Sublunary sphere

In Aristotelian physics and Greek astronomy, the sublunary sphere is the region of the geocentric cosmos below the Moon, consisting of the four classical elements: earth, water, air, and fire.[1][2]

The sublunary sphere was the realm of changing nature. Beginning with the Moon, up to the limits of the universe, everything (to classical astronomy) was permanent, regular and unchanging—the region of aether where the planets and stars are located. Only in the sublunary sphere did the powers of physics hold sway.[3]

  1. ^ Aristotle, Ethics (1974) p. 357-8
  2. ^ Stephen Toulmin, Night Sky at Rhodes (1963) p. 38 and p. 78
  3. ^ C. C. Gillespie, The Edge of Objectivity (1960) p. 14