THE FOUR ELEMENTS IN GREEK PHILOSOPHY

• The Greek classical elements  (Earth, Water, Air, Fire) date  from pre-Socratic times and persisted  throughout  the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance, deeply influencing European thought and culture. The Greek four elements are sometimes associated with the five platonic solids.

• Plato characterizes the elements as being pre-Socratic in origin from a list created by the Sicilian philosopher Empedocles (ca. 450 BC). Empedocles called these the four "roots" . Plato seems to have been the first  to  use  the  term  "element  in  reference  to  air,  fire,  earth,  and  water. The ancient Greek word for element, stoicheion meant "smallest division (of a sun-dial), a syllable", as the composing unit of an alphabet it could denote a letter and the smallest unit from which a word is formed.

Plato

Man: a being in search of meaning.

Empedocles was a Greek pre- Socratic philosopher and a citizen of Argigentum , a Greek city in Sicily. Empedocles' philosophy is best  known  for  being  the  originator  of  the cosmogenic     theory  of  the  four Classical  elements. Empedocles is generally considered the last Greek philosopher to record his ideas in verse. Some of his work survives, more than in the case of any other Presocratic philosopher. Empedocles' death was mythologized by ancient writers, and has been the subject of a number of literary treatments. It  was  Empedocles  who  established  four  ultimate elements   which make  all  the  structures  in  the world - fire, air  , water  , earth   Empedocles  called  these  four  elements  "roots", which he also identified with the mythical names of Zeus, Hera , Nestis , and Aidoneus . Empedocles  never  used  the  term  "element"  which  seems  to  have  been  first  used by Plato. According to the different proportions in which these four indestructible and unchangeable elements are combined with each other the difference of the structure is produced. It is in the aggregation and segregation of elements thus arising, that Empedocles, like the atomists, found the real process which corresponds to what is popularly termed growth, increase or decrease. Nothing new comes or can come into being; the only change that can occur is a change in the juxtaposition of element with element. This theory of the four elements became the standard dogma for the next two thousand years.

Air is one of the four classical  elements in ancient Greek philosophy  and science. According to Plato, it is associated with the octahedron; air is considered to be both hot and wet. The ancient Greeks used two words for air: aer meant the dim lower atmosphere, and aether meant the bright upper atmosphere above the clouds. Plato, for instance writes that "So it is with air: there is the brightest variety which we call aether, the muddiest which we call mist and darkness, and other kinds for which we have no name...."Among the early Greek Pre-Socratic philosophers, Anaximenes (mid-6th century BCE) named air as the arche. A similar belief was attributed by some ancient sources to Diogenes Apolloniates (late 5th century BCE), who also linked air with intelligence and soul (psyche), but other sources claim that his arche was a substance between air and fire. Aristophanes parodied such teachings in his play The Clouds by putting a prayer to air in the mouth of Socrates.

Anaximenes was a 6th century philosopher, a younger contemporary of Anaximander, who believed that air was the underlying component of everything. Density and heat or  cold  change  air  so  that  it  contracts  or  expands.  For  Anaximenes,  the  earth  was formed by such processes and is an air-made disk that floats on air above and below.

EARTH• Though the earliest evidence of a spherical Earth comes from ancient Greek sources, there is

no account of how the sphericity of the Earth was discovered. A plausible explanation is that it was "the experience of travellers that suggested such an explanation for the variation in the observable altitude and the change in the area of circumpolar stars, a change that was quite drastic between Greek settlements" around the eastern Mediterranean Sea, particularly those between the Nile Delta and the Crimea.

• According  to Diogenes  Laertius,  "[ Pythagoras] was  the first  [Greek] who called  the earth round; though Theophrastus attributes this to Parmenides, and Zeno to Hesiod."

Plato (427–347 BC) travelled to southern Italy to study Pythagorean mathematics. When he returned to Athens and established his school, Plato also taught his students that Earth was a sphere though he offered no justifications. "My conviction is that the earth is a round body in the centre of the heavens, and therefore has no need of air or of any similar force to be a support". If man could soar high above the clouds, Earth would resemble "one of those balls which have leather coverings in twelve pieces, and is decked with various colours, of which the colours used by painters on earth are in a manner samples." In Timaeus his one work that was available throughout the Middle Ages in Latin, we read that the Creator "made the world in the form of a globe, round as from a lathe, having its extremes in every direction equidistant from the centre, the most perfect and the most like itself of all figures", ] though the word "world" here refers to the heavens.

