>He concluded that the device was specifically designed to model "epicyclic" motion in keeping with the ancient Greek notion that celestial bodies moved in circular patterns, called epicycles. (This was pre-Copernicus, so the fixed point around which they moved was believed to be the Earth.)
Slightly tangential, but the whole pre/post-Copernicus narrative seems unlikely to be true to me. At least I find it difficult to believe it wasn't until the 16th century that someone worked this out and everyone prior was of some woefully mistaken (yet suspiciously Christian-aligned) view that the Earth was the center of the universe.
Slightly tangential, but the whole pre/post-Copernicus narrative seems unlikely to be true to me. At least I find it difficult to believe it wasn't until the 16th century that someone worked this out and everyone prior was of some woefully mistaken (yet suspiciously Christian-aligned) view that the Earth was the center of the universe.