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Monday, December 23rd, 2024
the Fourth Week of Advent
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Bible Encyclopedias
Epicycle

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

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An expression used in the Ptolemaic (q. v .) system of astronomy; the old belief that the celestial bodies moved in perfect circles round the earth was found to be inadequate to explain the varying position of the planets, a difficulty which led Ptolemy to invent his theory of epicycles, which was to the effect that each planet revolved round a centre of its own, greater or less, but that all these centres themselves moved in procession round the earth, a theory which fell to pieces before the investigations of Kepler and Newton.

Bibliography Information
Wood, James, ed. Entry for 'Epicycle'. The Nuttall Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/​encyclopedias/​eng/​nut/​e/epicycle.html. Frederick Warne & Co Ltd. London. 1900.
 
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