Early civilizations, such as the Egyptians[17] Babylonians, Indians[18] amassed practical knowledge

concerning the arts of metallurgy, pottery and dyes, but didn't develop a systematic theory.
A basic chemical hypothesis first emerged in Classical Greece with the theory offour elements as
propounded definitively by Aristotle stating that that fire, air, earthand water were the fundamental
elements from which everything is formed as a combination. Greek atomism dates back to 440 BC,
arising in works by philosophers such as Democritus and Epicurus. In 50 BC,
the Roman philosopherLucretius expanded upon the theory in his book De rerum natura (On The
Nature of Things).[19][20] Unlike modern concepts of science, Greek atomism was purely philosophical
in nature, with little concern for empirical observations and no concern for chemical experiments. [21]
In the Hellenistic world the art of alchemy first proliferated, mingling magic and occultism into the
study of natural substances with the ultimate goal of transmuting elements into gold and discovering
the elixir of eternal life.[22] Alchemy was discovered and practised widely throughout the Arab
world after the Muslim conquests,[23] and from there, diffused into medieval and Renaissance Europe
through Latin translations