[lunar11 (OP)]

In the past if people thought the Earth was flat; then what did they think was the circular shadow appearing on the Moon during a lunar eclipse?

[lyner]

You are rather putting the cart before the horse here. Any flat Earth model would treat Sun and Moon as independent bright objects moving over the sky. An eclipse would just be interpreted as the Moon being eaten up etc, similar to the monthly cycle.
'Logic' wouldn't be necessary.

[LeeE]

While the very earliest thinking was that the Earth was flat, Pythagoras was arguing that the celestial bodies were spherical in the 6th century BC, although mostly for aesthetic reasons.  In the 4th century BC, Aristotle decided that the Earth was round, based upon observational evidence, including the circular shadow cast upon the Moon by the Earth.

While belief in a flat Earth waxed and waned over the succeeding centuries, it was never entirely discarded and was tacitly accepted by many in the christian/catholic churches.

In the end, it was mostly just the ignorant who believed that the Earth was flat.

[lyner]

As ever.
And that goes for a number of other odd theories - Moon Landings etc..

[Pumblechook]

You mean it isn't flat???

[syhprum]

When I was at school we were taught that projectiles travelled in a parabolic path which would only happen on our flat earth if our teacher was correct.

[Chemistry4me]

- Moon Landings etc..

Noo! I knew you couldn't resist!

[syhprum]

How would projectiles move on a disk shaped planet with a depth of 0.1 times its diameter ?, in a rather strange way I would think.
I assume it is not rotating or in orbit about some other body.