Ptolemaic system

noun

Astronomy.

1. a system elaborated by Ptolemy and subsequently modified by others, according to which the earth was the fixed center of the universe, with the heavenly bodies moving about it.

Ptolemaic system

noun

1. the theory of planetary motion developed by Ptolemy from the hypotheses of earlier philosophers, stating that the earth lay at the centre of the universe with the sun, the moon, and the known planets revolving around it in complicated orbits. Beyond the largest of these orbits lay a sphere of fixed stars See also epicycle Compare Copernican system

Ptolemaic system

1. The astronomical system of Ptolemy, in which Earth is at the center of the universe and all celestial bodies revolve around it. The Sun, Moon, and planets revolve at different levels in circular orbits, and the stars lie in fixed locations on a sphere that revolves beyond these orbits.

2. See more at epicycle

Word History and Origins

Origin of Ptolemaic system¹

First recorded in 1765–75

Example Sentences

Though Copernicus’s system didn’t agree with the data completely—the circular orbits were wrong, though the heliocentric idea was correct—it was much simpler than the Ptolemaic system.

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The thing that most worried him about the Ptolemaic system, typified by the puzzle of the Moon, was the business of equants.

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Copernicanism led to the idea that the planets shine by reflected light, which was confirmed by the discovery of the phases of Venus; and this killed off the Ptolemaic system.

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For a thousand years the Ptolemaic system was believed all round the world.

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The Ptolemaic system was too strongly intrenched, and the motions of all the bodies in the sky were too well represented by it.

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