he Middle ages were not nearly as dark and grim as they have been depicted to us all our lives. Many say that after the fall of rome and the end of the ancient era that all advancements in science, technology, and medicine ceased, but this simply isn't true. Inventing the Flat Earth, by Jeffrey Burton Russell Clearly shows that our modern concept of progress has made our society devalue the Middle ages. Russell proves this by showing us the truth of the middle ages, the things that they don't teach you in school. This is evident in “the flat error”, which is the modern belief that it was commonly believed that the earth was flat during the middle ages. When in reality it was known to be spherical in the ancient era.
This devaluing of the middle ages is clear in everything we learned about Columbus in school. It is widely taught that Columbus heroically sailed across the world to discover that the earth was round
“Since columbus did not ever sail around the world, it was not until Magellan's men came back from circumnavigating the globe in 1522 …show more content…
I now know that lots of what i've been taught my whole life is actually false. It's actually a big shock, because my whole life I was taught that Christopher Columbus was a great hero and adventurer who discovered that the earth was round but it wasn't. “From the fourth century B.C. almost all the greek philosophers maintained the sphericity of the earth;the Romans adopted the Greek spherical views; and the Christian fathers and early medieval writers, with few exceptions, agreed”(Russell 69) This quote proves the exact opposite of what we were taught. My view has defiantly shifted since reading this book, I no longer believe that the Middle ages were a terrible and dark era. I now know that there was still advancements in technology and such. It's very crazy that it is false information that is commonly being taught in middle and high schools all around the
This devaluing of the middle ages is clear in everything we learned about Columbus in school. It is widely taught that Columbus heroically sailed across the world to discover that the earth was round
“Since columbus did not ever sail around the world, it was not until Magellan's men came back from circumnavigating the globe in 1522 …show more content…
I now know that lots of what i've been taught my whole life is actually false. It's actually a big shock, because my whole life I was taught that Christopher Columbus was a great hero and adventurer who discovered that the earth was round but it wasn't. “From the fourth century B.C. almost all the greek philosophers maintained the sphericity of the earth;the Romans adopted the Greek spherical views; and the Christian fathers and early medieval writers, with few exceptions, agreed”(Russell 69) This quote proves the exact opposite of what we were taught. My view has defiantly shifted since reading this book, I no longer believe that the Middle ages were a terrible and dark era. I now know that there was still advancements in technology and such. It's very crazy that it is false information that is commonly being taught in middle and high schools all around the