On the Heavens

Across the sky (Latin: De Caelo ) is Aristotle's main work on the structure of the cosmos. The calculations based on three educational lectures four books cover both astronomical theories and aspects of the ground, such as the origin of the elements. The work is not to be confused with the pseudo- Aristotelian treatise De mundo ( "On the World").

According to Aristotle, the heavenly bodies are the most perfect realities, whose movements are based on different principles than the earthly body. The latter consist of one or more of the four classical elements (earth, water, air, fire ) and decay, while the heavenly bodies are eternal and unchanging.

Translations

• Across the sky: 12/III commented by Alberto Jori, Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3050043036
• Olof Gigon, From heaven, From the soul of poetry. Artemis -Verlag, Zurich 1950.
• Carl Prantl: Aristotle's four books about the sky building and two books about birth and death. Engelmann, Leipzig 1857.
• Carl Prantl: Aristotelis de coelo et de generatione et corruptione. Teubner, Leipzig, 1881.

• Aristotle
• Greek philosophy