ATLAS

VariantOMEGA-11-4-1Sheet 1 of 8 of the dossier Ice wall

Flat Earth and dome (firmament)

The North Pole-centred disc, rimmed by a wall of ice and closed by a dome: from Rowbotham to YouTube.

Black-and-white engraving of a round disc: landmasses grouped around a centre marked N, a sea around them, and a white outer ring labelled "South ice"; dotted circles mark the Sun's path.
Figure from Samuel Rowbotham's Zetetic Astronomy (London, 1865, p. 78): the Earth drawn as a disc centred on the North Pole and ringed by "South ice". An illustration of the theory, not a map of the world. Samuel Rowbotham · public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Summary

This sheet traces the founding image of the story: a flat Earth shaped like a disc, with the North Pole at its centre and Antarctica stretched around its edge as a rampart of ice. The model goes back to the English writer Samuel Rowbotham, who, under the pen name "Parallax", published Zetetic Astronomy as a short pamphlet in 1849 and as a book in 1865. In his scheme the Sun and Moon circle some 3,000 miles above the disc, and a wall of ice closes its southern rim. In 1892 Alexander Gleason published a world map centred on the North Pole and subtitled "As it is"; drawn in an ordinary azimuthal equidistant projection, it is still cited by flat-Earthers as a map of their world. From 1914, Wilbur Glenn Voliva, who ran the town of Zion, Illinois, spread the idea across the United States, southern barrier of ice included.

The image came back online after 2014 with Eric Dubay's self-published book and videos, then Mark Sargent's YouTube series Flat Earth Clues (2015). The Flat Earth Society now describes a 150-foot wall of ice in place of a South Pole, and some believers add a solid dome, the "firmament", resting on that rim. These are claims of the theory, not findings: when a TikTok video presented an encyclopedia's "dome 13,000 feet high" as proof of the firmament, fact-checkers showed it described a natural ice dome on the Antarctic ice sheet.

What the thesis says

The sources show where these claims circulate, not that they are true.

  1. Thesis

    In Rowbotham's model the Earth is a disc centred on the North Pole and bounded along its southern edge by a wall of ice, with the Sun and Moon circling about 3,000 miles (4,800 km) above it.

    • Zetetic Astronomy, Wikipedia
      proposed that Earth is a flat disc centred at the North Pole and bounded along its southern edge by a wall of ice
    • The Rim at the End of the World, National Center for Science Education (Glenn Branch), 12 August 2014
      That the south is an immense ring, or glacial boundary, is evident from the fact
  2. Thesis

    The Flat Earth Society's current model puts humanity on a disc with the North Pole at the centre and a 150-foot (46 m) wall of ice, Antarctica, at the outer edge; believers say there is no South Pole, only this wall.

    • Modern flat Earth beliefs, Wikipedia
      The Flat Earth Society's most recent planet model is that humanity lives on a disc, with the North Pole at its centre and a 150-foot-high (46 m) wall of ice, Antarctica, at the outer edge.
    • The New Flat Earthers (Skeptoid episode 521), Skeptoid (Brian Dunning), 31 May 2016
      New Flat Earthers argue that this is because there is no south pole, just a wall of ice surrounding the circular flat Earth.
  3. Thesis

    Some flat-Earthers add an indestructible dome, the "firmament", resting on the icy rim and closing the world, with the Sun, Moon and stars inside it.

  4. Thesis

    A TikTok video presented an encyclopedia entry mentioning "a dome 13,000 feet high" near 80° South as proof of the firmament; it actually describes a natural ice dome on the Antarctic ice sheet.

Old printed map: the continents spread in a circle around the North Pole, framed by a red ring with hour numerals, with a pointer pinned at the centre and two small solstice diagrams at the bottom.
Gleason's New Standard Map of the World, published in Buffalo in 1892 (Norman B. Leventhal Map Center, Boston Public Library). An azimuthal equidistant projection centred on the North Pole and subtitled "As it is", often cited by flat-Earthers. Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the BPL · public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Verified facts

  1. Verified fact

    English writer Samuel Rowbotham (1816–1884), writing as "Parallax", published Zetetic Astronomy as a 16-page pamphlet in 1849 and expanded it into a book in 1865; modern flat-Earth belief traces back to him.

    • Modern flat Earth beliefs, Wikipedia
      Modern flat Earth belief originated with the English writer Samuel Rowbotham (1816–1884).
    • Samuel Rowbotham, Wikipedia
      His work was originally published as a 16-page pamphlet (1849), and later expanded into a book (1865).
  2. Verified fact

    In 1892 Alexander Gleason published a world map in azimuthal equidistant projection centred on the North Pole, subtitled "As it is"; flat-Earthers often cite it as a map of the flat Earth.

  3. Verified fact

    From 1914 Wilbur Glenn Voliva, who ran the town of Zion, Illinois, promoted the flat Earth nationwide, offered $5,000 to anyone who could disprove it and owned the radio station WCBD (1923); he too believed in a southern barrier of ice.

    • Wilbur Glenn Voliva, Wikipedia
      From 1914, Voliva gained nationwide notoriety by his vigorous advocacy of the flat Earth doctrine.
    • The Rim at the End of the World, National Center for Science Education (Glenn Branch), 12 August 2014
      similarly believed in a southern barrier of ice, as revealed by a map used in the schools of Voliva’s home of Zion, Illinois
  4. Verified fact

    The ice wall returned online after 2014: Eric Dubay self-published The Flat Earth Conspiracy in November 2014 and then the "200 Proofs" video, and in 2015 Mark Sargent launched the YouTube series Flat Earth Clues (two million views), describing a disc with a giant wall of ice around it.

Black-and-white woodcut: a kneeling traveller in a long robe pushes his head through a star-covered dome at the edge of a landscape and sees wheels, clouds and suns beyond it.
Wood engraving by an unknown artist, first published in Camille Flammarion's L'Atmosphère: météorologie populaire (Paris, 1888). It shows the sky as a solid hemisphere meeting the Earth at its edge, the kind of dome that some versions of the theory call the "firmament"; it is not a flat-Earth document. AnonymousUnknown author · public domain · Wikimedia Commons