<P> Globes generally show north at the top, but many globes allow the axis to be swiveled so that southern portions can be viewed conveniently . This capability also permits exploring the earth from different orientations to help counter the north - up bias caused by conventional map presentation . </P> <P> Celestial globes show the apparent positions of the stars in the sky . They omit the Sun, Moon and planets because the positions of these bodies vary relative to those of the stars, but the ecliptic, along which the Sun moves, is indicated . </P> <P> The sphericity of the Earth was established by Greek astronomy in the 3rd century BC, and the earliest terrestrial globe appeared from that period . The earliest known example is the one constructed by Crates of Mallus in Cilicia (now Çukurova in modern - day Turkey), in the mid-2nd century BC . </P> <P> No terrestrial globes from Antiquity or the Middle Ages have survived . An example of a surviving celestial globe is part of a Hellenistic sculpture, called the Farnese Atlas, surviving in a 2nd - century AD Roman copy in the Naples Archaeological Museum, Italy . </P>

When was the first globe of the world made