Inferior and superior planets the orbit of Earth. These terms were originally used in the geocentric cosmology of Claudius Ptolemy to differentiate as inferior those planets (Mercury and Venus) whose epicycle remained co-linear with the Earth and Sun, and as superior those planets (Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) that did not. In the 16th century, the terms were modified by Copernicus, who rejected Ptolemy's geocentric model, to distinguish a planet's orbit's size in relation to the Earth's. When Earth is stated or assumed to be the reference point: The terms are sometimes used more generally; for example, Earth is an inferior planet relative to Mars.
Allegory of the Planets and Continents orbiting the Sun. The cornice of the painting symbolize the continents Europe, America, Africa, and Asia. Allegory of the Planets and Continents Allegory of the Planets and Continents is an 18th-century painting by Italian artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. Done in oil on canvas, the allegorical work uses human figures to represent members of the Greco-Roman pantheon, the planets, and four continents. The painting is an elaborate oil sketch made by Tiepolo in preparation for rendering a similar, larger version of his scene. Tiepolo's work was painted to be hung above a staircase of the Wurzburg Residence in Wurzburg, Germany. The