Herakleitos (c. 536-470 B.C) fire and the reverse processes of condensation and rarefaction.
Fire Condensation l Rarefaction Water Condensation Rarefaction Earth
In addition: the concept of physics of contraries.
Day Night, Summer Winter, Hot-Cold, Dry-Moist.
Empedokles (c. 490-430 B c) four roots of things, and two forces that joined and separated them.
Roots: fire, air, water, and earth Forces: attraction and repulsion
Plato (427-347 B.C.) the formless prime matter takes on forms of elements (stoicheia) with special shape the -- five regular forms later referred as Platonic bodies. The elements change into one another in definite ratios.
Five regular solid forms: tetrahedron, octahedron, icosahedron, cube, dodecahedron.
Elements: tetrahedral fire, octahedral air, icosahedral water, cubic earth, dodecahedral ether.
In addition: his dialogue Timaeus includes a discussion of the compositions of inorganic and organic bodies; a basic treatise on chemistry
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) summarized the ideas of earlier thinkers and further developed the idea of fundamental properties of matter. Combining these properties in pair results in the four elements.
Properties: hot, cold, dry, moist Elements: fire, air, water, earth.
In addition: an immaterial ether is the fifth element (the quintessence) that settles out into the sky and heavenly bodies.
All substances are made of prime matter. Different forms can be impressed by evolving from within, can be removed and replaced by new ones.