Introduction

The Peripatetic exegete Sosigenes of Rhegium published in the second century A.D. an influential work, Περὶ τῶν ἀνελιττουσῶν ( Proclus, Hypotyposis astronomicarum positionum, 4, 98.2–4), in which he presented Aristotle as an accomplished astronomer, who made an important contribution to the theory of concentric celestial spheres primarily conceived by Eudoxus of Cnidus and subsequently improved by Callippus of Cyzicus (Cf. Simplicius, On Aristotle’s On the Heavens, 493.5–8).

Aristotle was naturally a polytheist – no Hellene before Christianity would ever see a plurality of separate immaterial divine substances, such as the unmoved movers, as “grotesque” – and had no pretension of being an astronomer; it was enough for his purposes to consult with astronomers. There is no compelling textual evidence for taking Aristotle to be making a contribution to astronomy.

The place of Λ 8 in book Lambda and in the Metaphysics

Topical outline of the Life of Aristotle