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Ancient Astronomy


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Well do I know that I am mortal, a creature
of one day. But if my mind follows
the winding paths of the stars
Then my feet no longer rest on earth,
but standing by Zeus himself
I take my fill of ambrosia,
the divine dish.

Claudius Ptolemy


Questions to Explore:
  • What was different about the Greek view of the heavens compared with that of their predecessors?
  • How did the Greeks figure out the size and shape of the Earth nearly 2000 years before Columbus?
  • Why did the Greeks reject the idea that the Earth moves around the Sun?
  • What was Ptolemy’s model of planetary motion and how did it come to be the standard for 1500 years?







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