Chapter 288
The long preparation period had finally ended, and the day for intellectuals from across the globe to pit their achievements against one another had arrived.
Ordinary people generally cared more about the price of daily necessities than about an academic conference.
But because Marcus had organized a massive festival to accompany it, the event successfully captured the public's attention.
As this was the first academic conference in history, Marcus had dictated all of its procedures.
It began with leading scholars from various regions taking the stage to present the significant breakthroughs they had made in their fields.
Contrary to widespread rumors, Marcus did not present anything himself; instead, he watched the scholars' presentations from the background.
Still, simply having the supreme leader of Rome attend such an event fired up the scholars.
It was obvious that catching his interest here would secure tremendous support for their future research.
"It is a profound honor to have the great Shahanshah grace us with his presence."
"I only came to observe. Do not mind me; please, present at your ease."
Taking a special seat that offered a clear view of both the podium and the audience, Marcus casually surveyed the room.
The atmosphere in the hall was intensely serious, crackling with tension.
The commotion caused by his arrival quickly settled, and the scholars returned their earnest focus to the presentations.
Predictably, the latest research presented by the scholars from Alexandria and Rhodes stole the spotlight.
Refining the research of Hipparchus, Eusos's new theory drew gasps of admiration from every astronomer in the room.
"...Therefore, the conventional concentric model alone cannot accurately predict the movements of the sun and planets. The most prominent example is the irregular orbital speed of the planets."
Aristotle's existing theories were entirely incapable of explaining planetary retrograde motion.
This was exactly why Hipparchus had proposed the concepts of epicycles and eccentric circles.
This theory suggested that planets did not simply orbit the Earth in perfect circles; rather, the centers of their own orbits revolved along a larger circle encompassing the Earth.
To illustrate this, Eusos unrolled a massive sheet of paper and drew a dizzyingly complex array of circular orbits.
The scholars initially viewed the diagram with profound skepticism, but as they ran the calculations, they found no contradictions in how it explained the observed movements of celestial bodies.
Sweating profusely, Eusos passionately wrapped up his presentation.
"...This is the theory of Hipparchus, which I have expanded and formalized. I have reviewed it countless times, and I am confident that no other theory can explain planetary motion with greater accuracy."
The scholars from Alexandria frowned slightly, but they offered no rebuttal.
"It galls me to admit it, but this is a magnificent achievement."
In fact, the majority of the room seemed to accept the theory as highly plausible.
And naturally so.
The epicycle and eccentric model was a theory that wouldn't be fully discarded until the era of Newton.
But today would be different.
Following Eusos, a scholar from the Eastern Province took the podium.
Defying everyone's expectations, the presenter was not an elderly, distinguished academic, but a young man.
Gaius Julius Hyginus, the scholar who had overseen the publication of Marcus's compiled dialogues, was poised to become the protagonist of this conference.
No one expected a youth so green to deliver a presentation of any real weight.
But the very first words that left his mouth, spoken without a trace of hesitation, instantly seized everyone's attention.
"I have received teachings on the true nature of this universe from the great Shahanshah, Marcus. I state unequivocally that what I am about to present is not an uncertain hypothesis, but a fact grounded in concrete theory and calculation."
"...The Shahanshah?"
"Lord Eusos's earlier presentation was magnificent. In truth, however, we were not surprised by his theory. Lord Posidonius was already familiar with Hipparchus's research, and we, too, understood its contents to some degree. We also once believed those findings to be the absolute truth. We were brimming with the confident belief that we had glimpsed the origins of the world—how it was structured and how it functioned. But this was far from the truth, my friends."
Hyginus glanced back at Marcus, who still wore a faint smile, before taking a deep breath and making a bold declaration.
"The sun does not revolve around the Earth. The truth is the exact opposite. The planets of our solar system both rotate on their axes and revolve around the sun. This is—"
He was immediately cut off by a chorus of jeers erupting across the hall.
"Must we listen to the delusional ravings of Aristarchus even in a place like this?"
"If the Earth is moving, why don't we feel a thing? It must be moving at a true snail's pace, then! Hahaha!"
"Tsk, tsk. Young people these days are so quick to spout such absurd nonsense..."
Despite the mockery flying at him from all directions, Hyginus's expression remained perfectly composed.
He had fully anticipated this reaction.
After all, wasn't this exactly how he and his peers had felt when they first heard Marcus's claims?
"Lord Eusos claimed that the movements of celestial bodies can be explained through the concepts of epicycles and eccentric circles. However, that is entirely due to the limitations of our current observational technology. Relying solely on the naked eye to observe the night sky naturally restricts what we can see."
"If we do not observe celestial bodies with our eyes, what exactly should we use? Perhaps the planets reveal themselves better to the mind's eye?"
"Hahahaha!"
The audience instantly erupted into a sea of laughter.
Still, a few scholars remembered that the originator of this theory was Marcus, and quickly stifled their rising mockery.
Watching the scene with detached amusement, Marcus gave a subtle signal, and attendants brought out a large, cylindrical object.
As everyone's attention shifted to the device, Hyginus continued his explanation in a crisp, clear voice.
