If it was well know by Columbus's time (1492) that the Earth was indeed round, why was Galileo Galilei (1632) prosecuted for stating this in his book by the Catholic Church?

by Manusman123

Just to set things straight - a small timeline:

  • 4th century BC - Aristotle proves the Earth is round
  • ~200 BC - Eratosthenes calculates the circumference of the Earth
  • 2nd century AD - Almagest is published describing the spherical Earth
  • 1492 - Columbus tries to find a different route to Asia Around the other side of the Earth
  • 1632 - Galileo Galilei is put on trial for his book Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems for proposing that the Earth is flat

So why was Galileo Galilei prosecuted if it was already well known by Columus's time over a century earlier.

jschooltiger

Galileo's trial had nothing to do with whether or not the earth was round, or whether or not it revolved around the sun. This older thread may be of some interest. In it, /u/dankensington had linked some other threads:

Holy_Shit_HeckHounds

You have a few misconceptions, namely that Galileo was involved with a round earth theory and that that was the cause of his conflict with the Church. A brief overview of this is I recently learned that most people during the middle ages actually believed that the earth was round and not flat, as opposed to the belief that the heliocentric model is relatively new. So why was Galileo put in house arrest written by u/The_Manchurian. For a more in depth look at Galileo, check out Why was the vatican against Galileo's belief that the earth rotates around the sun? written by u/TimONeill and with a list of older answers by u/DanKensington