Peter Apian's version of Aristotelian cosmos

    Caption: A somewhat simplified diagram of the Aristotelian cosmos as understood in Renaissance Europe.

    1. You see the main celestial spheres of the planets, Sun, and Moon in a cross section through the ecliptic.

    2. The lesser celestial spheres carried by the main celestial spheres are NOT shown. I get the feeling that only mathematical astronomers and natural philosophers cared about them much anyway.

    3. Both the zodiac constellations and the zodiac signs seem to be illustated. Remember the zodiac signs are 30 degree segments of the ecliptic starting at the vernal equinox. Circa year 500 BCE, the zodiac signs enclosed the zodiac constellations for which zodiac signs are named. The axial precession has shifted the zodiac signs about zodiac constellation westward since then.

    4. The Coelum empireum habitaculum dei et omnium electorum (the Empyrean of God and the Elect) either is or is beyond the celestial sphere of the stars---it's unclear to me---and maybe everyone else---which.

    5. The astronomical symbols for the Sun (☉) Moon (☽), planets, and zodiac signs are also shown.

    Credit/Permission: Petrus Apianus AKA Peter Apian (1495--1552), Cosmographicus Liber (1524), 1524 (uploaded to Wikipedia by User:Duncharris, 2005) / Public domain.
    Image link: Wikipedia.
    File: Aristotle file: aristotle_cosmos_system.html.