ARISTOTLE 384-322 B.C.E.

 

Old Names of the Planets

 

The others, the Planets, move, according to their nature, at speeds different from the fixed stars and from each other, each in a different circle, in such a way that one is nearer the earth, another higher in the heavens. The number of the fixed stars is not to be known by men, although they all move on one visible surface, namely that of the whole heaven: but the class of planets contains seven circles in a series, so that the higher is always greater than the lower, and all the seven, though contained within another, are nevertheless encompassed by the sphere of the fixed stars.

The circle which is always in the position next to this sphere is that which is called The circle of Phaenon (the Bright one) or Cronus (Saturn);

Then comes the circle of Phaëthon (the Shiner) or Zeus (Jupiter); next,

Pyroeis (the Fiery one), named after Heracles or Ares Mars); next,

Stilbon (the Glittering one) which some dedicate to Hermes (Mercury), to Apollo;

After this is the circle of Phosphoros (the Light-bearer), which some call after Aphroditê (Venus) and others after Hera;

Then the circle of the sun; and last the circle of the moon, is bounded by the Terrestrial sphere.

The aether, then, contains the divine bodies and their ordered Orbits.[1]

 

C.N.C.  Note the names and order of the planets is the old system among the Greeks and the correspondence of Heracles, Apollo, and Hera to Mars, Mercury, and Venus.

 

 

On the Speeds of the Planets

 

So too in the case of the cosmos; by means of a single revolution of the whole heavens completed in a night and a day, the various motions of the heavenly bodies are initiated, and though they are all embraced in one sphere, some more Rapidly and others more slowly, according to their distances and individual characters. For the moon completes its orbit in a month, waxing and waning and disappearing;

The sun and those which have an equal course with it, namely Phosphorus (Venus) and Hermes (Mercury), complete their course in a year,

Pyroeis (Mars) in twice this time,

Zeus (Jupiter) in twelve years,

And lastly the star called Chronus (Saturn) in two and a half times the period of the one below it (i.e. thirty years).

The single harmony that is produced by all these as they sing and dance in consort round the heavens as one and the same beginning and one and the same end (the Great Year), in a true sense giving the whole the name of “order” (Kosmos) and not “disorder” (Akosmia). Just as a chorus at the direction of the leader all the chorus of men, sometimes of women too, join in singing together, creating a single pleasing harmony with their varied mixture of high and low notes. So also in the case of the god who controls the universe.[2]

 

[Herschel’s figures... Saturn 29 years 174 days, Jupiter 11 years 315 days, Mars 1 year 321 days, Venus 224 days, Mercury 87 days]