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> My sketch of the Sun-Earth-Moon system assumes a heliocentric solar system, something that wasn’t known to the Greeks of the first century BCE. I am not sure
by atmosx 2y ago
> My sketch of the Sun-Earth-Moon system assumes a heliocentric solar system, something that wasn’t known to the Greeks of the first century BCE.
I am not sure this is entirely accurate. According to Wikipedia:
> The notion that the Earth revolves around the Sun had been proposed as early as the 3rd century BC by Aristarchus of Samos,[1] who had been influenced by a concept presented by Philolaus of Croton (c. 470 – 385 BC). In the 5th century BC the Greek philosophers Philolaus and Hicetas had the thought on different occasions that the Earth was spherical and revolving around a "mystical" central fire, and that this fire regulated the universe.[2] In medieval Europe, however, Aristarchus' heliocentrism attracted little attention—possibly because of the loss of scientific works of the Hellenistic period.[b]
Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliocentrism https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliocentrism
Contrary to the recent revisionist version of the “dark ages”, they were pretty dark if you were a Greek of the Hellenistic period, an Athenian 5th century BC or a Roman the next 500-800 years. Loss of philosophical (locked in monasteries) and technical knowledge is common and Heliocentrism or the blood circulation system (Egyptians during the Ptolemy era had knowledge comparable to the one we will acquire again 18th century) are two prime examples.
- arp242 2y agoYou can argue semantics on this, but "wasn’t known to the Greeks of the first century BCE" is basically accurate, or certainly "accurate enough" for this context. All of the heliocentric writers were basically little more than "this idea some guy had", and geocentric views as described by e.g. Aristotle were dominant.
- globnomulous 2y agoIf that's true, then by the same reasoning you're also saying that heliocentrism wasn't known to the Europe of (insert any time before the mid 1600s), because it was little more than an idea some guy had, not dominant or accepted. But nobody would characterize the history of the science that way, because it simply isn't true. "Wasn't known to the Greeks" is inaccurate, particularly in its historical context, since science and philosophy were often "little more than 'this idea some guy had.'"
- noncoml 2y agoDoes geocentric go hand in hand with flat earth? Because it was pretty common scientific knowledge that earth was round back then. A knowledge that got lost during the dark ages. For example: In the third century BCE , Eratosthenes, a Greek librarian in Alexandria , Egypt , determined the earth's circumference to be 40,250 to 45,900 kilometers (25,000 to 28,500 miles) by comparing the Sun's relative position at two different locations on the earth's surface.
- zardo 2y ago> A knowledge that got lost during the dark ages. Any examples of that? I've heard it called a myth.
- atmosx 2y agoGoogle “the Galileo Affair”.
- zardo 2y agoI meant specifically that the Earth is roughly ball shaped.
- ithkuil 2y agoI suggest you read about it again. It was about geo-centric vs helio-centric models. It was not about flat vs globe. The geo-centric model assumed the earth was spherical but it didn't rotate or otherwise move.
- atmosx 2y agoTrue, I didn't follow the thread closely, my bad.
- landswipe 2y agoThis guy Sagan's...
- gattilorenz 2y ago> Egyptians during the Ptolemy era had knowledge comparable to the one we will acquire again 18th century Citation needed, especially given the “comparable”. The “dark age’s revisionism” afaik doesn’t claim that there was no loss of technical and philosophical knowledge (not that the average roman soldier would normally be a philosopher…), but that it’s limited to a few centuries. By the 12th and 13th century it’s very difficult to speak of dark ages.
- atmosx 2y agoThisnlink is not the one that I had in mind - a Wikipedia link that talks specifically about blood circulation details explained in ancient Egyptian mummification texts rediscovered in Europe during that time - but in some sense it is more accurate[^1]. [^1]: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4290745/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4290745/