The idea of ​​ancient people about the earth in ancient times. The ancients' idea of ​​the earth

On this lesson we learn about what the Universe is and how it works. We will discover the world of mysterious and incomprehensible outer space. Let's talk about how ancient civilizations imagined the Universe. Let's get acquainted with scientists whose ideas have occupied an important place in the development of science.

Theme: Universe

Lesson: How Ancient People Pictured the Universe

As we found out, methods of cognition can be different. The tasks and goals set for the study are also different. But the single most important thing will remain the interest of understanding the world, the Universe, living and nonliving things. What is the Universe?

Definition.Universe - it's limitless outer space and everything that fills it: celestial bodies, gas, dust.

If we look into the starry sky, we will see various star constellations, solar systems, the Moon - they are all components of the Universe, even stars that cannot be seen without the help of special instruments - telescopes (Fig. 1).

In ancient times, such telescopes did not exist, and people have been observing the movement of the Moon, Sun, and planets for thousands of years, so it is clear that modern views about the structure of the Universe did not arise instantly, but developed gradually, and the earliest views were significantly different from what we know today. Various nations worlds represented the Universe differently.

According to the ideas of the ancient Indians, our Earth was like a hemisphere, which rested on the backs of huge elephants that stood on a giant turtle. The turtle rested on a snake, which closed the space and personified the world (Fig. 2).

For example, the Egyptians had a different idea of ​​the structure of the Universe. Their views were expressed in the form of myth.

The god of the earth - Geb and the goddess of the sky - Nut loved each other very much, and therefore at first our Universe was merged into one. Every evening Nut gave birth to stars that appeared in the sky. Every morning before sunrise she swallowed them. And this continued day after day, year after year, until Geb began to get irritated, which is why he called Nut a pig who eats his piglets. Then the sun god Ra intervened and called the wind god Shu to separate heaven and earth. So Nut ascended to heaven in the form of a cow. Sometimes Tehnud came to the aid of her husband Shu, but she very quickly got tired of supporting the heavenly cow and began to cry, and her tears fell like rain to the ground (Fig. 3).

The ancient Babylonians imagined the earth as a huge mountain. In the west of this mountain was Babylonia, which was surrounded by mountains on the east, and the sea in the south. The sea as a whole surrounded this entire mountain, and on top of it, in the form of an inverted bowl, was the sky. The inhabitants of Babylonia thought that there was also land and water in the sky, perhaps even life. The celestial land is the belt of the 12 constellations of the Zodiac: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces. They also believed that the sun goes out and goes back into the sea (Fig. 4). They were never able to explain the observed natural phenomena.

The ancient Jews imagined the Earth differently. They lived on a plain, and the Earth seemed to them to be a plain, with mountains rising here and there. A special place in the universe, the Jews assigned to the winds that bring rain or drought. The abode of the winds, in their opinion, was located in the lower zone of the sky and separated the Earth from the celestial waters: snow, rain and hail. Under the Earth there are waters, from which canals run up, feeding seas and rivers. The ancient Jews apparently had no idea about the shape of the entire Earth.

The ancient Greeks made a great contribution to the development of views about the structure of the Universe. For example, the philosopher Thales (Fig. 5) imagined the Universe as a liquid mass, inside of which there is a large bubble shaped like a hemisphere. The concave surface of this bubble is the vault of heaven, and on the lower, flat surface, like a cork, the flat Earth floats. It is not difficult to guess that Thales based the idea of ​​the Earth as a floating island on the fact that Greece is located on islands. Pythagoras (Fig. 6) was the first to suggest that our Earth is not flat, but similar to a ball. And Aristotle (Fig. 7), developing this hypothesis, created new model world, according to which the motionless Earth is located in the center and is surrounded by eight solid and transparent spheres. The ninth - ensured the movement of everyone celestial spheres. According to these views, the Sun, Moon and the planets known at that time were attached to the eight spheres (Fig. 8). Aristotle's views were not shared by all scientists. Aristarchus of Samos came closest to the truth, because he believed that at the center of the Universe was not the Earth, but the Sun, but he could not prove this. Subsequently, his views were forgotten for many years.

