# Classical element By [Sakol](https://paragraph.com/@sakol) · 2023-05-29 --- _"4 Elements" redirects here. For the album by Chronic Future, see_ [_4 Elements (album)_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4_Elements_\(album\))_._ _This article is about the Indo-European belief of the fundamental types of matter. For similar beliefs in other cultures, see_ [_Element (disambiguation) § Philosophy and religion_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Element_\(disambiguation\)#Philosophy_and_religion)_._ [Rococo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rococo) set of [personification](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personification) figurines of the _Four Elements_, 1760s, [Chelsea porcelain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_porcelain) Allegories of the Classical elements, by [Giuseppe Arcimboldo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Arcimboldo). From top-left, clockwise: air, fire, water, and earth. Classical elementsshow[Greek](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_element#Classical_elements_in_Greece)show[Hinduism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tattva) / [Jainism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tattva_\(Jainism\)) / [Buddhism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mah%C4%81bh%C5%ABta)show[Chinese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuxing_\(Chinese_philosophy\))show[Japanese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godai_\(Japanese_philosophy\))show[Medieval](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_element#Elements_in_Medieval_alchemy) * [v](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Classic_element) * [t](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template_talk:Classic_element) * [e](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Classic_element&action=edit) **Classical elements** typically refer to [earth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_\(classical_element\)), [water](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_\(classical_element\)), [air](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_\(classical_element\)), [fire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_\(classical_element\)), and (later) [aether](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aether_\(classical_element\)) which were proposed to explain the nature and complexity of all [matter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matter) in terms of simpler [substances](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substance_theory).[\[1\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_element#cite_note-Boyd2003-1)[\[2\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_element#cite_note-Ball2004-2) Ancient cultures in [Greece](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece), [Tibet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Tibet), and [India](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_India) had similar lists which sometimes referred, in local languages, to "air" as "wind" and the fifth element as "void". These different cultures and even individual philosophers had widely varying explanations concerning their attributes and how they related to observable phenomena as well as [cosmology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmology). Sometimes these theories overlapped with [mythology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythology) and were [personified in deities](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personification). Some of these interpretations included [atomism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomism) (the idea of very small, indivisible portions of matter), but other interpretations considered the elements to be divisible into infinitely small pieces without changing their nature. While the classification of the material world in ancient [Indian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mah%C4%81bh%C5%ABta), [Hellenistic Egypt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt), and [ancient Greece](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece#Science_and_technology) into air, earth, fire, and water was more philosophical, during the [Middle Ages](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ages) medieval [scientists](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientist) used practical, experimental observation to classify materials.[\[3\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_element#cite_note-Jim-3) In [Europe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe), the ancient Greek concept, devised by [Empedocles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empedocles), evolved into the system of [Aristotle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle) and [Hippocrates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocrates), who introduced systematic classification into the area, which evolved slightly into the medieval system, which for the first time in Europe became subject to experimental verification in the 1600s, during the [Scientific Revolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_Revolution).[\[4\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_element#cite_note-4) [Modern science](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_science#Modern_science) does not support the classical elements as the material basis of the physical world. [Atomic theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_theory) classifies atoms into more than a hundred [chemical elements](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_element) such as [oxygen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen), [iron](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron), and [mercury](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_\(element\)). These elements form [chemical compounds](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_compound) and [mixtures](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixtures), and under different temperatures and pressures, these substances can adopt different [states of matter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States_of_matter). The most commonly observed states of [solid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid), [liquid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid), [gas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas), and [plasma](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_\(physics\)) share many attributes with the classical elements of earth, water, air, and fire, respectively, but these states are due to similar behavior of different types of atoms at similar energy levels, and not due to containing a certain type of atom or substance. --- *Originally published on [Sakol](https://paragraph.com/@sakol/classical-element)*