The Wake

In 500 words, explain the established concept of the spherical shape of the Earth as a physical given. Be sure to include important figures and dates, as well as the logic developed in astronomical and geometrical fields of study.

In the beginning, the world was flat, and all men stood upright with their face to the gods. Men stood where the gods put them, and wandered very little. A man on one side of the world did not know a man on the other. This all changed, however, one day with a fisherman called Linus. He was greedy, and always took out of the sea more fish than any man should ask for. This angered the sea, so the sea created a new sort of fish that when eaten, sends the devourer to a long fast sleep. Just as the sea predicted, curiosity overcame Linus and as he tasted the fish, he fell fast asleep. The wind hung in his sails, and his ship drifted off further than any man had ever gone.

At this time, the goddess of the earth bore a son called Demitri. He was given the mindless task of circling the disk of Earth making sure nothing fell off. Demitri was winding around the earth when Linus’ ship neared the edge. The little god tried pushing the ship in the other direction, but he didn’t have enough strength. He tried waking the captain up, but Linus was deeply sedated from the fish. The little god grew frantic as the ship neared the edge of the world. As rashly as anyone has ever acted, Demitri pulled the edge of the world around and tied it to the other. Linus’ ship was then the first to travel around the world.

The goddess of the earth was very unhappy with Demitri for ruining her lovely shape, especially when all of her lovely, earthly things began to fall off. She assigned Demitri the task of adding magnets to the bottoms of every tree, table, foot, and fish, so as no thing would fall off the giant globe. This worked for a moment, but soon war broke out among mortals for who gets to be on top of the world.

The gods definitely had a problem on their hands. With a globular world, who gets to hang out on top? They assembled on Mount Olympus for a pow-wow. “Obviously,” said the Mighty, “the noblest of them all should be on top.”

“And all of the terrible people should hang upside down on the bottom!” sneered the god of dark things.

“Unfortunately, that just can’t work,” one of the Fates chimed in. “These people are not all good or all bad, as I watch their fates change day to day, month to month, and year to year. The only way that would work is if the world spins around.”

So it was, and all of the gods exalted. Demitri was deemed “Spinner of the Earth,” and with all of his might he spins the earth round and round.

Every once in a while, even to this day, a mortal can tell if he on top of the world, and he rejoices.