Aristotle's views on for a long time strengthened in science, for example, the ancient Greek scientist Claudius Ptolemy also located a stationary Earth in the center of the Universe, around which Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn revolved. The entire Universe was limited by the sphere of fixed stars. The scientist outlined all these views in his work “Mathematical Construction in Astronomy.” The views of Claudius Ptolemy lasted more than the 13th centuries and for a long time were a reference book for many generations of astronomers.

Rice. 7

In the next lesson we will talk about further development views on the Universe.

1. Melchakov L.F., Skatnik M.N. Natural history: textbook. for 3.5 grades avg. school - 8th ed. - M.: Education, 1992. - 240 pp.: ill.

2. Andreeva A.E. Natural history 5. / Ed. Traitaka D.I., Andreeva N.D. - M.: Mnemosyne.

3. Sergeev B.F., Tikhodeev O.N., Tikhodeeva M.Yu. Natural history 5.- M.: Astrel.

1. Melchakov L.F., Skatnik M.N., Natural history: textbook. for 3.5 grades avg. school - 8th ed. - M.: Education, 1992. - p. 150, assignments and questions. 3.

2. Outline interesting facts, which relate to the views of the ancient Greeks on the structure of the Universe.

3. Imagine that you need to observe starry sky. Think over and describe the sequence of actions you will perform.

4. * Invent a new Universe. Describe what is in it. What are the names of the planets and constellations? How do they interact with each other?

MUNICIPAL BUDGETARY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

"NOVOSELOVSKAYA SECONDARY SCHOOL"

RAZDOLNENSKY DISTRICT OF THE REPUBLIC OF CRIMEA

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Nezboretskaya Olga Vasilievna

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The ancient peoples' idea of ​​the Earth

Correct information about the Earth and its shape did not appear immediately, not at one time and not in one place. However, it is difficult to find out exactly where, when, and among which people they were most correct. Very few reliable ancient documents and material monuments have been preserved about this.

First prototypes geographical maps known to us in the form of images left by our ancestors on the walls of caves, incisions on stones and animal bones. Researchers find such sketches in different parts peace.

The way ancient people imagined the Earth largely depended on the nature, topography and climate of the places where they lived. Because the peoples different corners saw the planets in their own way the world around us, and these views differed significantly.

For the most part, all ancient ideas about the Earth were based primarily on mythological ideas.

Ancient inhabitants of the ocean coast

According to legend, the ancient inhabitants of the ocean coast imagined the Earth as a plane lying on the backs of three whales.

Ancient Indians

According to legend, the ancient Indians imagined the Earth as a plane lying on the backs of elephants.

Probably the most famous legend today, telling how ancient people imagined the Earth, was composed by the ancient Indians. These people believed that the Earth was actually shaped like a hemisphere, which rested on the backs of four elephants. These elephants stood on the back of a giant turtle swimming in an endless sea of ​​milk. All these creatures were wrapped in many rings by the black cobra Sheshu, which had several thousand heads. These heads, according to Indian beliefs, supported the Universe.


Ancient Babylonians

Valuable historical information about the Earth and its shape were preserved among the ancient peoples who lived in the basin of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the Nile delta and along the banks Mediterranean Sea(in Asia Minor and Southern Europe). Written documents from ancient Babylonia have reached our time. They date back about 6,000 years.

The Babylonians, in turn, inherited knowledge from even more ancient peoples. The Babylonians imagined the Earth as a mountain, on the western slope of which Babylonia was located. They noticed that to the south of Babylon there was a sea, and to the east there were mountains that they did not dare cross. That's why it seemed to them. This mountain is round, and it is surrounded by the sea, and on the sea, like an overturned bowl, rests the solid sky - the heavenly world, like on Earth, there is land, water and air. The celestial land is the belt of the 12 constellations of the Zodiac. The Sun appears in each constellation for about a month each year. The Sun, Moon and five planets move along this belt of land. Under the Earth there is an abyss - hell, where the souls of the dead descend. At night the Sun passes through this dungeon from western edge Earth to the east, so that in the morning they will again begin their daily journey across the sky.

Ancient Greeks

The ancient Greeks imagined the Earth as a flat disk surrounded by a sea inaccessible to humans, from which the stars emerge every evening and into which they set every morning. From eastern sea The sun god Helios rose every morning in a golden chariot and made his way across the sky.


