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Classical elements in Greece

The Greek classical elements are fire (), earth (), air (), and water (). In Greek philosophy, science, and medicine they represent the realms of the cosmos. The ancient Greek word for element (stoicheion) meant "letter (of the alphabet)", the basic unit from which a word is formed.

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 (stoicheion)" in reference to air, fire, earth, and water.^[2]

According to Aristotle in his Physics:

• Air is primarily wet and secondarily hot.
• Fire is primarily hot and secondarily dry.
• Earth is primarily dry and secondarily cold.
• Water is primarily cold and secondarily wet.