THE WORLD FABRIC
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the falling-away of the firmament and its headlongsweep down to the Nether-world. The third marksthe highest part of the heavens aloft, when Phcebusreaches this he is weary, and his horses out of breath ;here, then, he rests a moment while he is giving thedownward turn to the day and balancing the shadowsof noon. The fourth holds the very bottom of all,and has the glory of being the foundation of theround world; on it the stars cease their sinkings andbegin their upward course once more ; it is equidistantfrom the setting and the rising.’ The flatness of theearth was not necessarily affected in popular view.Strabo finds it necessary to argue that the earth mustbe of a spherical form, for if it was of an infinite depthit would transfix the planetary spheres and preventthem going round !
This seven-fold system came westward with Latin civilisation, and made the world-scheme for our Saxonforefathers.
From the fragments collected by Cory of thewritings attributed to Zoroaster , it would appear thatthe Persian Universe was fashioned in the like form :‘ For the Father congregated the seven firmaments ofthe world, circumscribing them of a convex figure.’These seven firmaments are conceived of in the oldPersian writings as transparent ‘mountains,’ one with-out the other.
The ancient Hindus understood the universe to beformed by seven concentric envelopes around thecentral earth-mountain Meru, on which the watersof the celestial Ganges fell out of heaven, and circlingit seven times in its descent, distributed its waters infour great streams to the w'hole earth. And theMexicans had nine heavens distinguished by differentcolours one over the other.