Aristarchus and the Knowledge of the Universe: Eighteen Hundred Years before Copernicus

The text provides insight into the history of the formation of the heliocentric model of the cosmos through a comparative presentation of the biographies of its two originators, Aristarchus of Samos and Nicolaus Copernicus. The paper seeks to answer how much Copernicus knew about Aristarchus’s model of the universe and whether the Copernican Revolution was the product of the genius of a single individual. It focuses on ancient testimonies about Aristarchus’s heliocentrism, i.e., on Copernicus’s references to ancient philosophers and astronomers from whom he drew inspiration for his own model of the solar system. Attention is also given to the manner of publication and the controversies surrounding the printing of On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, as well as Copernicus’s mention of his predecessors. In conclusion, the text offers a brief overview of the reception of antiquity as a source of numerous themes and problems addressed by modern science.