Aristarchus of Samos (;
Aristarkhos; c. 310 – c. 230 BC) was an
ancient Greek astronomer and
mathematician who presented the first known model that placed the
Sun at the center of the known
universe with the
Earth revolving around it (see
Solar system). He was influenced by
Philolaus of Croton, but he identified the "central fire" with the Sun, and put the other planets in their correct order of distance around the Sun. As
Anaxagoras before him, he suspected that the stars were just other bodies like the Sun. His astronomical ideas were often rejected in favor of the
geocentric theories of
Aristotle and
Ptolemy.