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Several ancient Classical Element ideas exist. While it is tempting to assume that these all stem from one and the same basic idea, we have no proof of that assumption.
Classical Elements in India
Early Vedic books (2nd millennium BC) speak of five classical elements (Sanskrit mahabhutas) that are earth, water, fire, air, and ether (akasha). This system is described in detail in the Upanishads and in the Samkhya system of philosophy where they form the substratum of physical and psychological realities.
The Indian five elements are also correlated with the chakras of the psychological being.
Classical Elements in Greece
The Greek classical elements are fire, air, water, and earth. They represent in Greek philosophy, science, and medicine the possible constituents of the cosmos.
Plato mentions them as of Pre-Socratic origin, a list created by the philosopher Empedocles.
- Fire is both hot and dry.
- Air is both hot and wet.
- Water is both cold and wet.
- Earth is both cold and dry.
One classic diagram (right) has two squares on top of each other, with the corners of one being the classical elements, and the corners of the other being the properties.
According to Galen, these elements were used by Hippocrates in describing the human body with an association with the four humours: phlegm (water), yellow bile (fire), black bile (earth), and blood (air).
Some cosmologies include a fifth element, aether, the "quintessence."
The Pythagoreans added idea as the fifth element, and also used the initial letters of these five elements to name the outer angles of their pentagram.
Classical Elements during the Middle Ages
The idea of the classical elements was known during medieval times, and, like much Aristotelian dogma, composed a large part of the medieval world view. References to the classical elements in medieval literature can be seen in the work of many writers, including Shakespeare:
- Thou hast as chiding a nativity
- As fire, air, water, earth, and heaven can make,
- To herald thee from the womb
- -PERICLES, from Pericles Prince of Tyre
- The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn,
- Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat
- Awake the god of day; and, at his warning,
- Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air,
- The extravagant and erring spirit hies
- To his confine
- -HORATIO, from Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
Chinese Classical Elements
In Chinese Taoism there is a similar system, which includes metal and wood but excludes air. Different things in nature are associated with the five types. For example, the five major planets were named after the elements: Venus is metal, Jupiter is wood, Mercury is water, Mars is fire and Saturn is earth. Also the Moon represents Yin, the Sun represents Yang. Yin and Yang and the five elements are recurring themes in the I Ching, which is strongly related to Chinese cosmology and astrology. See Chinese five elements.
Some South Asian traditions also include the air, earth, fire, water distinctions.
Influence of the Classic Elements
The modern scientific periodic table of the elements and the understanding of combustion (fire) can be considered successors to such early models.
If one associates the modern term 'Plasma' with fire, the other three elements correspond with the modern concept of 'states of matter', this is to say 'Solid' maps to Earth, 'Liquid' to Water and 'Gas' to Air.