Four Elements

The Four Elements in Greek Cosmology

Greek philosophy supposed the Universe to comprise four elements: Fire, Water, Earth, and Air. Air was originally supposed to be a component of the Æther [ether, not to be confused with the gas], the element that filled the Universe in the absence of the other three. Empedocles referred to these as "roots" (rhizomata, ῥιζώματα), and proved that Air was a separate element by showing that a bowl filled with air inverted in water did not immediately fill with water, but retained a pocket of air. Aristotle was the first to call these roots "elements" (stoicheion, στοιχεῖον), the smallest unit of time on a sundial, or an indivisible unit. (The same root appears in Stoichiometry, the branch of chemistry that deals with balance between reactants and products).

Note that the diagram includes multiple paired associations and opposites, in keeping with Aristotelian notions of dichotomy. Cold / Hot, and Wet / Dry are paired across the diagram. 'Water and Fire are fundamentally contrasted: fire rises, water falls (note directionality of their paired alchemical symbols). Water is by nature wet and cold, features it shares with Air and Earth, respectively. Fire is hot and dry, also shared in the same way. Air is wet or hot, according to the balance of moisture and heat. [Ice, Water, and Steam are not specifically accommodated in this scheme]

The Four Elements can also be arranged in ascending order, from lower to higher, the Earth rising out of Water, Air over the Earth, and the Sun (Fire) over all. Chemical reactions occur as the reactants try to return to their proper place in the series.

Other cultures recognize analogous arrangements: the I Ching (Book of Changes) places the trigram for Fire above the trigram for Water to produce the hexagram Fire in the Lake, the symbol of Revolution.
                       

All text material © 2020 by Steven M. Carr