The four bodily humors were part of Shakespearean cosmology, inherited from the ancient Greek philosophers Aristotle, Hippocrates, and Galen.

Organized around the four elements of earth, water, air, and fire; the four qualities of cold, hot, moist, and dry; and the four humors, these physical qualities determined the behavior of all created things including the human body.

Melancholic Humor: Black Bile

Element: Earth

Season: Winter

Age: Old Age

Qualities: Cold & Dry

Organ: Spleen

Planet: Saturn Phlegmatic Humor: Phlegm

Element: Water

Season: Autumn

Age: Maturity

Qualities: Cold & Moist

Organ: Brain

Planet: Moon

above: Henry Peacham, “Melancolia,” Minerva Britanna, 1612. Courtesy Folger Shakespeare Library.



above: Henry Peacham, “Phlegma,” Minerva Britanna, 1612. Courtesy Folger Shakespeare Library.





Choleric Humor: Yellow Bile

Element: Fire

Season: Summer

Age: Childhood

Qualities: Hot & Dry

Organ: Gall Bladder

Planet: Mars Sanguine Humor: Blood

Element: Air

Season: Spring

Age: Adolescence

Qualities: Hot & Moist

Organ: Heart

Planet: Jupiter

above: Henry Peacham, “Cholera,” Minerva Britanna, 1612. Courtesy Folger Shakespeare Library.



above: Henry Peacham, “Sanguis,” Minerva Britanna, 1612. Courtesy Folger Shakespeare Library.





above, left to right: Images from Deutsche Kalendar, 1498. Courtesy Pierpont Morgan Library. A medieval German woodcut depicts the temperaments of the cold and dry qualities of the melancholic disposition, which were associated with old age, retentiveness, and scholarship, like the old man depicted here with his head resting on a table. (first image) The hot, moist man representing the sanguine temperament is depicted as an active wooer embracing a woman. (second image) A cold, moist phlegmatic couple prefer retirement and leisure, signified here by music. (third image) The hot, dry man of choler furiously beats the woman kneeling helplessly at his feet. (fourth image)

In the human body, the interaction of the four humors explained differences of age, gender, emotions, and disposition. The influence of the humors changed with the seasons and times of day and with the human life span. Heat stimulated action, cold depressed it. The young warrior’s choler gave him courage but phlegm produced cowards. Youth was hot and moist, age cold and dry. Men as a sex were hotter and drier than women.

above left: Aristotle, De Animalibus, ca 1225. Courtesy National Library of Medicine. Greek philosopher Aristotle (384 BCE–322 BCE) identified the classic four elements—earth, water, air, and fire—as the building blocks of the universe. CLICK FOR PORTRAIT OF ARISTOTLE.

above center: Hippocrates, De Humoribus, 1525. Courtesy National Library of Medicine. Greek physician Hippocrates (ca. 460 BCE–370 BCE) is often credited with developing the theory of the four humors—blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm—and their influence on the body and its emotions. His famous treatise on Airs, Waters, and Places describes the influence of geography on the body and its humoral makeup. CLICK FOR PORTRAIT OF HIPPOCRATES.

above right: Galen, De temperamentis libri tres, 1545. Courtesy National Library of Medicine. Born in Pergamon, Roman physician and philosopher Galen (ca. 131–ca. 201) described the four temperaments as determined by a balance of the qualities of hot, cold, moist, and dry. He was revered as a great clinician. CLICK FOR PORTRAIT OF GALEN.