<P> Empedocles held that there are four elements , from which things are derived , Earth , Water , Fire and Air . Some added a fifth element , the Aether , from which the heavens were derived . Socrates accepted ( or at least did not reject ) that list , as seen from Plato 's Timaeus , which identified the five elements with the Platonic solids . Earth was associated with the cube , air with the octahedron , water with the icosahedron , fire with the tetrahedron , and the heavens with the dodecahedron . </P>
<P> Empedocles held that there are four elements , from which things are derived , Earth , Water , Fire and Air . Some added a fifth element , the Aether , from which the heavens were derived . Socrates accepted ( or at least did not reject ) that list , as seen from Plato 's Timaeus , which identified the five elements with the Platonic solids . Earth was associated with the cube , air with the octahedron , water with the icosahedron , fire with the tetrahedron , and the heavens with the dodecahedron . </P>
held that all matter is made of four elements earth air fire and water
held that all matter is made of four elements earth air fire and water
Empedocles
Empedocles