The Ptolemaic system assumes that Earth is stationary at the center of the universe and that all other celestial objects, including the Sun and Moon, orbit Earth in circles or epicycles. This model was based on the observations of the ancient Greek astronomers, who saw that the Sun, Moon, and stars appeared to move in a pattern that could be described using circles.
The Ptolemaic system was widely accepted for over 1,500 years, from antiquity until the 16th century, when it was replaced by the heliocentric model developed by Nicolaus Copernicus. Copernicus proposed that the Sun was at the center of the universe and that Earth and the other planets orbited the Sun.