Ancient Egyptians

The world in the minds of the ancient Egyptians: below is the Earth, above it is the goddess of the sky; left and right - the ship of the Sun god, showing the path of the Sun across the sky from sunrise to sunset

Ancient Jews

The ancient Jews imagined the Earth differently. They lived on a plain, and the Earth seemed to them to be a plain, with mountains rising here and there. Jews assigned a special place in the universe to the winds, which bring with them either rain or drought. The abode of the winds, in their opinion, was located in the lower zone of the sky and separated the Earth from the celestial waters: snow, rain and hail. Under the Earth there are waters, from which canals run up, feeding seas and rivers. The ancient Jews apparently had no idea about the shape of the entire Earth.

Ancient Muslims

Seven heavenly spheres according to Muslim ideas. The worldview that the universe is like a multi-stage structure. The universe is divided by Muslim theologians into three main parts - heaven, earth and the underworld. All seven heavens have their own purpose, their own color and properties, and are inhabited by angels of the corresponding ranks: the 1st heaven in Muslim mythology is considered the source of thunder and rain, the 2nd consists of molten silver, the third - of reddish ruby, the 4th - of pearls , the 5th is made of red gold, the 6th is made of gaping rubies. In the end, the 7th heaven is inhabited by the more glorious and powerful of the angels - the cherubim, who weep and groan before God day and night, begging him to have mercy on lost sinners.

Ancient Slavs

The Slavs' ideas about the earthly structure were very complex and confusing. Some ancient Slavs believed that you can get to any sky by climbing the World Tree, which connects the Lower World, the Earth and all nine heavens. The World Tree looks like a huge spreading oak tree. However, on this oak tree the seeds of all trees and herbs ripen. This tree was a very important element of ancient Slavic mythology - it connected all three levels of the world, extended its branches to the four cardinal directions, and with its “state” symbolized the mood of people and Gods in various rituals: green tree meant prosperity and a good share, and dried up symbolized despondency and was used in rituals where evil Gods participated. And where the top of the World Tree rises above the seventh heaven, there is an island. This island was called "irium" or "virium". Some scientists believe that the current word “paradise”, which is so firmly associated in our life with Christianity, comes from it.



The Old Testament Land in the form of a tabernacle.



View of the Earth according to the ideas of Homer and Hesiod.

Geographers of the ancient world tried to compile maps of the spaces known to them - the Ecumene and even the Earth as a whole. These maps were imperfect and far from the truth. More accurate maps appeared only in the last two centuries BC. e.

When people began to travel far, evidence gradually began to accumulate that the Earth was not flat, but convex. So, moving south, travelers noticed that in the southern side of the sky the stars rose above the horizon in proportion to the distance traveled and new stars appeared above the Earth that were not visible before. And in the northern side of the sky, on the contrary, the stars descend down to the horizon and then completely disappear behind it. The bulge of the Earth was also confirmed by observations of receding ships. The ship gradually disappears over the horizon. The hull of the ship has already disappeared and only the masts are visible above the surface of the sea. Then they disappear too. On this basis, people began to assume that the Earth was spherical. There is an opinion that before completion, whose ships sailed in one direction and unexpectedly arrived with reverse side there, that is, until September 6, 1522, no one suspected the sphericity of the Earth.

I relatively recently moved to the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, but I have already managed to make acquaintances even among the aborigines. One day I managed to talk with one of them about how their ancestors imagined the world. I managed to find out that they coincide with the ideas of other peoples, but taking into account northern conditions. In their beliefs, for example, evil spirits the afterlife are presented in the images of predatory animals from which man suffered.

Khanty's idea of ​​the Universe

Like many ancient peoples, the Khanty cosmological concept has a three-tier system:

  • The upper world (sky) - the creator of all things, the demiurge Numi-Torum, rules there.
  • The middle world (earth) - his wife Kaltas-Ekva, the patroness of people, lives here.
  • The lower world (the afterlife) is headed by the brother of the demiurge Kyn-Lunk, and under his command are the evil spirits of diseases of the umu-kuli.

The very creation of the earth is explained next myth: on the orders of Numi-Torum, the loon dived to the bottom of the ocean and pulled out a piece of mud, which then grew to the size of the Earth.


There is also a legend about the first people who were giants. They were called Otyrs, but the supreme god considered that they were too large for the Earth and created man, and turned the Otyrs into their patron spirits. The Khanty system of reincarnation is interesting. According to their ideas, the population of all worlds is not particularly different from each other, they just live according to different laws. Thus, death in the upper world means a transition to the middle, and in the middle - rebirth in the world of the dead.

