Heliocentrism, or heliocentricism, is the astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun at the center of the Solar System. The word comes from the Greek ( helios "sun" and kentron "center"). Historically, heliocentrism was opposed to geocentrism, which placed the Earth at the center. The notion that the Earth revolves around the Sun had been proposed as early as the 3rd century BC by Aristarchus of Samos, but at least in the post-ancient world Aristarchus's heliocentrism attracted little attention—possibly because of the loss of scientific works of the Hellenistic Era.