Aristotle provided physical and observational arguments supporting the idea of a spherical Earth:Every portion of the Earth tends toward the center until by compression and convergence they form a sphere. Travelers going south see southern constellations rise higher above the horizon; andThe shadow of Earth on the Moon during a lunar eclipse is round. The concepts of symmetry, equilibrium and cyclic repetition permeated Aristotle's work. In his Meteorology he divided the world into five climatic zones: two temperate areas separated by a torrid zone near the equator, and two cold inhospitable regions, "one near our upper or northern pole and the other near the southern pole," both impenetrable and girdled with ice .Although no humans could survive in the frigid zones, inhabitants in the southern temperate regions could exist.

Aristotle Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.

Thales' most famous philosophical position was his cosmological thesis, which comes down to us through a passage from Aristotle's Metaphysics. In the work Aristotle unequivocally reported Thales’  hypothesis  about  the nature  of matter  – that the originating principle of nature was a single material substance: water. Aristotle then proceeded to proffer a number of conjectures based on his own observations to lend some credence to why Thales may have advanced this idea (though Aristotle didn’t hold it himself). Aristotle considered Thales’ position to be roughly the equivalent to the later ideas of Anaximenes, who held that everything was composed of air.

Aristotle conjectured that Thales reached his conclusion by contemplating that the "nourishment of all things is moist and that even the hot is created from the wet and lives by it."While Aristotle’s conjecture on why Thales held water was the originating principle of water is his own thinking, his statement that Thales held it was water is generally accepted as genuinely originating with Thales and he is seen as an incipient matter-and-formist.Heraclitus  Homericus.  states  that  Thales  drew  his  conclusion  from  seeing moist  substance  turn  into  air, slime  and  earth.  It  seems  likely  that  Thales  viewed  the  Earth  as  solidifying  from  the water  on which  it floated and the oceans that surround it.Writing centuries later Diogenes Laertius also states that Thales taught "Water constituted the principle of all things."

Fire  is one of the four classical elements in ancient Greek philosophy and science.  It was commonly associated with the qualities of energy, assertiveness, and passion. In one Greek myth, Prometheus stole fire from the gods to protect the otherwise helpless humans, but was punished for this charity.Fire was one of many archai proposed by the Pre-socratics, most of whom sought to reduce the cosmos, or its creation, by a single substance. Heraclitus (c. 535 BCE – c. 475 BCE) considered fire to be the most fundamental of all elements. He believed fire gave rise to the other three elements: "All things are an interchange for fire, and fire for all things, just like goods for gold and gold for goods.“ He had a reputation for obscure philosophical principles and for speaking in riddles. He described how fire gave rise to the other elements as the: "upward-downward path", a "hidden harmony"  or series of transformations he called the "turnings of fire", first into sea, and half that sea into earth, and half that earth into rarefied air. This is a concept that anticipates both the four classical elements of Empedocles andAristotle's transmutation of the four elements into one another.

A Greek  philosopher of  the  late  6th  century  BC,  Heraclitus criticizes his predecessors and contemporaries for their failure to see the unity in experience. He claims  to  announce  an everlasting  Word (Logos) according  to  which  all  things  are  one,  in  some  sense.  Opposites  are necessary for life, but they are unified in a system of balanced exchanges. The world itself consists of  a  law-like  interchange of  elements,  symbolized by fire. Thus the world is not to be identified with any particular substance, but rather with an ongoing process governed by a law of change. The underlying law of nature also manifests itself as a moral law for human beings. Heraclitus is the first Western philosopher to go beyond physical theory in search of metaphysical foundations and moral applications.

Heraclitus

There is nothing permanent except change

PHILOSOPHERS THALIS ANAXIMANDROS ANAXIMENIS HERACLITUS EBEDOCLIS

ELEMENTS WATER WATER,EARTHFIRE,AIR

AIR FIRE WATER,EARTHFIRE,AIR

Epicurus  was  an ancient  Greek  philosopher as  well  as  the  founder  of  the  school  of  philosophy called Epicureanism. Only a few fragments and letters of Epicurus's 300 written works remain. Much of what is known about Epicurean philosophy derives from later followers and commentators.For Epicurus, the purpose of philosophy was to attain the happy, tranquil life, characterized by ataraxia—peace and freedom from fear—and aponia—the absence of pain—and by living a self-sufficient life surrounded by friends. He taught that pleasure and pain are the measures of what is good and evil; death is the end of both body and soul and should therefore not be feared; the gods neither reward nor punish humans; the universe is infinite and eternal; and events in the world are ultimately based on the motions and interactions of atoms moving in empty space.

