Verso e Universo: Revisitando a Máquina do Mundo camoniana (Os Lusíadas X 74-90)

Abstract

In this article, we aim to revisit the geocentric and poetic description of the Camonian Machine of the World, which combines astronomy and poetry. We will examine the context of its insertion in Os Lusíadas X 74-90, the sources from which Camões might have drawn inspiration from, and the reason why the work, published in 1572 – three decades after the dissemination of heliocentric theory – continues to uphold the Ptolemaic model of the celestial spheres, revisited and Christianized over the course of centuries. We will also show how, at the end of the epic, Camões dismantles the “mythological machinery” that had been so useful to him in terms of poetic delight. Finally, we will present technical and artistic examples of this cosmological model, some of which formed part of premodern visual culture.