The earliest known globes were created by Greek philosophers in the 6th century B.C. These early globes, called armillary spheres, consisted of a series of metal rings that represented the positions of the Sun, Moon, and stars. In 1492, the German cartographer Martin Behaim created the first true globe of the Earth, called the Erdapfel. The Erdapfel was a small sphere, about 5 1/2 inches in diameter, made of paper and wood. It showed the continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa, but did not include the Americas.