Epicurus's  teachings  represented  a  departure  from  the  other  major  Greek  thinkers  of  his  period,  and  before,  but  was nevertheless  founded on many of  the  same principles  as Democritus.  Like Democritus,  he was  an  atomist,  believing  that  the fundamental constituents of the world were indivisible little bits of matter  flying through empty space (kenos). Everything that occurs is the result of the atoms colliding, rebounding, and becoming entangled with one another, with no purpose or plan behind their motions. (Compare this with the modern study of particle physics. His theory differs from the earlier atomism of Democritus because he admits that atoms do not always follow straight lines but their direction of motion may occasionally exhibit a 'swerve' (clinamen). This allowed him to avoid the determinism implicit in the earlier atomism and to affirm free will.(Compare this with the modern theory of quantum physics, which postulates a non-deterministic random motion of fundamental particles, which do not swerve absent an external force; randomness originates in interaction of particles in incompatible eigenstates.)

EpicurusDeath does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we no longer exist.

Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we no longer exist.

Democritus was  an Ancient  Greek  philosopher born in Abdera, Thrace, Greece.A pupil of Leucippus , he was an influential pre-Socratic philosopher who formulated an atomic theory for the universe.His exact contributions are difficult to disentangle from those of his mentor Leucippus, as they are often mentioned together in texts. Their speculation on atoms, taken from Leucippus, bears a passing and partial resemblance to the nineteenth-century understanding of atomic structure that has led some to regard Democritus as more of a scientist than other Greek philosophers; however, their ideas rested on very different bases. Largely ignored in ancient Athens Democritus was nevertheless well known to his fellow northern-born philosopher Aristotle. Plato is said to have disliked him so much that he wished all his books burned. Many consider Democritus  to be the "father of modern science".

DemocritusNothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is just opinion

The four elements in Greek Mythology

Element: Earth (Gaia)

In  the  ancient  Greek  cosmology  earth  was conceived  as  a  flat  disk  encirced  by  the  river Okeanos, and topped above by the solid dome of  heaven  and  below  by  the  great  pit  of Tartaros.  She  herself  supported  the  sea  and moutains upon her breast.

Gaia  was  depicted  as  a  buxom,  matronly woman,  half  risen  from  the  earth  (as  in  the image  right)  in  Greek  vase  painting.  She was portrayed  as  inseperable  from  her  native element. In mosaic art, Gaia appears as a full-figured,  reclining  woman,  often  clothed  in green,  and  sometimes  accompanied  by  grain spirits--the Karpoi.

Gaea rising from the earth, Athenian red-figurekylix C5th B.C., Antikenmuseen, Berlin

• GAIA  (or Gaea) was  the Protogenos(primeval divinity) of  earth, one  of  the  primal  elements who  first  emerged  at  the  dawn  of creation, along with air, sea and sky. She was the great mother of all : the heavenly gods were descended from her union with Ouranos (the sky), the sea-gods from her union with Pontos (the sea),  the Gigantes from  her  mating  with Tartaros(the  hell-pit) and mortal creatures were sprung or born from her earthy flesh.

• In  myth  Gaia  appears  as  the  prime  opponent  of  the  heavenly gods. First she rebelled against her husband Ouranos (Sky) who had imprisoned her sons in her womb. Then later, when her son Kronos defied her by imprisoning these same sons, she assisted Zeus in his overthrow of the Titan. Finally she came into conflict with Zeus, angered with him for the binding of her Titan-sons in the pit of Tartaros. In her opposition she first produced the tribe of Gigantes and later the monster Typhoeusto dethrone him, but both failed in both attempts.

Demeter, the Greek goddess of the agriculture

Demeter  is  the  goddess  of  corn,  grain,  and  the  harvest.  She  is  the daughter  of Cronus and Rhea.  It  is Demeter that  makes  the  crops grow each year. The first loaf of bread from the harvest is sacrificed to  her. Demeter is the goddess of the earth, of agriculture, and of fertility in general. Sacred to her are livestock and agricultural products, poppy, narcissus and the crane.

Demeter Mourning Persephone by Evelyn de Morgan (1906)

Demeter  is  intimately  associated  with  the  seasons.  Her daughter Persephone was  abducted  by Hades to  be  his  wife  in the underworld. In her anger at her daughter's loss Demeter laid a curse on the world that caused plants  to wither and die,  the land  become  desolate. Zeus  became  alarmed  and  sought Persephone's  return. However, because she had eaten while  in the  underworld  Hades  had  a  claim  on  her.  Therefore,  it  was decreed that Persephone would spend four months each year in the  underworld.  During  these  months Demeter  greves  her daughters  absence,  and  withdraws  her  gifts  from  the  world, creating winter. Her return brought the spring.

