What are some old theories surrounding the world?

Question

I know that the common belief was that the world was flat. I also heard that some people thought the sun used to set into the ocean... Just intersted in other old popular beliefs.

Answer 1

Scientists used to think that life sprang from dirt and dead organic matter.  (Spontaneous Generation)

The artical on "Supersede scientific theories" on wikipedia may be of interest to you.

Answer 2

At the center of things

...The Earth was not believed (even by Aristotle) to be THE center of the universe, it was thought to be AT the center of the universe, and the distinction is important. It was believed that there was a center of the universe (defined as the center of the large outer sphere in which the stars were embedded) and that matter was drawn to that center. This was why the Earth, being the most massive body (the other elements being water, air, and fire) ended up motionless at the center. Furthermore, the center was not considered, at that time, a desirable place to be. In most medieval interpretations of Aristotle's and Ptolemy's cosmology, earth's position at the center of the universe was taken as evidence not of its importance but its grossness. It was believed by ancient and medieval Arabic, Jewish, and Christian thought that the center was the worst part of the universe, the basement, the sump, where all the muck was collected, so being at the center was not worn as a badge of pride. In Divine Comedy, h**l itself is in the inner core of the Earth, which is close to the very center of the universe, consistent with it being considered a foul place. Medieval writers described the location of the Earth as "the excrementary and filthy parts of the lower world" and observed that we humans are "lodged here in the dirt and filth of the world, nailed and riveted to the worst and deadest part of the universe, in the lowest story of the house, and most remote from the heavenly arch." By contrast, heaven was 'up' and the further up you went in the sky, away from the center, the better it was. So what Copernicus was suggesting, by putting the Sun at the center and the Earth in orbit around it was really a promotion for the Earth and its inhabitants, taking them closer to the heavens.

This link is to the original document.

http://blog.case.edu/singham/2005/04/20/...

Answer 3

not only the earth was flat, but also the earth was the centre of attraction and all planets revolved aruound it, even the sun was considered a planet at par with moon. still in indean astrolgy this myth continues.

Answer 4

LOVE  is  BLIND!!..

  its   NOT!!..it just  HURTS  real  BAD  @ times!!

Answer 5

The original Davidians,lead also by a man calling himself Koresh,believed we lived in a concave world,with the Sun in it's center...they even "proved'it by measuring the 'curve"of a flat surface of water...