Claudius Ptolemy

Hello. My name is Claudius Ptolemy. I lived a very, very long time ago, around the year 100, in a sunny city by the sea called Alexandria. My favorite thing to do was look up at the sky. At night, I would watch the twinkling stars and the bright, beautiful Moon.

As I watched the sky, I had a big idea. I thought our Earth was the center of everything, like a quiet ball that didn't move. I imagined the Sun was a big, bright lamp that circled around us every day to give us light. And I believed the Moon and all the little stars danced around our Earth, too. It was like we were the middle of a giant, sparkly spinning top.

Besides watching stars, I loved to draw. I didn't draw pictures of animals or toys. I drew maps of the whole world as I knew it. I drew the big blue oceans, the tall pointy mountains, and all the different lands. My maps helped people who sailed on big ships and went on long journeys. They could look at my drawings to help them find their way from one place to another.

I lived a long and happy life, always learning and wondering. For many, many years, people used my maps to explore the world and used my ideas to understand the stars. Even though we know now that the Earth travels around the Sun, my work helped everyone keep asking big questions. I hope you always stay curious and keep looking up at the wonderful sky.