The Flat Earth in the Middle Ages – Did People Really Believe It

2025-09-15

This episode debunks the myth that people in the Middle Ages believed the Earth was flat. In reality, knowledge of a spherical Earth dates back to ancient Greece, with philosophers like Aristotle and Eratosthenes providing early evidence and calculations. Medieval scholars preserved and expanded on this knowledge, and by Columbus’s time, educated Europeans already accepted Earth’s roundness. The “flat Earth Middle Ages” myth was actually invented in the 19th century. Writers like

This episode debunks the myth that people in the Middle Ages believed the Earth was flat. In reality, knowledge of a spherical Earth dates back to ancient Greece, with philosophers like Aristotle and Eratosthenes providing early evidence and calculations. Medieval scholars preserved and expanded on this knowledge, and by Columbus’s time, educated Europeans already accepted Earth’s roundness.

The “flat Earth Middle Ages” myth was actually invented in the 19th century. Writers like Washington Irving dramatized Columbus’s story, portraying him as a hero who defied flat-Earth believers. This narrative served as a way to contrast “ignorant” medieval superstition with “modern” enlightenment, and it stuck in popular imagination.

In truth, the real debate in 1492 was not about the Earth’s shape but about its size and whether ships could cross the ocean with available supplies. Columbus’s critics weren’t flat-Earth believers — they were concerned realists.

The episode highlights how a powerful storytelling device can overshadow facts, showing that myths endure not because they’re true but because they’re memorable. The flat Earth story says more about the 19th century than it does about the Middle Ages.

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