1-153-088 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images

Ptolemaic (geocentric/Earth-centred) system of the Universe, 1708. Earth surrounded by water, air and fire (representing the four Greek elements) and the spheres of the planets and stars. Proposed by Claudius Ptolemy in the second century AD, this model for the arrangement of the Universe was accepted scientific wisdom until Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) proposed his alternative heliocentric (Sun-centred) scheme in 1543. From Harmonia Macrocosmicaby Andreas Cellarius. (Amsterdam, 1708).