The Farnese Atlas

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The Farnese Atlas owes its name to the fact that it belonged to the Farnese collection in Rome, which was transferred to Naples in 1734 by Charles VII. The interest it has attracted ove the ages is mainly due to the detailed representation of the basic geometry of the geocentric cosmological model of the celestial sphere, carried by Atlas on his shoulders. This is the oldest known representation of the celestial sphere and it reflects the high level of astronomical knowledge achieved in the Hellenistic period.