four elements
Earth, water, fire, air
The four elements are earth, water, air, and fire—the ancient Greek classification of all matter's basic constituents.
This framework, associated with Aristotle and Empedocles, dominated Western thought for two millennia before modern chemistry replaced it with the periodic table.
The concept persists in astrology, where each zodiac sign belongs to an element, and in fantasy literature and games where characters wield elemental powers.
- humorsAccommodates someone's wishes
- AristotleGreek founder of formal logic
- ancient wisdomLong-held profound understanding
- alchemyMystical metal transformation
- Greek philosophyClassical Mediterranean intellectual tradition
tarot cards · balance · mythology · ether · tetrahedron · states of matter · temperaments · zodiac signs · feng shui · pneuma · Renaissance art · cosmology · creation myths · harmony · transformation · wind · chemistry · avatar
- Ancient Cosmologycosmic egg, cosmic ocean, world tree, axis mundi, firmament
- foursquartet, quadruplets, tetrad, foursome, quadruple
- Greek scienceAristotle, Archimedes, Euclid, Ptolemy, Hippocrates
- classical elementsearth, air, fire, water, aether
- Medieval Sciencealchemy, astrology, astronomy, natural philosophy, scholasticism
- obsolete sciencephlogiston, aether, phlogiston theory, ether, caloric
four elementsperiodic table
Systematic display of elements
atomic theory · chemical elements · five elements · quintessence · aether
four elementsperiodic table
Systematic display of elements
atomic theory · quantum mechanics · particle physics · standard model · subatomic particles