Christian Topography: Flat Earth (Forgotten Books) [Paperback]

Cosmas Indiopleustes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 7, 2008

Book Description:

"Christian Topography, written in the 6th century [AD], is a classic flat earth text. Cosmas believed that the Earth was rectangular and that the sky was shaped like a horizontal half-cylinder resting on a box. It looks a bit like an old pirate chest. Cosmas believed that it the Tabernacle constructed by Moses was based on the form of the universe. There is a huge mountain that the sun goes behind when it is night. Cosmas uses scriptural arguments to justify his flat-earth cosmology. The text also contains geographical information that Cosmas collected during his far-ranging travels, which took him all the way to India." (Quote from sacred-texts.com)

Table of Contents:

Publisher's Preface; Preface; Editor's Preface; Introduction; Prologues; Book I; Book ii; Book iii; Book iv; Book V; Book vi; Book vii; Book viii; Book ix; Book X; Book xi; Book xii; Plates; Explanation Of The Plates; Appendix Plates; Endnotes

About the Publisher:

Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, Esoteric and Mythology. www.forgottenbooks.org

Forgotten Books is about sharing information, not about making money. All books are priced at wholesale prices. We are also the only publisher we know of to print in large sans-serif font, which is proven to make the text easier to read and put less strain on your eyes.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

About the Author:

"Cosmas Indicopleustes (literally "who sailed to India") of Alexandria was a Greek monk, probably of Nestorian tendencies. He was a 6th century traveller, who made several voyages to India during the reign of emperor Justinian. He is described by some as an Egyptian merchant from Alexandria and some as a Greek or Byzantine monk. Around 550 he wrote the copiously illustrated Christian Topography, a work partly based on his personal experiences as a merchant on the Red Sea and Indian Ocean in the early 6th century. Though his cosmogony is considered by many to be absurd, he has given an historic description of India and Sri Lanka during of the 6th century, which is invaluable to historians. Cosmas seems to have personally visited the Kingdom of Axum in modern Ethiopia and Eritrea, India and Sri Lanka.

"Indicopleustes" means "Indian voyager". While it is known from classical literature, especially the Periplus Maris Erythraei that there had been trade between the Roman Empire and India from the first century BCE onwards, Cosmas report is one of the few from individuals who had actually made the journey. He described and sketched some of what he saw in his Topography. Some of these have been copied into the existing manuscripts, the oldest dating to the ninth century. In 522 CE, he visited the Malabar Coast (South India). He is the first traveller to mention about Syrian Christians in India. He wrote, "In the Island of Taprobane (Ceylon), there is a church of the Christians, and clerks and faithful. Likewise at Malé where the pepper grows; and in the town of Kalliana there is also a bishop consecrated in Persia." (Reference: Travancore Manual, page 248).

A major feature of his Topography is Cosmas' worldview that the world is flat, and that the heavens form the shape of a box with a curved lid, a view he took from unconventional interpretations of Christian scripture. Cosmas aimed to prove that pre-Christian geographers had been wrong in asserting that the earth was spherical and that it was in fact modelled on the tabernacle, the house of worship described to Moses by God during the Jewish Exodus from Egypt.

Cosmology aside, Cosmas proves to be an interesting and reliable guide, providing a window into a world that has since disappeared. He happened to be in Adulis at the Red Sea Coast of modern..." (Quote from wikipedia.org)

Product Details

• Paperback: 376 pages
• Publisher: Forgotten Books (January 7, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1605064165
• ISBN-13: 978-1605064161
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,857,673 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)