גאוגרפיה ותאולוגיה: צורת הארץ בספר העירים והרקע המקראי שלה

The Enochic Book of Watchers (BW) is the oldest Jewish text to explicitly describe the earth's geography. The current paper analyzes the shape of the earth in this book, while also providing comparisons to the Hebrew Bible and other ancient Jewish literature as well as to ancient Near Eastern texts. Previous scholars have presumed that the BW perceived the earth as flat and round. However, this paper demonstrates that there is insufficient evidence to support this claim of a round earth, and that the relevant verses in fact indicate a square-shaped earth. The authors of the BW did not invent this worldview; rather, they inherited it from an idea that was commonplace throughout the Ancient Near East. The concept of a square-shaped earth is related to a parallelism between the universe and a sacred temple. Thus, this depiction of the shape of the earth as square is part of a broader theological viewpoint.