The development of geocentric concepts

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CENTRE OF THE UNIVERSE
Cosmos Adventure 3.03

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Greek Rationalism
The Greeks were
people
extremely versed
in abstraction.
They developed
philosophy and
speculated on
the nature of the
universe besides
politics.

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The earliest speculations were
still consistent with the mythical
world structure. But later on,
abstractionism and rationalism
dominated, and the trend of
thinking headed towards
geometry, mathematics and
some extent of practicality.
The sphericity of the Earth, and
of the description of the
heavens as spherical, captured
the imagination of philosophers
in the 4th century BC.

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Geocentric Universe
It was supposed to be
Plato who first proposed
that the planets followed
perfect circular orbits
around the Earth. It is
presumed, though not
explicitly stated by Plato,
that the Earth is the
centre of the cosmos,
with the other heavenly
bodies rotating about it.

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Geocentric Universe
After Plato, later thinkers
proposed new schemes involving
heavenly spheres and spherical
motions.
Eudoxus of Cnidus (c. 400 - c.355
B.C.), for example, was able to
produce a very remarkable
theory of planetary system. He
believed that there were many
spheres for each heavenly body,
and that the motions of the
planets, the sun, or the moon
were the result of the combined
motion of several spheres.

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Circle to Sphere
Finally it was Aristotle (384-
322 BC) who made explicit
the proposition that the
earth is the centre and does
not move, with the sun, the
moon, planets and stars
circling it. The theory of
geocenter was firmly
established.

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Aristotle's Views on the Cosmos
Aristotle based himself on various
observations evident to the
unaided eye:
(i) The sun "rises" and "sets" each
day;
(ii) He did not feel that the earth
is moving under his feet;
(iii) The stars moved in a semi-
circle about the horizon each
night.

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Human Center
All of these seem to imply
that the earth is fixed at the
centre and the sun moves
around it.
Moreover, after all, humans
and for Aristotle, the Greeks,
are the most important part
of the cosmos. It seemed
appropriate that the earth -
the planet we inhabit –
deserve to be at its centre.

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Non-moving Biblical Earth
The Israelites believed that
the earth is the largest and
therefore the heaviest body
under the heavens. So
much so that it is hard to
move and all the other
heavenly bodies has to
revolve around it.

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Earth shall not be Moved
In Psalm 96:9-11 it says:
“O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him,
all the earth. Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth:
the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved.”

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Earth Established & Firm
Also in Zechariah 1:11: “And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among
the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and,
behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.”
The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength,
wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is established, that it cannot be
moved. Psalm 93:1

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The Sun was Stopped
If the earth is not moving, then the rising and
setting of the sun, moon, planets and stars are
moving by their own cause. They could also be
stopped any time by the order of God. In the day
when the sons of Israel were battling with the
Amorites, Joshua spoke to the Lord: “O sun, stand
still at Gibeon, and O moon in the valley of
Aijalon.” So the sun stood still, and the moon
stopped, until the nation avenged themselves of
their enemies. Is it not written in the book of
Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the
sky and did not hasten to go down of about a
whole day. Joshua 10:13.

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With the revival of Greek learnings in the Medieval ages, the concepts
and literature of Aristotle reigned supreme. The geocentric universe
naturally become the central doctrine of the church with authority next
to that of the Bible.
Church Geocenter Doctrine

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Ptolemy’s universe
The Egyptian-Greek astronomer
Ptolemy (c.100-170 A.D) observed
that all bodies fall to the centre of
the earth. So the Earth must be fixed
there at the centre of the universe.
Again, if the Earth rotated all the
time, a body thrown vertically
upward should not fall back to the
same place, as it was seen to do.
However, there was no such contrary
event that had ever been observed.

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Ptolemy’s Almagest
Basically, Ptolemy’s ideas
were to accommodate
astronomical observations
of planetary motions. His
book “Almagest” described
the motions of the heavens
on this geocentric basis,
employing circles within
circles (epicycles) to obtain
a plausible match with
observations.

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Ptolemy Dominated
Ptolemy's geocentric system
dominated western thought
on astronomy and
cosmology until the time of
Copernicus, fourteen
centuries later.

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GREEK HELIOCENTRISM
To be continued in Cosmos Adventure 3.04