General management of worlds

The head of the pantheon, Numi-Torum, observes life on earth through a hole in the sky, this is the place where the moon rises, replacing the sun at night.


He conveys his will through shamans, and his presence in life ordinary people occurs through the establishment of a central pillar in the yurt (this is a reference to the “world tree”). But direct actions in all worlds are carried out by him youngest son Kalm: it is he who brings illnesses to the earth or increases the fertility of the reindeer herd. He also returns a person from the kingdom of the dead when he recovers from an illness.

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Back at school, the most memorable topics for me in history lessons were archeology and ancient world. The theories of ancient people about the origin of the Universe were often amazing in their improbability, and sometimes even made people laugh. At first glance, they seemed very primitive and had no scientific basis.


Ancient theories in the modern world

The fantasy and unreality of ancient concepts about the Universe inspired the creation of a number of cinematic masterpieces:


Taking advantage of the achievements of our ancestors, the directors of the above-mentioned films created real masterpieces of cinema. There was no need to invent complex and sophisticated concepts when such a rich heritage of ancient civilizations existed at hand.

The world system in the views of ancient scientists

In the minds of ancient people, the Earth was the Universe. All concepts were closely related to the religious views of a particular people. But despite different level development and culture of different states, all ancient theories had many similar features:

  1. flat shape of the Earth;
  2. the center of the Universe is the Earth;
  3. limited space of the Universe.

Later, Greek scientists Aristotle and Ptolemy proved that the Earth is spherical. But main mistake there was a belief that all planets and cosmic bodies revolve around the Earth. The authority of these teachings was indisputable for a long time in the science of almost all European countries.

Another erroneous postulate of common theories was the belief in the immobility of the Earth. But even in those days, among the contemporaries of Aristotle and Ptolemy, there were astronomers and scientists who suggested that the Earth rotates. One of these was the little-known Aristarchus of Samos. He expressed revolutionary guesses for those times that the center of the Universe is the Sun, and the Earth moves around it, like other planets.

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Every year humanity develops more and more, and with this development comes a new understanding and vision of the Universe. If now people can imagine the Universe with the help of various telescopes and other astronomical devices, then earlier, in ancient times, such an opportunity was not provided and one could only make guesses. I want to talk about some peoples and their idea of ​​the Universe.


Universe representation in distant times

When I talk about the idea of ​​our World and the Universe of the very first people, many will think that this is some kind of nonsense. After all, they thought of the world around them as some kind of incomprehensible and huge creature. For example, in Siberia there was a tribe that the world saw as a huge deer grazing in the stars. Her fur was like forests, and the fleas on her back were:

  • People;
  • various birds;
  • of course animals.

Interestingly, the earth's satellite and the Sun were also represented big beasts, which graze near the deer-Earth.

Ancient Greek representation of the Universe

Speaking about antiquity, one cannot do without mentioning the Greeks. The minds of Aristotle and the mathematician Pythagoras developed a spherical theory for our Earth, which was considered the center of the universe. It was said that, on the contrary, the Sun revolved around the Earth, as did the Moon and countless stars. This idea lasted for about a millennium and a half. It fully satisfied the needs of most ancient intellectuals. By the way, it is interesting that these ideas became the basis in the Copernican “heliocentric” system, which is known to everyone.


Universe on the American continent

Peoples such as the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas imagined time and space as a single whole. This whole had its own name "pacha". Time for them seemed like a kind of ring, one side of which contained the present time and the past, which could be preserved in memory. The future was located in that part of the ring that is usually not visible, but at some point it was connected to the past time.

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Once upon a time, at a tender age, hearing the expression “at the end of the world” in fairy tales, I thought – where is this edge and what does it look like? If it's just the end of the Earth and the void begins, then did they put a fence there so that no one would fall? Childhood is over, I learned about planets And solar system , galaxies and Universe. Even now it is difficult to imagine the immensity and imagine where is the edge of the universe. Probably, in this matter we are all like ancient people, imagining the Earth and universe.


