Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
In ancient Greece, however, there was a wide range of strikingly modern ideas about why
mountains contained marine fossils. Some of the earliest known philosophers recognized
the organic nature of fossils as creatures that lived in a remote time long before people
walked the Earth. Fossil seashells told of oceans that covered the land. Giant vertebrae and
enormous teeth that were occasionally unearthed were widely recognized as ancient bones.
Fossils discovered near sites of legendary battles were displayed in temples as the remains
of epic heroes or mythical monsters. The Greek idea that modern animals and people were
but puny shadows of bygone days reinforced the widespread belief that the world was run-
ning down, wearing out, and growing old.
One might even be tempted to consider the great philosopher Aristotle a protogeologist
for recognizing that landscapes evolved over unimaginably long time spans. In his view,
land and sea constantly swapped places, and marine fossils in the rocks of mountains testi-
fied to how sea could become land. Rivers carried silt and sand to the sea, gradually filling
it in, causing the sea level to rise and submerge coastal areas. This endless cycle in which
land became sea and then land again so slowly as to escape observation paralleled Aris-
totle's belief in a world without beginning or end. Civilizations rose and fell before they
could record even a single round of this grand cycle. The world was eternal and always
changing.
Philo offered one of the earliest surviving commentaries on Noah's Flood in his
Ques-
tions and Answers on Genesis
, published in the first century
AD.
Born into an aristocratic
Jewish family in Greek-ruled Alexandria, Philo didn't question the historical veracity of
the biblical flood. He was primarily interested in revealing the true meaning of scriptural
passages. To him, this meant exploring deeper, allegorical meanings. He considered literal
interpretations superficial. Philo singlehandedly initiated both sides of a long history of
novel and conflicting interpretations of Noah's Flood. He characterized the biblical flood
as both limitless, having drowned the whole earth, and as having flowed almost beyond
Gibraltar, implying that its influence was restricted to the Mediterranean.
Whether he meant to or not, Philo articulated both sides of what would become a grand
debate among generations of theologians and natural philosophers. Did the biblical flood
inundate the entire planet or just the world known to Noah? Christians debated this ques-
tion long before science entered the fray. At stake was how to evaluate the truth about the
