Fludd's five elements. Diagram showing the relative ordering of the five elements proposed by the English physician, astrologer, and mystic Robert Flu

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Fludd's five elements. Diagram showing the relative ordering of the five elements proposed by the English physician, astrologer, and mystic Robert Fludd (1574-1637). The text is in Latin. The elements are: 1. Terra (Earth); 2. Aqua (Water); 3. Aer (Air); 4. Ignis (Fire); 5. Aether (Aether). The division of the universe into these five elements dates back to Aristotle and the Ancient Greeks. The elements were thought to be arranged in a geocentric universe, with the Earth at centre and the Aether in the heavens above. Artwork published in Fludd's philosophical treatise Utriusque cosmi historia (1617).

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Size: 4399px × 3815px
Photo credit: © ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 1600s, 1617, 17th, aether, air, ancient, aristotelean, artwork, astronomical, astronomy, black--white, century, chemical, chemistry, classical, cosmi, cosmological, cosmology, diagram, earth, element, elements, ether, fire, fludd, greek, greeks, historia, historical, history, illustration, monochrome, nature, research, robert, science, utriusque, water