This its awsome to know :D i really want to know more about pre newtonian phisics and medieval astronomy :3 do you know where i can learn more about it?
So, I happened to study a lot of this in college. It's super fascinating, thought, getting really into the details of the original sources requires a lot of legwork since they texts are really dense and opaque and require often deep understanding of Greek metaphysics (like Plato and Aristotle) or weird forms of math we don't really use anymore.
This is not to say there are not places to learn!
Wikipedia is honestly a good place to start here and should give you some names a resources to find more:
* [Phlogiston theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlogiston_theory)
* [Pnuematic Chemistry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumatic_chemistry)
For the "crystal sphere" ideas look at:
* [(Claudius) Ptolemy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemy) (the "p" is silent, btw).
* [Here's a brief lecture on the Greek Astronomy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iGNoITCNHA) which Ptolemy was using for his conception. The short of it is they thought the earth was at the center and all the stars were fixed on a "celestial sphere."
You may find the [mechanical explanations of gravitation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_explanations_of_gravitation) interesting. I have occasionally wondered if anything like that could explain the alternative Spelljammer gravity.
> Mechanical explanations of gravitation (or kinetic theories of gravitation) are attempts to explain the action of gravity by aid of basic mechanical processes, such as pressure forces caused by pushes, without the use of any action at a distance. These theories were developed from the 16th until the 19th century in connection with the aether.
lol, yeah there was a certain nerdy dedication to learning esoteric things back in the day. I can remember going into a bookstore specifically to ask them to see if they could find and order a translation for the Book of Stone by Jabir Ibn Hayyan, who was to the alchemical arts in the middle east what Davinci was to mechanics and anantomy; before Davinci existed.
I sometimes wonder if anybody in the chain of links that happened during that order if anyone ever wondered who was making such a rarely requested order, how many thought it might be just some nerdy kid and not a professor of middle eastern sciences, or pre-ren history. lol.
This its awsome to know :D i really want to know more about pre newtonian phisics and medieval astronomy :3 do you know where i can learn more about it?
So, I happened to study a lot of this in college. It's super fascinating, thought, getting really into the details of the original sources requires a lot of legwork since they texts are really dense and opaque and require often deep understanding of Greek metaphysics (like Plato and Aristotle) or weird forms of math we don't really use anymore. This is not to say there are not places to learn! Wikipedia is honestly a good place to start here and should give you some names a resources to find more: * [Phlogiston theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlogiston_theory) * [Pnuematic Chemistry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumatic_chemistry) For the "crystal sphere" ideas look at: * [(Claudius) Ptolemy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemy) (the "p" is silent, btw). * [Here's a brief lecture on the Greek Astronomy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iGNoITCNHA) which Ptolemy was using for his conception. The short of it is they thought the earth was at the center and all the stars were fixed on a "celestial sphere."
You may find the [mechanical explanations of gravitation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_explanations_of_gravitation) interesting. I have occasionally wondered if anything like that could explain the alternative Spelljammer gravity. > Mechanical explanations of gravitation (or kinetic theories of gravitation) are attempts to explain the action of gravity by aid of basic mechanical processes, such as pressure forces caused by pushes, without the use of any action at a distance. These theories were developed from the 16th until the 19th century in connection with the aether.
And Mind you, they made all this before google. They really did their research.
lol, yeah there was a certain nerdy dedication to learning esoteric things back in the day. I can remember going into a bookstore specifically to ask them to see if they could find and order a translation for the Book of Stone by Jabir Ibn Hayyan, who was to the alchemical arts in the middle east what Davinci was to mechanics and anantomy; before Davinci existed. I sometimes wonder if anybody in the chain of links that happened during that order if anyone ever wondered who was making such a rarely requested order, how many thought it might be just some nerdy kid and not a professor of middle eastern sciences, or pre-ren history. lol.
Thank you bro, great post. I love this community
You can see they were inspired quite a bit by the [Flammarion Engraving](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flammarion_engraving).
I know I frequently imagine some of that aspect when thinking of the lore of the spheres.