Martianus Capella, De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii

INTRODUCTION
- Man and the stars
SECTION I
- The dawn of astronomy: Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Biblical Cosmos
SECTION II
- The cosmos becomes a sphere
SECTION III
- The geometry of the cosmos
SECTION IV
- The skies of Islam
SECTION V
- Evangelisation of the cosmos
SECTION VI
- The Renaissance of Astronomy
SECTION VII
- Galileo: the cosmos through the telescope
SECTION VIII
- From Galileo to Newton

Atlas coelestis seu Harmonia Macrocosmica

Planispheric projection of the celestial sphere

Martianus Capella, De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii

Zoom

Martianus Capella (5th century)
De nuptiis Philologić et Mercurii, 11th century
Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, San Marco 190, f. 102r

This work, by Carthaginian lawyer Martianus Capella, introduces a different world system from the one devised by Ptolemy. The Moon, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn orbit around the Earth, while Mercury and Venus orbit around the Sun.