The idea that the planets orbited Earth was the prevailing view for centuries, known as the geocentric model. This view was most famously championed by Claudius Ptolemy, a Greek astronomer who lived in the 2nd century AD.

While Ptolemy was not the first to propose this model, his work, the *Almagest*, became the definitive text for understanding the universe for over 1400 years. It was so influential that it was only challenged in the 16th century by Nicolaus Copernicus, who proposed the heliocentric model (sun-centered).