Ancient Wisdom: Did Early Civilizations Know the Earth's Size?

Could it be that thousands of years ago, people had a grasp of the world's size? Long before humanity recognized that the Earth was round, when the Americas were undiscovered, oceans unexplored, and aviation nonexistent...

Here's an excerpt from the Talmud almost 2,000 years ago:

"Egypt is one-sixtieth of Cush,

and Cush is one-sixtieth of the world"

(Babylonian Talmud, Ta'anit 10a)

The area of the world is 60 times that of 'Cush.' 'Cush' is 60 times the size of Egypt. This means the world's area is 3,600 (60 times 60) times that of Egypt. That's according to the Talmud.

Now let's analyze. Today, we don't know exactly what the boundaries of 'Cush' were, but we can certainly estimate the ancient territory of Egypt. The attached document at the end of this article provides a map of ancient Egypt according to researchers, which allows for a rough estimate of the land area:

Length of Egypt - According to Science

Ancient Egypt stretched along the Nile due to its dependence on water: the length of the Nile in ancient Egypt was Egypt's length. The attached document uses modern-day Google Earth to calculate the length of the Nile from the delta to Egypt's southern border with Cush according to researchers' maps. The length is the sum of yellow-marked segments.

Estimated length of Egypt, based on researchers' maps: about 1000 km. 

Width of Egypt - According to Science

Life in Egypt's desert depended entirely on the Nile, so settlements likely didn't extend more than a day's walk or cart ride from it.

A fast walker or a leisurely cart could cover up to 70 km a day, suggesting Egypt's width was about 70 km on each side of the Nile: total approximately 140 km.

Area of Egypt – According to Science

With estimates of Egypt's length and width, we can easily calculate its ancient area:

Length – 1000 km

Width – 140 km

Area of Egypt: its length multiplied by width – 140,000 km²

World Area – According to the Sages

Let's see the world area as per our sages. According to the Talmud, multiply Egypt's area by 3,600:

World Area per Sages:

 = 3,600 * 140,000 km²

504,000,000 km²

Thus, the estimated world area according to the sages is 504,000,000 km².

Note that since both the estimates for Egypt's width and length are approximate, the number is meant to be close, not exact, to scientific figures.

World Area – According to Science

Brace yourself. Here is the world area according to modern science, discovered by humanity only in recent centuries. A simple Google search of 'world area' provides this result:

World Area According to Science:

510,100,000 km²

The world area according to science astonishingly approximates our Talmudic-based estimate. Amazing!

Notes and Answers to Questions:

1. Question: The Talmud also mentions an absolute measurement unit ('parsa'), why did we examine through ratios instead of this measure?

Answer: We checked based on relative sizes ('times 60'), not absolutes ('parsa') because over time, units like 'parsa' may vary historically. However, ratios between measurements never change, making them preferable.

2. Question: There is documentation of the Earth’s circumference calculation by the Greek scholar Eratosthenes in ancient times. Didn't this predate the sages?

Answer:

Firstly, it discusses circumference, not area. No ancient calculation of Earth's surface area by him or others exists.

Secondly, even those in ancient times who thought the world was spherical often viewed it as a half-sphere, wondering what it 'stood on.' Ancient images sometimes depict the Earth as half a sphere on elephants or turtles.

Thirdly, the Talmud's statements originate from Jewish tradition, not Greek wisdom, evidenced by further Talmudic descriptions of Paradise and Gehenna, unlikely derived from Greek knowledge.

Fourthly, the sages’ insights are inherently fascinating.

The text is from "Integrating Worlds." Download and read the chapter in PDF format,click here.

The author holds a B.Sc in Physics with honors from the Technion.