It should however be remembered that though the ancients, struck by the
dome-like appearance of the sky and the circular movements of the
constellations, conceived the cosmos or universe to be spherical, and
in some instances even constructed celestial globes upon which to
record the movements of Sun, Moon, Planets, and Stars, it is doubtful
if a single one of them considered the world upon which we dwell to be
spherical. Also, that many a Christian Monarch has used the Coronation
Orb as a symbol of power, and yet believed the earth to be otherwise
than a globe in shape.

In this connection it should be pointed out that the round object which
the ancients represented Atlas as supporting upon his shoulders,
usually in the presence of Jupiter, was not as is vulgarly supposed the
earth, but the heavens; Hesiod telling us that Atlas bore heaven with
his head and hands, Ovid that upon Atlas rested heaven and all the
stars, and other writers of bygone ages that Atlas was a king who first
taught men that heaven had the shape of a globe.

It is of course possible that the ancients may have conceived the earth
to be otherwise than spherical, and yet, because the horizon which
appears to limit its extent seems to be circular, or for some other
reason, have considered a round object to be a representation of it.

Even where, however, the ball-like symbol we are considering may have
represented something other than the Golden Apple, the probability is
that it seldom if ever represented the earth.

For as, though the ancients may have conceived and spoken of the world
we live upon as being "round" in the same sense as a circular coin is
round, they did not think of it as being a globe, it is obvious that