"This device was crafted by the Shahanshah himself. It magnifies objects far beyond the capabilities of the human eye, allowing one to easily observe distant locations. Among ourselves, we call it the Eye of Jupiter."
"It magnifies distant objects?"
"Yes. Unfortunately, since this device is classified as a military secret, its manufacturing method cannot be disclosed. However, if anyone wishes, you may test it for yourselves right here."
Before Hyginus had even finished speaking, hands shot up all across the room.
If his claims weren't exaggerated, this was a monumental invention.
The ability to view distant objects as if they were right in front of you had applications far beyond astronomy.
Its potential uses in the military, navigation, and even medicine were boundless.
Hyginus called two or three scholars from each region up to the podium to try out the Telescope.
"Gasp!"
"I-it's truly as clear as if it were right in front of my eyes. Unbelievable..."
The scholars practically shrieked in astonishment when they managed to read text written far in the distance through the Telescope.
Having firmly proven the Telescope's capabilities, Hyginus unfurled a massive diagram to drive his point home.
"When you observe celestial bodies through this Telescope, you will see that the phases of Venus shift between a full moon and a crescent depending on its angle relative to the sun. You will also notice that it appears massive when in its crescent phase, but incredibly small when it resembles a full moon. This diagram exactly depicts Venus's observable phases."
From an angular perspective, for Venus to appear as a crescent, it naturally has to be closer to Earth than the sun. Conversely, for it to appear as a full moon, it has to be farther away than the sun.
However, if Venus orbited inside the sun's path as the geocentric model claimed, it could never display a phase fuller than a half-moon.
Geometrically, it was an absolute impossibility.
"Furthermore, if every celestial body revolved around the Earth, then other planets should not possess their own moons, correct? Yet Jupiter clearly has its own satellites orbiting it. And above all else, if the Earth were fixed in place, there would be no stellar parallax when observing celestial bodies. But Marcus has successfully measured the exact annual parallax by periodically observing distant planets."
Of course, Marcus had not actually performed these measurements himself; he was merely citing the historical observations made by Friedrich Bessel.
Regardless, it served as irrefutable proof that the Earth revolved around the sun, and no one in the room could offer an immediate counterargument.
"Hold on... If the Earth is truly in motion, why can't we feel it? And if I drop an object right here, why does it fall perfectly straight down instead of landing behind me? If the Earth is genuinely rotating, shouldn't I land in a different spot if I jump straight up?"
This was a classic argument geocentrists used to attack the heliocentric theory, but it was easily dismantled.
"Lord Eusos, you must have taken a ship when you traveled from Greece to Asia. When you leap straight up on a fast-moving ship, do you land in a different spot?"
"Well, no..."
"Additionally, the movements of the planets are not perfectly circular. To be precise, they move in slightly distorted, elliptical orbits."
Hyginus continued his detailed explanation, thoroughly patching up the traditional weaknesses that had left early heliocentric theories vulnerable to attack.
Although Marcus had painstakingly simplified the concepts as much as possible, it still took several hours to explain the various theories in a convincing manner.
At first, all sorts of counterarguments were thrown at the stage, but as the hours ticked by, the hall grew increasingly silent.
Eventually, not a single sound could be heard over Hyginus's explanations. About an hour later, the presentation finally came to a close.
The astronomers, having just watched the absolute truths they had always believed in get completely dismantled, had a wide variety of reactions.
The astronomers from Rhodes and Alexandria, who had taken immense pride in their superior knowledge, simply stared blankly into space with incredibly complicated expressions.
They desperately tried to pick holes in the theory they had just heard, but they couldn't find a single flaw.
Some of the scholars looked as if their minds simply couldn't keep up with the high-dimensional feast of scientific theories that had just been unleashed upon them.
A strange sense of futility hung in the air.
Nearly everyone in this room had dedicated their entire lives to studying the truths of the universe.
Yet they had just been handed a stark verdict: everything they had ever known was completely divorced from reality.
Their gazes naturally gravitated toward Marcus, who sat quietly in his special seat.
The young man named Hyginus had merely parroted the knowledge Marcus had taught him.
In other words, the person who had crafted the Eye of Jupiter, formulated these exquisite theories, and derived the flawless calculations was none other than Marcus.
Suddenly, the astronomers from Alexandria remembered a certain rumor they had heard from the alchemists.
'He is a true living god. He is Amun-Ra-Serapis; he is Osiris descended once more to the mortal realm. Cast aside your doubts and follow him. Only then will you come to know the true secrets of this world.'
At first, they had suspected the alchemists of being possessed by some kind of madness.
Scholars, by nature, always strove to maintain objective and rational reasoning.
So even though Marcus was already revered as a living god in Alexandria, many of these scholars had maintained a healthy skepticism.
But now, even those skeptics found themselves naturally nodding in agreement.
After all, didn't a mere touch of Marcus's teachings turn a green youth into someone capable of rendering the most prestigious scholars utterly speechless?
'A living god...'
Being recognized by the general public was one thing, but an official declaration from the greatest intellectuals of the era carried an entirely different weight.
With this, the true intention behind Marcus hosting this international academic conference had fully bloomed.