How our ancestors imagined the world


Scientific attempts to describe the Universe

Some peoples have advanced knowledge of the world deeper than a convenient legend from old wives' tales. The most advanced in this area were:

  • Greeks. Officially, they were the first to suggest that The earth is round. But their theory was geocentric– it was believed that the Sun and planets revolve around the Earth. Atomists assumed that our system was not the only one, and imagined the Universe as a cluster of systems, which they were not far from the truth.
  • Hindus. In the Vedas and Puranas it was described in an allegorical form solar system model like planets moving around the sun, and the Sun itself - around the earth. As the priestly level degraded, the servants themselves began to perceive projection drawings as flat objects, from which the version of flat earth.
  • Romans. Like the Greeks, they claimed geocentric Universe, while quite accurately calculating time length of orbits planets and their distance from Earth.

Today

The fact that today much is known about our solar system, our and nearby galaxies, does not give confidence in the correctness of our ideas about the universe. Most of them are just guesses. It is quite possible that our ideas will also find their way into someone’s discussions in 300 years.

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As a child, I was interested in what our planet really was like. WITH early years I knew that it was the earth that revolved around the sun, and not vice versa. But listening carefully to the geography teacher, I concluded that people know no more than science knows. And there are many secrets and mysteries in the world: what we consider fact today will turn out to be fiction in 200 years.


End of the earth

Imagine, for a long time, even during the Middle Ages, people did not know that the planet has a spherical shape. They believed that there was an end of the earth. That people who engage in science - witchers and witches who attract the wrath of the gods - natural disasters. In the process of searching for the “end of the earth,” merchants and travelers did Great geographical discoveries.

Faith and reality

Everything that ancient people knew about the Universe based on faith.


U different nations the world view was different:

  • Ancient Greeks believed that the basis of the world is chaos and time. Supreme God created the world of people, gods and Atlanteans. Atlanta, giants, demigods, stood on the ground and held up the sky; people were born, lived, gave birth to children, and after death they went across the river of oblivion to the god of the dead; the gods helped people in all matters or let out anger for disobedience.
  • IN India believed in elephants on a turtle, sky dome And karma souls. The soul was born in the shell of a poor or rich person, animal or bird. People did not strive to change their position in society during their lifetime. This is how the world worked, in their opinion. They lived righteously and did good deeds, earning a “plus” in karma for the future rebirth.
  • Chinese imagined the world in the form of a cracked egg. The lower shell is the ocean and the earth, floating in the waters as a thin slab. The upper part rose like a dome in the form of the sky. Two parts of the world represented opposites. The sky is goodness, light, purity, lightness. The earth is evil, darkness, dirt and heaviness.

Unproven theories

Not all ancient people were religious. Pythagoras and Aristotle are great mathematicians Ancient Greece , many years before our era, they put forward thoughts about sphericity of the earth. They came to the conclusion that the Moon and the Sun revolve around the Earth.


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myths of India, China, Egypt, I became interested in How did ancient people imagine the universe?.


Earth in ancient times

I have always been more interested not in how ancient people imagined the universe, but in why they saw the world the way they did. After all, there are hundreds of variants of cosmogony - for every nation your myths about the structure of the world. But they all have something in common:

  • flat or domed Earth;
  • an ocean of water, milk or just chaos, surrounding the earth;
  • animal or plant, peace-keeping;
  • hard or liquid palate, along which the stars move.

Ancient Rus' and Scandinavia

Slavs and inhabitants of the present Northern Europe imagined the universe very similarly. Both peoples believed that the world looks like giant tree – oak among the Slavs, ash Yggdrasil – our northern neighbors. But the Scandinavian world tree passed through 9 worlds, among which our Earth is Midgard,"middle world" And our ancestors had only three worlds:

  • Nav- an otherworldly world located at the roots of the world oak.
  • Reality - the world of the living, in which all people, animals and plants lived: the Slavs imagined it in the form of a flat disk, covered on top with a crystal dome of heaven.
  • Edit, located in the branches of a tree - the gods of the Slavs lived in it.

And behind the heavenly dome lay 9 more heavens, along which the luminaries moved.


Ancient Babylon

I love this mythology! The Babylonians thought that the world is a mountain standing in the ocean. On top of the mountain is covered with a heavenly dome, on which are located 12 constellations. The sun moves past them. Yes, yes, the horoscope was invented by the inhabitants of ancient Babylon!


