On Mon, 28 Feb 2000 16:23:59 EST PHSEELY@aol.com writes:
>
> Is this because the surprise was over after Columbus? Since the
> ocean in NT
> times and for some time afterward (even into the time of Columbus, I
> believe)
> was considered too vast to be crossed, humans were not expected to
> exist on
> remote shores---until Columbus discovered them. (It was after their
> discovery
> that theories of pre-Adamites and of a "limited Flood" came into
> existence.)
>
> Paul S.
However, Augustine wrote of the Antipodeans, so there must have been some
theory in the fourth century that men were widely dispersed. Augustine
thought their existence erroneous because they would fall off. After all,
_everybody_ knows you can stand on the floor but not on the ceiling.
I note also the legend of St. Brendan's voyage, which apparently goes
back at least to the 8th century. He was 6th century. Also, Irish monks
reached Iceland well before the Norse. In the 10th century, Norsemen were
in contact with Inuit in Greenland and Bjarni Herjulfsson had reached
America 14 years before Leif "Lucky" Eriksson landed there. While the
Norse voyages may not have been widely known in the rest of Europe,
Brendan's trip was common knowledge.
Dave
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