Qualitative epicycle-and-deferent model as it was used by Apollonius, Hipparcus, Ptolemy and others in order to explain the apparent retrograde motion of planets in a geocentric model. The small circle in the center represents the Earth; the larger circle centered on the Earth is the deferent; the smaller circle centerd on a point of the deferent is the epicycle (its center is highlighted with a black dot in the drawing, but it was no physical body according to ancient astronomers); the filled red dot is the planet, which is centered on a point of the epicycle; the bold black line represents the actual motion of the planet, resulting from the composition of the double revolution of the deferent around the Earth and of the epicycle around a point of the deferent; the empty red dots are consecutive positions of the planet. As seen from the Earth, the planet seems to move forward (eastbound) from 1 to 2, to stop in 2, to move backwards from 2 to 3, to stop again in 3 and then to resume its normal forward motion.