Empedocles
Four elements, Love and Strife
Philosopher, poet, physician, and wonder-worker. He proposed that all matter is composed of four eternal roots — earth, water, air, and fire — combined and separated by the cosmic forces of Love and Strife. This four-element theory dominated Western science until the seventeenth century. Legend says he leapt into Mount Etna to prove he was a god.
Key works
- On Nature~450 BC— Cosmology in hexameter verse — four elements
- Purifications~450 BC— The soul's transmigrations