[Oops--sent this to the wrong newsgroup. --brian]

I haven't responded to this because I've had to switch to an alternate
newsserver and it is incomplete. I'm hoping to rectify that in the near
future, but in the meantime, this is the first I've seen of this. I had
to find it on Google and copy the Message-ID over to my usual reader.

Sigge wrote:
I need help to find a citation! Since I am not experienced in the
usenet culture I tried to get some help in soc.ancient.history.
Signature Melly Clismus Dochos sent me to your group, mentioning that
there are several members knowledgable in the subject. He mentioned in
particular a member of your group called Brian Tung, an expert in
history of Astronomy. I hope that he (or any other expert in your
group) can take the time to help me with the following problem.

It is claimed that Aristarchos of Samos, after having "published" his
"On the Sizes and Distances of the Sun and Moon" where he proved that
the Sun was far larger than the Earth, made the following remark in
defence of his Heliocentric system:

"It is ridiculous to believe that the Bous (=ox) revolves around the
tail, instead of the other way round." or something like that!

Where can I find the primary source of this claim? Plutarch? If
Plutarch where? De facie? Somewhere else?

Please can you help me? If not to the source to a pointer to the
source. I do not have a nearest expert.

Thank you and apologies for the triviality of the subject.

Well! I must say, this is the first time (to my knowledge) I've been
called an expert in the history of astronomy. As much as I'm flattered,
it is not accurate; I'm merely very interested, and I do have a broad
knowledge of astronomical history, but I'm by no means an expert.

As though to illustrate that, I have nothing in particular to add to
Ernie Wright's reply at the moment. I do have a few sources I can check
that might shed some light on matters, but I'm not very optimistic. I
share Ernie's suspicion that there is no such primary source.

There's a fellow named Chris (I *think*) who has posted here under the
handle of "starburst"; he also has some interest in historical matters,
and he might have some thoughts to share.

By the way, Sigge, I've not seen your e-mail to me at my work. It's
possible it's gotten caught in a spam filter. Please try mailing me
at in the future. (I'll probably be changing my .sig
soon to reflect this.)

--
Brian Tung
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
Unofficial C5+ Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/c5plus/
The PleiadAtlas Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/pleiadatlas/
My Own Personal FAQ (SAA) at http://astro.isi.edu/reference/faq.html