What did the ancients mean by "World"?

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In today’s mass readings the word ‘world’ was mentioned a few times.

St. John’s Gospel mentioned it at least twice :

For this reason I came into the world …
My Kingdom is not of this world…

Today I would think of ‘world’ as a synonym for planet. What did they mean in the Gospel and in Daniel’s writing by the word ‘world’ ?

Thanks.
 
abucs said:
In today’s mass readings the word ‘world’ was mentioned a few times.

St. John’s Gospel mentioned it at least twice :

For this reason I came into the world …
My Kingdom is not of this world…

Today I would think of ‘world’ as a synonym for planet. What did they mean in the Gospel and in Daniel’s writing by the word ‘world’ ?

Thanks.
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I think it is typically understood as “plane of existence”, universe, or physical world because their world was all they knew back then. The stars and planets were seen only as dots in the sky and not something of real substance.
 
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