Geocentric

From The Book of THoTH (Leaves of Wisdom)

In astronomy, the geocentric model (in Greek: geo = earth and kentron = center) of the universe is the theory that the Earth is at the center of the universe and the Sun and other celestial objects go around it.

Belief in this system was common in ancient Greece. It was embraced by both Aristotle and Ptolemy, and most Greek philosophers assumed that the Sun, Moon, stars, and naked eye planets circle the Earth. Aristarchus of Samos proposed a heliocentric model of the solar system, but he was clearly in the minority in believing that the Earth was not central. Similar ideas were held in ancient China.

The geocentric model was usually combined with a spherical Earth by ancient Greek and medieval philosophers. Thus, it is not the same as the older flat Earth model implied in some mythology. The ancient Greeks also believed that the motions of the planets were circular and not elliptical, a view that was not challenged in western culture before the 17th century.

The geocentric model held sway into the early modern age; from the late 16th century onward it was gradually replaced by the heliocentric model of Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler.