(Jon of the Clue Crew points to an astronomical diagram on the monitor.)  In the 200s B.C. Eratosthenes calculated Earth's girth using the difference in the angle of the Sun's rays between Aswan & this Egyptian city
Starting with the ninth cen- tury B.C., when the Phoenicians founded ...... On 
January 26, the planet passes through inferior conjunction, coming between 
earth and sun, and ...