Though the early Church Fathers were inclined to reject the idea of a globular earth,[71] there were not a few among them who found the theory of a circular earth an acceptable one. The latter, it is true, was an early Greek belief, referred to above as having been entertained in Homer’s day, and as having been passed down to succeeding centuries, but Christian writers did not find in the fact of its pagan origin a particular argument for accepting it; on the contrary, the Bible was held by many to be the fountain of all knowledge, and a sure guide no less in the solution of problems pertaining to the physical sciences than in the solution of problems pertaining to faith and doctrine. What was contained in the Scriptures found a more ready acceptance than what was to be found in pagan writers.[72] Isaiah’s statement, “It is He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth,” was regarded as one altogether adequate on which to found a theory of the form of the earth, and it was accepted by such biblical interpreters as Lactantius, Cosmas Indicopleustes (Figs. 16, 17), Diodorus of Tarsus, Chrysostom, Severian of Gabala, by those who were known as the Syrians, by Procopius and Decuil.[73] Men, however, such as Basil, Gregory of Nyssa, and Philoponos inclined strongly toward the Aristotelian doctrine of a spherical earth.[74] Isidore of Seville appears to have been a supporter of the spherical doctrine,[75] as was also the Venerable Bede, who, in his ‘De natura rerum,’ upholds the doctrine of a spherical earth on practically the same grounds as those advanced by Aristotle.[76] [Illustration: Fig. 16. The Universe according to Cosmas Indicopleustes, Sixth Century.] [Illustration: Fig. 17. Cosmas’ Illustration Confuting the Existence of Antipodal Peoples.] In illustration of the doctrine of a circular earth, terrestrial globes certainly could not have been thought of as having any practical value. With a rejection of the spherical theory of the ancients very naturally went the rejection of their globes. The circular or Homeric theory, as noted above, had its supporters, even to the close of the middle ages, but the inclination is more or less marked, even as early as the seventh century, to accept again the doctrine of a spherical earth. It seems to have come into prominence again with the growing belief in the importance of the place of the earth in the universe. After the eighth century this theory may be said to have had a very general acceptance by those who, Faust-like, felt a desire for a larger freedom from theological restraint than the church encouraged. (Figs. 18, 19.) [Illustration: Fig. 18. Hereford World Map, ca. 1283.] [Illustration: Fig. 19. The Earth Pictured as a Sphere by Nicolas d’Oresme, 1377.]