Knowra Earth (classical element) Earth (classical element) Earth is one of the four elements in ancient Greek natural philosophy, associated with solidity, heaviness, dryness, and coldness. It was treated as a basic constituent of the changing natural world.
Four classical elements : A system of four basic elements—earth, water, air, and fire—used in ancient Greek accounts of nature. Earth is one member of this four-part scheme.
Elemental transformation : The ancient idea that basic elements could change into one another through alterations of their qualities. Earth could transform when its defining qualities shifted toward those of another element.
Empedoclean cosmology : Empedocles’ account of four roots combined and separated by Love and Strife. Earth appears among the roots that persist through cosmic cycles.
Earth (planet) : The third planet from the Sun and the only known world supporting life. The planet’s name shares the word but not the ancient element’s meaning.
Aristotelian physics : Aristotle’s account of natural bodies, motion, place, and change. It gave earth its characteristic downward motion and natural place.
Natural motion : In Aristotelian physics, motion arising from a body's nature rather than an external force. Heavy earth was thought to move naturally downward.
Plato's Timaeus : Plato’s dialogue presenting a mathematical and teleological account of the cosmos’s construction. It gives earth a distinctive geometrical body and role in the cosmos.
Soil : The biologically active mixture of minerals, organic matter, water, air, and organisms at Earth's surface. Ordinary ground is not identical to the philosophical element.
Hot and cold : Opposed qualities used in ancient theories of matter and bodily change. Coldness was one of the two primary qualities assigned to earth.
Heaviness : The tendency of a body to move toward the center in ancient natural philosophy. Earth exemplified heaviness and its associated downward movement.
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