Persephone and Demeter Reunite [Painting by Frederic Leighton, 1891.]

Element: Wind/AirTHE ANEMOI were the gods of the four directional winds--Boreas the North-Wind, Zephryos the  West-Wind, Notos the  South-Wind,  and Euros the  East-Wind. They were closely connected with the seasons : Boreas was the cold breath of winter, Zephyros the god of spring breezes, and Notos the god of summer rain-storms.

The Wind-Gods were  represented as either winged, man-shaped gods, or horse-like divinities, which grazed the shores of the river Okeanos or were stabled in the caverns of Aiolos Hippotades, "the Horse-Reiner," king of the winds.

Homer and Hesiod distinguish the four seasonal Anemoi (Winds) from the Anemoi Thuellai (Storms-Winds and Hurricanes). The latter were housed in the caverns of Aiolos or thepit of Tartaros where they were guarded by the Hekatonkheires. Later authors, however, blurred the distinction between the two.

The female counterparts of the Anemoi were the Aellai Harpyiai (or Harpies). Mating, with these they sired swift, immortal horses.

BoreasGreek god of the cold north wind and the bringer of winter. His name meant  "North  Wind"  or  "Devouring  One".  Boreas  is  depicted  as being very strong, with a violent temper to match. Zephyrus

Greek god of  the west wind. The gentlest of  the winds, Zephyrus  is known  as  the  fructifying  wind,  the  messenger  of  spring.  It  was thought that Zephyrus lived in a cave in Thrace

Eurus

Greek  deity  representing  the  unlucky  east  wind. He was thought to bring warmth and rain, and his symbol was an inverted vase, spilling water

Notus

Greek god of  the  south wind. He was associated with  the desiccating hot wind of  the  rise of Sirius after midsummer, was thought to bring the storms of late summer and autumn, and was feared as a destroyer of crops

Aeolus

King  of  the  winds,  keeper  of  the  Anemoi,  master  of  the seasonal winds.

Element: Fire

Prometheus and Zeus

Prometheus was one of the Titans, who at some point were sent to Tartarus  by  the  enraged  Zeus  who  didn’t  accept  the  Titans’s fighting  against  him  in  the  famous  Battle  of  the  Titans  – Titanomachy.

However  Prometheus was not directly involved in the war, so Zeus saved him from Tartarus and gave him a mission – to form a man from  water  and  earth.  Prometheus  accomplished  the  task,  but while working on his creation, he grew fond of men. He didn’t care much  ever  about  the  Gods  and  their  hierarchy,  and  however friendly  treated  by  them,  he  was  much  more  comfortable  being around  the  immortals.  In  any  case,  Zeus’s  idea  was  not  to  have men having any unusual power. But Prometheus was thinking the other  way,  and  decided  to  steal  one  of  the  powers  Zeus  was particularly sensitive about – fire.

Prometheus Steals the Fire

Thinking about stealing fire was easy, but it finally proved a bit more complicated. Prometheus, known for his wit and intelligence, had an immediate  plan  –  to  trick  the  goddesses  throwing  them  a  golden pear  (in  some  version  –  apple)  into  the  courtyard with  a message: “For the most beautiful goddess of all”.

It worked as he planned – the goddesses started a fight over the fruit while  gods  were  completely  enjoying  the  scene.  All  of  them  were distracted and Prometheus didn’t have a hard time steeling  the fire from  Hephaestus’s  workshop.  Hephaestus  was,  among  other  stuff, the Greek god of fire. Prometheus happily left the Gods’ playground and took the fire with him either in a hollowed pumpkin or hollowed reed  (depending on  the  interpretation) and brought  it  to Earth and gave it to humans.

Oh, how Zeus was mad. After so many times being defied by Prometheus, Zeus decided that it was enough. Nevertheless, he made Hephaestus himself to chain Prometheus on Mount Caucasus where the eagle would eat his liver forever.But, time passed and Zeus offered at one occasion to free Prometheus in exchange for a revelation of the prophecy that predicted the dethroning of Zeus. Prometheus refused. But much later Zeus’s son Hercules, on his journey to fulfill the Twelve Labors, passed by the Mount  Caucasus,  saw  Prometheus  and  decided  to  kill  the  eagle  and  free  the  chained  Titan.  Zeus  was  very  angry  initially  but eventually agreed to grant Prometheus his freedom.

