Fair enough, but outside of a few literary mentions, it still
strikes me as conjecture that art with the earth as a flat disc
or suspended by elephants means that's literally their belief.
Allegory and metaphor and poetic license were as common then as
well as now. I could be wrong but I personally believe the
interpretation of the discworlds as meaning "ancients thought
the world was flat" [rather than, let's say, MAPS? My paper map
or computer doesn't prove that I believe the earth to be flat by
it. I believe the modern belief that "somebody out there
believed the earth is flat" is very compelling and I think was a
kind of confirmation bias.
But is it possible they believed it? Sure, it's possible.
