Cosmography

The branch of science which deals with the general features of the universe, including the earth.

Relevant Quotes:
DK 11A14 "Others say that the earth rests on water. This is the oldest account that has been passed down to us today, and they say it was the view of Thales of Miletus, that the earth stays where it is as a result of floating like a piece of wood or something similar (for none of these things is so constituted as to keep its position on air, but they do so on water) -- as though the same argument did not apply to the water supporting the earth just as much as to the earth itself. After all, water is just as incapable of staying suspended in mid-air, and is also constituted as to keep its position only when it is on something." - Aristotle, On The Heavens

DK 11A15 "Thales says that the world is held up by water and rides on it like a ship, and that what we call an earthquake happens when the earth rocks because of the movement of the water." - Seneca, Questions about Nature

Text References:

 * Waterfield, Robin. 2000. The first philosophers: the presocratics and sophists. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Related terms:

 * Cosmogony
 * Cosmology