The Shelves · Mathematics (incl. astronomy)

On the Sizes and Distances of the Sun and Moon (and the lost heliocentric hypothesis)

Περὶ μεγεθῶν καὶ ἀποστημάτων ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης

Known · Probablein Alexandria?Conjecturedvery likely class

◇ Doubted: where it was written is uncertain.

See it on the shelves ›

I · The entry, in his form

In the table of Mathematics (incl. astronomy)

Conjecturedvery likely class

Aristarchus of Samos

c. 310–230 BCE. The first known to put the Sun at the centre, with the Earth going round it; Archimedes, a younger contemporary, reports the hypothesis, and Plutarch adds that the Earth also turned on its own axis. His surviving On the Sizes and Distances of the Sun and Moon is a geometry of eclipses.

On the Sizes and Distances of the Sun and Moon

Περὶ μεγεθῶν καὶ ἀποστημάτων ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης

Opening words not preserved.

Length: not counted

◇ Doubted: where it was written is uncertain.

Above, his entry form, filled from what we know. Below, ours.

II · Does it survive? Where to read it

Survives in large part

The treatise survives; the sun-centred hypothesis is known only from Archimedes and Plutarch.

Was it in Alexandria?

Known · Probable

Probably held in the Library.

In the cupboard: no source names the Alexandrian copy, but its scholars' use of it makes one very likely.

Read it today

III · In the show

The show has not yet spoken of this work.

IV · Sources and the living entry

Ancient references (2)
  • Archimedes, Sand-Reckoner 1.4-5
  • Plutarch, On the Face in the Moon 923a
Modern scholarship

Entry checked 31 Oct 2026 · no corrections · Suggest a correction ›

ΠΕΡΙ ΜΕΓΕΘΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΑΠΟΣΤΗΜΑΤΩΝ ΗΛΙΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΣΕΛΗΝΗΣ

Beside it in the cupboard