A brief history of the speed of light

Abstract This paper deals with the historical development of the ideas and experiments that culminated in our current interpretation of the speed of light as a constant of nature and a natural upper limit. Starting from the ancient Greeks up to our current epoch it will review the main signposts of this journey. The paper will finally discuss links to astrophysics and cosmology, and will comment on the dark sectors, dark matter and dark energy, that do not interact with light.