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Bronze AE2 of Constantius II With Soldier With Standard, 2 Captives at Feet Reverse

Is that a GLOBE I see in this emperor's right hand? I do believe it is! It seems that Carson, Hill, and Kent see a globe in Constantius II's hand, as do David Sear and David Van Meter.

Scholars are in general agreement that the globe held in an emperor's hand or upon which Fortuna's rudder often rests does in fact represent the world. Eratosthenes in the Fourth Century B. C. determined that the Earth was a sphere or nearly so. Fifteen th Century A. D. Italian sailors may have believed that the Earth was flat and that they would fall off the edge if they sailed too far to the West with one each Cristobal Colon, but their ancestors definitely knew better! The only thing Columbus did was supply evidence that Eratosthenes was off by about 25 percent in his calculations. Even so, the world had to wait for yet another 130 years for Magellan to confirm it through his completion of the first recorded circumnavigation of the Earth in 1522.

So there! The author loves these little ironies of history!
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