<P> The Topography is often cited as evidence that Christianity introduced the idea of the flat - earth into the world, and brought in the age of ignorance . The latter pages of his work are devoted to rebutting the criticism of his fellow monks that what he was saying was wrong . He repeatedly denounces "those reprobate Christians who,..., prefer, through their perverse folly or downright wickedness, to adopt the miserable Pagan belief that earth and heaven are spherical, and that there are Antipodes on whom the rain must fall up ." Raymond Beazley, in the first volume of The Dawn of Modern Geography (1897), said </P> <P> The place of Cosmas in history has been sometimes misconceived . His work is not, as it has been called (in the earlier years of this century), the chief authority of the Middle Ages in geography . For, on the whole, its influence is only slightly, and occasionally, traceable . Its author stated his position as an article of Christian faith, but even in those times there was anything but a general agreement with his positive conclusions...The subtleties of Cosmas were left to the Greeks, for the most part; the western geographers who pursued his line of thought were usually content to stop short at the merely negative dogmas of the Latin Fathers; and no great support was given to the constructive tabernacle system of the Indian merchant...Yet, after all, the Christian Topography . must always be remarkable . It is one of the earliest important essays in scientific or strictly theoretic geography, within the Christian aera (sic), written by a Christian thinker . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This section needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (March 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This section needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (March 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr>

The christian topography of cosmas an egyptian monk