New Philosophy of Our Sublunary World

CHAPTER III.

Who first devised the fable of the elements, and how this opinion has endured until the present day.

The Chaldeans, and the Magi who were their neighbors—the first of all in the disciplines of learning—had as their greatest desires the worship of the Supreme Deity and the understanding of the motions and influences of the heavens. But the Egyptians labored to learn more clearly the parts of this misty sky and the mortal world, along with their inherent causes and laws. Therefore, a certain matter was the beginning of things, and from it the four elements were then separated and many living beings were perfected. Manetho original: "Manethus"; an Egyptian priest and historian (c. 3rd century BCE) often cited in antiquity as a source on Egyptian religion and history. is the authority for this in his Epitome of Natural History, as is Hecataeus original: "Hecatæus"; likely Hecataeus of Abdera, a Greek historian who wrote extensively about Egyptian philosophy and culture. in his first book on Egyptian Philosophy. They claim that the Sun and the Moon were gods, called Osiris and Isis respectively, and that the Egyptians represented them through the scarab, the dragon original: "draconem"; in this context, it refers to a serpent or a symbolic lizard-like creature common in ancient iconography., the hawk, and other animals.

The Greeks, having been taught by these peoples, largely embraced this way of philosophizing, as did Anaxagoras and Empedocles. Finally, Aristotle—though he wrote much and indeed with a better method than anyone else (even if he said very little concerning such a vast foundation of the whole of natural philosophy, and that only in passing)—through the authority of the man and the learning of his books, which is by no means to be looked down upon, confirmed the opinion concerning the number, position, and qualities of the four elements. What was previously only a conceived opinion, he established in the minds of all as if it were implanted and innate, and it has remained so to this day, such that no one has ever wished or been able to uproot it; although there have always been some who deserted it to join the Academics A school of philosophy that practiced skepticism, often questioning the definitive claims made by "dogmatic" schools like the Aristotelians.. Eventually, however, at the urging of Galen A prominent Greek physician (c. 129–216 CE) whose theories on the four humors and elements dominated Western medicine for over a millennium. and the physicians who followed him, this entire earthly world original: "inferior mundus"; literally "lower world," referring to the sublunary sphere or Earth, as opposed to the celestial spheres. was seen, through a marvelous transformation, to be arranged into four elements in a far different manner than in the previous age. At that point, everyone [began to swear] by these