Overview to the Theory of the Four Temperaments, The Four different Personalities Definition
Have you heard of this theory before? The theory is centuries old, but still relevant today – which is amazing, considering how far science has come.
It is a very popular theory that has somehow endured through history, and even now, 2400 years after ancient Greece, people still use and discuss it. Funny, huh? We may say that we have superior knowledge today over those who came before us, but on this topic, not so much. Just have a look at all the books about this topic that are still being published and read.
It is so well known, that in many cultures, in simple casual conversations with friends or family, whenever someone shows a specific characteristic in their behaviour, we can hear people say “Oh, he’s just Choleric. Don’t mind, it’s how he is, don’t take it personally”.
So after so many years listening to these comments, I figured it was time to explore even further the origins of this theory and where it came from, to have a clear definition of the temperaments and to understand the different personality traits that come with each of the four temperaments. So here we are.
What is the Four Temperaments Theory about?
It is an old theory that is based in the understanding that there are essentially four temperaments in people, thus, basically four main personalities traits.
These four types of temperaments explain why some people are quieter and calmer, while others are livelier and more talkative.
It shown in all facets of people’s lives, in our reactions to situations, the way we walk and talk, and even the way we physically look. The temperaments are the reflection of ourselves, how we behave and how we move around in the world.
Back in the 18th-century, these images were widespread, illustrating how the four different temperaments reflected themselves in the faces of people.
18th century depiction of the four temperaments
This also connects us to another theory, about physiognomy. A theory that tell us that our physical appearance is also connected to our personality and our ways of being. The physiognomy theory also dates back to ancient Greece. Because ultimately, what are we but a whole – we are body, mind and spirit. Our body is a reflection of ourselves. (Although this idea is not very much talked about these days and people still believe that somehow body is separate from our minds and spirit. Which then creates confusion around the whole idea of medicine, as if it is just the absence of disease (but this a topic for another day).
Who invented the Four Temperaments Theory?
Claudius Galenus (129-201 B.C), a philosopher, doctor and surgeon, based his four temperaments theory on previous discoveries of an ancient Greek theory of the humours, with the roots of this theory based on an ancient medical concept named humorism, originated by Empedocles (495-435 B.C), who acknowledged that there were four basic and universal elements – air, water, earth, fire – that could explain the existence of all known substances (read the 1st part of the story of this segment about the theory of the four universal elements by Empedocles).
The four temperaments theory was initially a medical concept, because Empedocles was a doctor and an physics enthusiast, and these theories were used primarily in medicine, to heal people.
Within this concept, came another Greek doctor that incorporated the four elements theory with his own findings. His name was Hippocrates (460 – 370 B.C) and he used Empedocles’ theory of the four elements of all substances, into an understanding that diseases had something to do with a “dis-balance” of one of the four humours, as he believed that the qualities of the four elements were translated in our body fluids (the 2nd part of the story of this segment about the theory of the four universal elements of Hippocrates will be coming very soon, stay tuned).
Who was Claudius Galenus?
Glaudius Galenus, or Galen, was a man from Greek origins living back then in ancient Greece, in the region of today’s Turkey, in Pergamo. He was the son of a known architect, Aelius Nicon (if you want to look him up).
Because he was lucky, he could travel and get an education for himself, and after learning some things, he established himself as a doctor in Rome and even served some important people there at the time, like Marcus Aurelius, the Emperor, and others of the time.
Meet the man himself, Galenus.
At the time, the theory of the four elements was pretty much everywhere, and since Galenus had a background in medicine and as he was practicing it, he not only realized that Hippocrates’s theory about the qualities of the four basic and universal elements were reflected in our own body fluids was right, he also understood something else, that people’s personality was also influenced by those humours.
Before Galenus appeared in the scene, Hippocrates attributed names for those reflecting qualities of the four elements (they were the “humours”) – sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic and choleric – (the 2nd part of the story of this segment about the theory of the four universal elements connected with the humours, by Hippocrates, will be coming very soon, stay tuned).
Differences between Hippocrates’s and Galenus’s theories
It can be a bit confusing to understand who discovered what. So it’s important to draw the lines between these two different discoveries so there is no confusion about who discovered what and what theory is who’s.
Galenus looked at the two theories that came before him and thought to himself that he had his own understanding of them, focusing on the psychological understanding rather than only on the medical one.
Hippocrates, considered the father of medicine, developed his medical concept of the elements and their qualities in human fluids, but Galenus applied that concept to a different understanding, suggesting that not only Hippocrates’ theory was true, but that the predominance of those fluids explained the differences in personality among people.
Galenus therefore linked the two theories that came before him: the understanding of the four basic elements of nature (by Empedocles) with the four qualities of the humours in the body fluids (Hippocrates), joining them together to create the understanding of the human personality.
Order of appearance in history:
- Empedocles (495 – 430 B.C) – A founder of the theory of the four basic elements that explains all existing substances.
- Hippocrates (460- 370 B.C) – the father of medicine, created a medical model based on the four fluids or humours that were believed to be found in the body, based on the theory of the four elements of Empedocles
- Claudius Galenus (129 – 210 B.C)
- – created his theory of the 4 personalities based on the previous theories, of the four humours by Hippocrates, and the theory of the four elements by Empedocles.
What is this theory of the four temperaments or four personalities about?
Galenus had a background in medicine and he stumbled across his own understanding about a new theory that linked his previous knowledge about medicine from Hippocrates and Empedocles. Hippocrates gave four designations for the reflecting qualities that people showed in their body fluids – they were the “humours” – sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic and choleric (the 2nd part of the story of this segment about the theory of the four universal elements connected with the humours, by Hippocrates, will be coming very soon, stay tuned).
So Galenus incorporated this idea of the fluids in his own idea that those were directly linked with the emotional, temperamental or behavioral inclinations of a person. This way, for instance, if a person was more energetic, cheerful and confident, it was because of the excess of blood, which meant that it was a sanguine (“sanguis” meant “blood”).
(This information has a bit of background, if you want to better understand the whole thing – link to Empedocles‘s and Hippocrates’s theories)
Yellow Bile – Air Element – Hot and Dry – Choleric Personality
Black Bile – Earth Element – Cold and Dry – Melancholic Personality
Phlegm – Water Element – Cold and Moist – Phlegmatic Personality
Blood – Fire Element – Hot and Moist – Sanguine Personality
This is part of the Grande Commande, Les Quatre temperaments (The Four Temperaments)
Fun fact about this image: Louis XIV, the Sun King, ordered to place these four statues in the Versailles palace as part of a whole bunch of others, called Grande Commande, to show his magnificence, of course. The main idea of all of this was the symbolic element of number four, present in multiple aspects of life.
Characteristics and Definition of The Four Temperaments
Choleric Types – Air, Cold and Dry
A choleric (“kholéra” in Greek, today “colera” in Italian and Portuguese, means excess of fury, anger) type of person is hot-tempered, fiery, due to the excess of yellow bile (“kholé”, in Greek), energetic and passionate.
Fun fact: Colera is also the name of a disease, an infectious and epidemic disease, from asiatic origins, caused by the bacteria Vibrio Cholerae. Its symptoms are constant diarrea, intense vomiting, and general indisposition. People die from it, due to the loss of liquids, victims of toxins in the blood and cardiacal stops. The main cause of it is due to bad sanitation and good hygiene. It can be prevented drinking potable water, washing and cooking the food properly. Melancholic Types – Earth, Cold and DryA Melancholic person suffers from excess of black bile (“melan” meaning black, “kholé” meaning “bile” in Greek) and has inclinations for poetic and artistic pursuits, is more prone to depression, has frequent sadness and fear feelings. Phlegmatic Types – Water, Cold and MoistA phlegmatic person is a person with excess of phlegma (meaning “flame” in Greek), has a sluggish disposition, is amicable, tranquil, shy, rational, constant and slow. Sanguine Types – Fire, Hot and MoistA sanguine type of person (in Latin, “sanguis”, meaning “blood”) has too much blood, and is cordial, joyful, optimistic and self-assured and can be egoistical. After Galenus’s discovery, up until the Renaissance, it was believed that a person’s health and overall state of mind was due to the presence of these qualities of the elements that were present in the body fluids.
Disequilibrium of the Humours
Galenus found that there was a pattern, that the type of personality a person had and the tendency for certain diseases came according to the equilibrium or the disequilibrium of the humours. If one of the humours was in excess in a person, then the according type of personality would predominate. Galenus believed that problems with temperament were due to the disequilibrium of the humours, so a person could treat those problems with special diet and exercise (as he was a doctor). For example, if a person expressed egoistical behaviours, it was due to excess of blood, so the solution would be to reduce the consumption of meat or to practice bloodletting – which is a medical practice used to prevent or cure illnesses and disease – to release a little blood from the body. Because again, humoral balance was needed to be healthy. If the opposite symptoms were present, Galenus would either give an emetic to induce vomiting, or a diuretic to induce urination. Fun fact: the popularity of bloodletting in the classical Mediterranean world was reinforced by the ideas of Galenus, after he discovered that not only veins but also arteries were filled with blood, not air, as was commonly believed at the time. In fact, Galenus had made enormous contributions to medicine that lasted for centuries. His teachings had dominated European medicine up until the Renaissance, when scholars started to dispute those old theories. Galen was a very important figure in our history. He was the first that identified the difference between veins and arteries, and he disputed a 400-year-old theory that said that arteries conveyed air, not blood. 
480-470 B.C. This is an ancient greek painting on a vase showing that bloodletting technique
This is a picture of the bloodletting points, dating back to 1517 by Hans von Gersdorff, proof that bloodletting had been used after the ancient times.
Galenus’s theory of the four temperaments later in history
As you can observe in these images, Galenus’s theory prevailed till the Renaissance time, but then it started to lose authority due to more advanced studies. In Italy, in 1543, the physician Andreas Vesalius found more than 200 errors in the anatomical descriptions of Galenus’s studies. This is because at the time of Galenus, physicians mainly studied anatomy through animals, as it was believed that people had the same anatomy as animals. Because at the time dissections and vivisections on humans were strictly prohibited. However, the theory of the four temperaments still had an influence in the later centuries, as psychology emerged from philosophy and separated into a more defined separation than all the centuries before. For instance, in 1879 Wilhem Wundt claimed that the temperaments would evolve themselves into different proportions across two axes: immortality and emotion. Later, in 1947, Hans Eysenck concluded that temperaments had a biological base, and as he discovered the 2 dimensions of personality – neuroticism and extroversion -, he understood that the theory that dated back 2000 years, was still relevant.
Many today used theories use this notion, in Ayuvedic Medicine, in Iranian culture to name just a few.
Important Books Claudius Galenus wrote:
Claudius Galenus wrote many books, and some of his most important books were:
- 190 B.C On Temperaments
- 190 B.C On the Natural Faculties
- 190 B.C Three Treatises on the Nature of Science
***If you are curious to understand the full story on a deeper level, you may then need to know that this post is part of a story, namely, this is the 4th part of the whole story that involves the science and evolution around the theory of temperaments, the four elements and the four humours. I have separated all the different findings in history about this topic from the first discoveries to all the other ones that came after around, so it would be clear where we are now and where we were before, so we can know how we evolved, how different people discovered different things around this theory and how everything is interrelated and what changed after all these centuries.
- link to the 1st part of the story – Empedocles (495 – 430 B.C)
- the 4th story is the one you just read – Claudius Galenus (129 – 210 B.C)
More links to come.
Overview to the Theory of the Four Temperaments, The Four different Personalities Definition
Have you heard about this theory before? Maybe just once in your life? This theory is very much talked about all around the globe. Which is absolutely amazing to see how could that be.
The theory of the four personalities or the four temperaments is a highly popular theory that has somehow prevailed through time, and even after 2400 years, from ancient Greece till today, we still use it, people still mention it. Funny, uh? And we say those far back dark ages are far below us now and that we are much more superior today than the people that lived before us. Not so much, apparently. Just take a look at all the books about this topic being published and republished.
It is so well known that even in the small context of friends, whenever someone showed some specific characteristics in their behavior, I would hear someone sometimes say “Oh, he’s just so Choleric. Don’t mind, it’s how he is, don’t take it personally”. After so many years listening to these comments, I figured it was time to explore even further the origins of this theory and where it came from, in order to have a clear definition of the temperaments or personalities and to understand the different personalities traits that come with each of the four temperaments. So here we are.
What is this Four Temperaments or Four Personalities Theory about?
This is an old (but gold) theory that is based in the understanding that there are essentially four temperaments or four personalities in people, thus, four different personalities traits according to the four temperaments. These four types of temperaments explain why some are more quiet and calm, while others are more fiery and talkative all the time. It is not only shown in personality, but also in our general behavior, reactions, the way we walk, the way we look physically. The temperaments are the reflection of ourselves, how we behave and how we are in this world.
There are these widespread images, that date back to the 18th-century that illustrate how the four different temperaments reflect themselves in the faces of the people.
18th century depiction of the four temperaments
Which then reminds me of another theory, about physiognomy, a theory that our physical appearance is also connected to our personality, our ways of being. This physiognomy theory also dates back to ancient Greece. Because, well, ultimately, what are we but a whole – we are body, mind and spirit. Our body is a reflection of ourselves. