Classical elements

In Greek philosophy, the classical elements were four substances—air, earth, fire, and water—believed to make up everything in the universe. Some philosophers added a fifth element called aether, which was viewed as the mysterious substance that made the heavens. The Greeks believed that everything, from people, to trees, to rocks, to the clouds, were made of a combination of the four elements. The amount and proportion of each element determined the properties of a specific animal, mineral, object, and so on. The concept was first developed in the fifth century BCE by the philosopher Empedocles. His ideas remained the basis of Western scientific study of the natural world until the late Middle Ages.

Background

The first human civilizations largely explained the origins of the universe through myth and religion. Among the oldest-known creation myths is the Babylonian saga Enuma Elish, in which the gods battle each other for control of the universe. The gods are created from the waters of the primordial salt sea—personified by the goddess Tiamat—and the fresh waters—personified by the god Apsu. As the battle unfolds, the hero, Marduk, is given control of the four winds to battle Tiamat. After his victory, Marduk splits her body in two. From one half, he creates the sky; from the other, he creates the earth, including the clouds, winds, and mountains.

The ancient Egyptians had a similar creation myth in which the sky and the land were created from a primordial sea. In both cases, the elements of water, air, and earth figure prominently as substances of creation. However, their creation was attributed purely to the gods. People saw them as fundamental principles and not the individual components of the world around them.

Overview

While the beliefs of the Babylonians and Egyptians were born from religious myth, both civilizations also made many scientific discoveries that filtered down to later civilizations. The ancient Greeks were heavily influenced by the science and religion of the Babylonians and Egyptians. However, by the sixth century BCE, the Greeks had begun to look for explanations of the natural world that did not involve supernatural forces.

In the early fifth century BCE, the Greek philosopher Parmenides theorized that matter could not be created from nothingness. Matter was made up of substances that were constant and unchanging. A few decades after Parmenides, the philosopher Empedocles built upon his idea to suggest that all matter was made up of four substances—air, earth, fire, and water. He called these substances “roots.” Empedocles devised his theory by noticing how a bowl does not completely fill up with water when it is turned upside down. Instead, a small pocket of air forms near the top of the upturned bowl. He reasoned that air must be made of something, and that “something” was different than water.

Empedocles believed the four roots personified four Greek deities—Zeus, Hera, Aidoneus, and Nestis. However, his idea of which root personified which deity has been lost over time. The four roots exist throughout nature and are constantly being used, destroyed, and remade in new forms. Empedocles held that everything in the universe was made up of these four substances. Different objects had different proportions of the four mixed together. The roots came together through processes Empedocles called love and conflict. Love was the natural force that joined the substances to form a whole; conflict was the force that tried to tear them apart.

During the fourth century BCE, the philosopher Aristotle refined Empedocles’ work. He referred to the root substances as stoicheion, or “smallest unit on a sundial,” which went on to inspire the English word “element.” Aristotle developed a diagram to represent the four elements. His diagram was a square turned at an angle so that it makes a diamond. Fire is at the apex of the diamond, air and earth are at the side points, and water is at the bottom point. To Aristotle, the diagram represented the elements that were associated with each other and those that were opposed. For example, water could be associated with air and earth in the forms of rain and mud, but it was directly opposed to fire, which sat on the opposite point of the diagram. Conversely, air and earth are also opposite each other, and therefore, opposed.

Aristotle’s diagram also featured the shared and opposed properties of the elements. The properties were listed on the sides of the square. Fire, by itself, is both hot and dry, air is hot and wet, earth is cold and dry, while water is wet and cold. Fire and air were considered to be the lightest elements, while water and earth the heaviest. The presentation of the elements also represented their “place” in the cosmos. Earth arose out of the water, while the sky stretched out over the water. Fire, in the form of the sun, overlooked the other three. Aristotle believed that reactions between the elements were their way of trying to return to their place in the natural order.

Because these four elements were earthly elements, Aristotle believed that they were imperfect and corruptible. He argued that the heavens, with their unchanging perfection, could not be made from “imperfect” earthly elements. Other philosophers of his time considered fire to be the element of the heavens. However, Aristotle theorized that a new element, one that is perfect and unchangeable, must make up the heavens. This element came to be known as aether, although Aristotle did not use that word to describe it. Aether was the substance that filled space. It was believed to be light, cold, dry, and moved in a circular pattern.

The idea that the universe was made of the classical elements was accepted during the time of the ancient Greeks and passed down through the centuries that followed. Scientists from ancient Rome through Europe of the Middle Ages sought to understand the world through the lens of the classical elements. The changing weather of the four seasons were attributed to the elements, as were some aspects of human health. Everything from illnesses to personal temperament were attributed to the balance of the elements in the body.

However, by the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Scientific Revolution had transformed thinking across Europe. The idea of four or five elements was discarded. Scientists soon found that many elements make up the natural world. Their discoveries included the fact that water, earth, and air are each made up of many individual elements, and fire is caused by chemical reactions between elements.

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