Ptolemy

Like most astronomers before him, Ptolemy believed the Sun, Moon, and other planets circled the Earth. He thought that each space body moved in a small circle (an epicycle) that was itself orbiting Earth.

In Copernicus' time most astronomers believed the theory the Greek astronomer Ptolemy had developed more than 1,000 years earlier. Ptolemy said the Earth was the center of the universe and was motionless. He believed all other heavenly bodies moved in complicated patterns around the Earth.

The heliocentric view of the world, in which the Sun is at the centre of the universe, is also described as the Copernican system. It represents a step forward from the geocentric view of Ptolemy.

Ptolemy was a Greek astronomer.

The first Ptolemy founded a Macedonian or Greek dynasty that maintained supremacy in Egypt until the year 30 B.C.

Ptolemy of Mauritania was the last Numidian king.

Ptolemy believed that the Earth was at the centre of the universe.