The occultists Aristotle, Ptolemy and Copernicus. Title page from 'Dialogo di Galileo Galilei', 1632, published on behalf of the Medici, who supported Galileo's work in Florence up to 1632. This book led to the trial of Galileo. ?006 Fortean / TopFoto Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher, Claudius Ptolemaeus , known in English as Ptolemy, was a geographer, astronomer, and astrologer who lived in the Hellenistic culture of Roman Egypt. Nicolaus Copernicus (February 19, 1473 ?May 24, 1543) was an astronomer