There's actually a fairly simple explanation for why a heliocentric solar system wasn't superior in antiquity or when Copernicus introduced it: in both the Ptol

There's actually a fairly simple explanation for why a heliocentric solar system wasn't superior in antiquity or when Copernicus introduced it: in both the Ptolemaic and Copernican models, the orbits are circular and require complex "epicyclic" motion to account for observation. A heliocentric model wasn't simpler and more obvious until Kepler introduced elliptical orbits, doing away with epicycles in the heliocentric model. Crucially, elliptical orbits didn't work for the Ptolemaic model. Suddenly, a heliocentric solar system seemed much more elegant and likely.