historic astronomy question re tides and gravity
There's not much astronomy history discussed here, but I thought I'd ask anyway: does anyone know what the pre-Newton astronomers thought about the cause of tides? They must have known that tides were linked to lunar cycles and were therefore "caused" by the moon in some way. It would seem a pretty easy step to realize that the moon deformed water more effectively than solid land, and therefore gravity operates in the astronomical realm, not just on things you drop out of your hand. Why did people have to wait so long for Newton to figure this out?
Just curious...