what are the humours
in greek medieval and renaissance thought the traditional four elements form the basis for a theory of medicine and later psychological typology known as the four humoursand classical thought in classic times medicine was equated with philosophy and three greek philosophers hippocrates c 460 370 b c e plato 427 348 b c e and aristotle 384 322 b c e contributed to the vision of health disease and the functions of the bodylthough they had differences in general they saw health as an equilibrium of the body as determined by the four humors sap in plants and the blood in animals is the fount of life other body fluids phlegm bile faeces became visible in illness when the balance is disturbed