Ancient Greece began as disconnected groups of people living in small communities. As the communities grew, they formed city-states. Each city-state had its own market, government, and army. As the populations grew, the city-states became more connected. The Golden Age of Ancient Greece lasted from about 500 BCE to 300 BCE. During this time, the Greeks focused on art, poetry, and philosophy.
The Ancient Greek philosophers were fascinated by matter. They wanted to understand the building blocks of matter. What was everything around them made of?
A common belief in Ancient Greece was that all matter was made up of four fundamental elements:
water, air, fire, and earth. Everything on Earth was a combination of these elements.
One Greek philosopher, Democritus, argued that matter was made up of solid parts surrounded by
empty space. Objects could be cut into smaller and smaller pieces, but eventually, there would be a
single piece that could no longer be cut. He called this final piece the atom. In Greek, atom means that which cannot be cut.
Unfortunately for all of us, another more popular philosopher of the time disagreed with Democritus. Aristotle was considered one of the most brilliant philosophers of Ancient Greece. He didn’t believe
in Democritus’s atoms. Instead, he argued that in addition to the four fundamental elements, there
was a fifth element. He called it aether. He believed aether was what made up all of the stars
and planets in the sky. Aristotle’s beliefs stalled the study of atoms for 1,500 years. No one bothered to
look for atoms because Aristotle didn’t believe they existed.
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