Hephaestus at the Forge by Guillaume Coustou the Younger (Louvre)

Hephaestus  is  the son of Zeus and Hera. Sometimes  it  is  said  that Hera alone produced him and  that he has no  father. He  is  the only  god  to be physically ugly. He is also lame. Accounts as to how he became lame vary. Some say that Hera, upset by having an ugly child, flung him from   Mount Olympus into the sea, breaking his legs. Others that he took Hera's side in an argument with Zeus and Zeus flung him off Mount Olympus. He is the god of fire and the forge. He is the smith and armorer of the gods. He uses a volcano as his forge. He is the patron god of both smiths and weavers. He  is  kind  and  peace  loving.  His  wife  is Aphrodite.  Sometimes  his  wife  is identified as Aglaia.

Hephaestus

The western face of the Doric temple of Hephaestus, Agora of Athens.

Element: Water

God  of  the  sea,  protector  of  all waters. Poseidon  is  the  brother  of Zeus. After  the  overthrow of  their  Father Cronus he drew  lots with Zeus and Hades,  another  brother,  for  shares  of  the world. His  prize was to become lord of the sea. He was widely worshiped by seamen. He married Amphitrite, a granddaughter of the Titan Oceanus.

Nireus

In Greek mythology, Nereus  was  the  eldest  son  of Pontus (the Sea)  and Gaia (the Earth),  a Titan who  with Doris fathered  the Nereids and Nerites, with whom Nereus lived in the Aegean Sea.

Sirens

THE  SEIRENES  (or  Sirens) were  three sea nymphs who  lured  sailors  to  their  death with  a bewitching  song.  They were formerly handmaidens of the goddess Persephone. When the girl was secretly abducted by Haides, Demeter gave them the  bodies  of  birds,  and  sent  to  assist  in  the  search.  They  eventually  gave  up  and  settled  on  the  flowery  island  of Anthemoessa.The Seirenes were  later encountered by  the Argonauts who passed by unharmed with  the help of Orpheus,  the poet drowing out their music with his song. Odysseus also sailed by, bound tightly to the mast, his men blocking their ears with wax. The Seirenes were so distressed to see a man hear their song and yet escape, that they threw themselves into the sea and drowned.The Seirenes were depicted as birds with either  the heads, or  the entire upper bodies, of women.  In mosaic art  they were depicted with just bird legs.

According  to  Greek  Mythology,  the  Aegean  Sea  owes  its  name  to  the  King  of  Athens,  Aigeas  (Aegeas). The story goes this way....... King Minos of Crete in order to punish the Athenians who had killed his son Androgeo, declared war on Athens and won. The Athenians subsequently became subjects of the Minoan Empire. King Minos then demanded that a tribute of honour be paid. At nine year intervals, seven Athenian boys and seven Athenian girls were to be sacrificed. They were to be sent to Crete and devoured by the mythical Minotaur, a monster with the body of a man and the head of a bull, who lived in the Labyrinth. Thiseas, the son of Aigeas and Aithra, decided that he would slaughter the Minotaur and end the shameful bloody sacrifices. He took the place of one of the seven young men and set sail for Crete. Before he left, it was agreed with his father Aigeas that they would hoist black sails as a 'show' of mourning, but that if they were successful and slayed the monster, they would hoist white sails on the journey home. 

The Aegean Sea

On his journey he met and fell in love with Ariadne, daughter of King Minoas. She gave him a ball of string,  'Ariadne's Clue'. The idea was to unravel the string in the Labyrinth, so that after Thiseas slayed the Minotaur, he would find his way back  to  the entrance. The mission was successful and the Minotaur was killed. Under the cloak of night, Thiseas, Ariadne and  the others escaped  to  the port and embarked on the ship  for  the return  journey. On the way they stopped at the island of Naxos. Story tells us that Thiseas abandoned Ariadne while she was sleeping and continued on his  journey home, but  forgot to raise  the white  sails  as  he  had  promised  to  Aigeas  (some  say  that Ariadne laid a curse on Thiseas). Aigias waited for his son to return. As he stood on the Akrotiri of Sounio, he spied the ship as it rounded the cape - it had black sails. Believing that his son was dead, the king despaired. He  jumped off  the cliffs  into  the sea  from the  temple of Poseidon and killed himself. 

Thank you for your attention!!

Hara Malli, Eleni Skifta