India

In my opinion, the way the ancient people of India imagined the universe is very similar to the ideas of so many peoples of the Earth. Indians depicted the world in the form of a huge ocean in which a giant turtle swims. Standing on the shell of this turtle three elephants, holding on their backs a convex disk - the Earth, covered on top with a celestial dome. Swimming around in the ocean huge snake, wrapping rings around the whole existing world.


Ancient Mayans

In my opinion, one of the most interesting concepts of the world was that of the ancient Mayans. They imagined the whole world as equilateral square, on the four corners of which, exactly along the cardinal points, four trees grew, supporting the roof of heaven. Another tree stood in the center, piercing the thirteen heavens, with each “sky” destined for its own astronomical object (this is why the sun and moon never intersect).

Japan

Japanese mythology did not recognize the existence of other inhabited lands at all. According to the ancient inhabitants of the “Country rising sun", the world is the huge ocean-Chaos in which the Japanese islands float. Under the islands a giant fiery dragon sleeps, and when it tosses and turns, the earth shakes

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How wonderful it is to be born in our time, when science is already highly developed. And the Internet helps you find the answer to any question, compare the opinions of scientists from different countries and choose the one that seems fairer to you. In ancient times people didn’t believe in anything! And how they imagined the Earth– a topic for a separate discussion.

Earth through the eyes of an ancient man

There are as many opinions on this issue as there are ancient civilizations. Seriously, sometimes it seems that they were simply competing with each other, inventing a more cunning and ingenious legend.

I'll tell you about the most known variants:


Japanese: cubic madness with dragons

Yes, the Japanese had an extremely wild imagination. And at the same time they were a little fixated on themselves.


Firstly, the ancient Japanese was sincerely convinced that hand outside of Japan the world ends. Good logic: if I don’t know about some lands, then they don’t exist. Quite patriotic.

Secondly, for some reason the Japanese are absolutely serious believed that the Earth has the shape of a cube. No less amusingly they explained the presence earthquakes and volcanic eruptions: they were blamed on someone raging somewhere underground dragon.


Chinese: angles and dragons again

The Chinese and Japanese clearly looked at each other when they came up with their description of our planet. In China they were also convinced that the Earth has angles. Is it true, Tothe Chinese considered it not a cube, but a rectangle- that is, they were convinced that it was flat.


At the edges of a flat rectangle-Earth there are pillars.And the firmament rests on them. At the same time, their ideas about the world also included an aggressive dragon. In Chinese mythology, he bent one of the pillars on which he rested sky- and it became slanted. And therefore Sun every morning falls from east to west- can’t resist, sliding down the sky like down a hill.


India and the turtle

And you already know about India. It was from there that the legendary “sandwich” came from a turtle on which elephants stand, on which is half a ball - a planet. Well, one more pleasant bonus: a cobra that wraps its rings around all this disgrace.


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I recently read interesting book about how ancient peoples were represented creation of the world and the Earth itself. There were a lot of interesting and incredible things there, but I will only write about how the Slavs and Huron Indians imagined the world.


Ideas about the Earth in ancient times

Every nation has its own legends and myths about how the world around us was created. It was these legends that formed the basis of the very idea of ​​the world and the Earth. Alone considered creators of gods, other animals, and some even plants.

Slavs

There are several legends that explain how the world came into being and where animals and humans came from. As a rule, legends are somewhat related to the ideas of other peoples of that time: the world emerges from an egg. One of the Slavic legends says:

  • in the beginning there was boundless water and only one duck hovered above her;
  • the duck laid an egg, which fell into the water and split;
  • the lower part became dry land, and the top one turned into heaven.

Another legend is somewhat reminiscent of the first. The serpent guarded an egg made of gold, an unknown hero fought with the serpent, split the egg and 3 kingdoms appeared:

  • underground;
  • heavenly;
  • earthly.

According to the third legend, there was only darkness, but suddenly an egg appeared that contained The genus is the primary source of all living things. Rod produced Love, and with its help created the Universe - infinity of worlds, including ours.


In general, the Slavs' ideas about the world were quite confused. Besides earth's surface and the underworld, there were 9 heavens. Each played a certain role: the winds lived on one, the clouds on the other. Of particular interest is the 7th sky, which was considered the hard bottom of the heavenly ocean. That is why, according to linguists, during the rains they used to say that "the skies opened".

