[Avodah] mabul

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, Nov 03, 2011 at 04:24:52PM -0400, Zev Sero wrote:
>> Of course there were Amoraim also in EY.

> Yes, and they knew the earth was round.

And they believed in galgalim and orbits.

What you don't have is any evidence that tannaim knew about the earth
being round. It would mean they bought into the idea at a time the
Romans were still on the fence about picking up the Greek cosmos. We do
have multiple quotes showing that "the Greeks said it and their Roman
oppressors accepted it" is insufficient reason to believe the tannaim
necessarily accepted a scientific idea.

And in fact, I already mentioned that R' Yehudah thought the sun going
under the earth would heat up suberranian water -- clear evidence that
he believed neither in the sun going behind the sky, nor a round earth!

In Bereishis Rabba 6:8, R' Yehudah bar Ilai and the sages debate (which
says which is a girsa issue) whether the sun goes up at night or down. R'
Yochachan and R' Shimon b Yochai each say there is no way to prove one
side over the other. R' Shimon, a tanna, wasn't sure if the world was
round. R' Yochanan much of his life as a tanna as well. This is /exactly/
where Roman science was in the first years after the Amalgest -- some
bought into the revived Greek ideas, some not. No definitive answer.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             The fittingness of your matzos [for the seder]
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