked the wrong one, where Isabella's court was concerned that the trip might be too long, according to the more correct estimate.

Answer 5

Isaiah 40:22
It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:

This is the only verse I know of but I dont know which school you go to but tell your teacher that a historian said for him/her to update their history on Columbus because most sailors in his day knew the earth was round but they also knew it was huge. Columbus thought it was much smaller. Of course nobody knew that another land mass was in the way of where they were going