Huron Indians

According to the legends of this tribe, there was absolutely no nothing but endless water. The only people who inhabited these waters were animals, and they not only lived in the depths, but also on the surface, and even flew. One day a beautiful girl fell from heavenA, but two huge birds managed to catch her on their wings. It turned out to be too heavy, and the birds began to call on other animals for help.


They put the girl on her back huge turtle, who said that the girl needed dry land. Toad brought a handful of earth from the bottom, the girl scattered it on the turtle’s back. Time passed, and trees appeared, rivers flowed, and among all this people began to live - her children.

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I recently learned that there is an organization called the Flat Earth Society. Members of this organization believe and prove to others that our planet is flat. It's funny to see how many people believe them. Fortunately, we live in civilized times and can safely say that the Earth is spherical. Our ancestors did not have such technologies, so they imagined the Earth completely differently.


Ideas of different peoples about the Earth

Residents of different nations imagined the planet differently. This depended not only on differences in culture, but also on the location of a particular community. Those people who lived in deserts thought that the Earth was drifting along a vast expanse of water. And the ancient Indians believed that the Earth stood on three elephants. There were a lot of guesses, the most interesting ones are below:

  • The earth is a plain surrounded by mountains (ancient Jews);
  • a huge mountain, on one side of which stands Babylon, and on the other - unexplored lands (in Ancient Babylon);
  • the shell of a tortoise, the scutes of which are different countries(ancient Chinese);
  • The earth is a disk resembling a warrior's shield (ancient Greeks).

The first correct hypotheses

Pythagoras of Samos is an ancient Greek scientist who first put forward the hypothesis about the spherical structure of the Earth in the 6th century BC. e. Pythagoras relied on the records of the ordinary sailor Skilacus of Karian.

In the 4th century. BC e. the ancient Greek scientist Aristotle tried to prove the hypothesis using observations of lunar eclipses. A little later, Claudius Ptolemy continued the works of Aristotle and came up with his own geocentric system of the universe.


Earth in Mayan philosophy

The ancient Mayans imagined the Earth as a square with a huge tree growing in the center. In each of the corners of the square there was another tree, which determined the cardinal directions. Observing the movement of the luminaries, the Mayans determined that each of them moves along a certain trajectory, its own “layer of the sky.” There were thirteen such “layers”.


Of course, all this is interesting, but I am perplexed by the fact that modern man, knowing all this, still thinks that he lives on a flat planet.

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Since childhood, I have been interested in the myths of ancient peoples and geography. So, for me there is nothing more interesting than the ideas of the ancients about the structure of the world and the place of the Earth in it. Many legends have become popular in popular culture. Who has not heard about the turtle and four elephants of the ancient Indians or about the ancient titan Atlas holding the Earth on his shoulders? I will try to talk about the most interesting and unfamiliar ideas of people about the Earth.


How did the Scandinavians and ancient Germans imagine the Earth?

Universe northern peoples depicted as a giant tree (usually an ash or yew) growing in the emptiness of the world. They called it Yggdrasil. There are three flat worlds on the tree:

  1. Underground - Hel (the world to which the dead go).
  2. Earthly - Midgard (the haven of people).
  3. Heavenly - Asgard (the gods live and judge there).

A wise eagle sits on the top branch, and nine worlds, separated by invisible barriers, circle around the tree. Between them you can travel along a rainbow guarded by one of the gods - the road of souls.

Sumerian ideas

In the minds of these people of Mesopotamia, the flat (middle) world, plowing the expanses of the fresh ocean, was surrounded by tall mountain ranges. It was quite small and consisted of Mesopotamia and adjacent territories. A special place in the worldview was given to the relationship between earth and sky. Seven balls of spherical heavens ( upper world) rested on the mountains. The stars, sun and moon traveled across the sky. Well, where would we be without the mysterious secret lower world, full of souls of the dead? The model of the Sumerian world in the form of an egg-shaped bubble is surrounded on all sides by the waters of the salty ocean.


Aztec performances

The Aztec Empire consisted of many tribes. Their versions about the structure of the world differed. According to one of them, the Universe is located inside a giant caiman. Gods live in his head, people live in his belly, and the other world of the dead is located in his spiral-curved tail.


According to the second version, the world was divided into 5 parts in a horizontal plane, and at each level of the 13 heavens a god ruled, the higher the god was located, the more significant he was.



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