A question was asked, "If King Solomon's Temple was built in 967 B.C. and globes were placed on top of the pillars, how did they know the world was round?"
This question is quite pertinent because it was not until 1522 that Magellan proved the world was round. How could the men of King Solomon's period know the world was round? The answer is they did not know.
The contemporaries of Solomon believed the earth stood still, and was inside a hollow sphere with its inner surface dotted with stars revolving about the earth. This slow turning "celestial sphere" is the oldest theory of mankind observations of the "starry-decked heavens".
This could explain the globe on the pillar at the right, but what about the one on the left? Even if they knew the earth was round this globe could not be a good representation of it. They did not know about the Americas. They thought the earth was an oblong square or rectangle, so there should have been a rectangle on the top of the pillar.
What was there?
It is believed that the "globes upon the pillars" are a corruption of the lily-work of the old testament. The lily was apparently the Egyptian lotus which was in Egypt a symbol of the universe. Thus the symbol of the universe was placed atop the pillars and referred to, as centuries past, as globes because of there round hollow shape.
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