Christian Topography

Christian Topography, written in the 6th century C.E., is a classic flat earth text. Cosmas believed that the Earth was rectangular and that the sky was shaped like a horizontal half-cylinder resting on a box. It looks a bit like an old pirate chest. Cosmas believed that it the Tabernacle constructed by Moses was based on the form of the universe. There is a huge mountain that the sun goes behind when it is night. Cosmas uses scriptural arguments to justify his flat-earth cosmology. The text also contains geographical information that Cosmas collected during his far-ranging travels, which took him all the way to India.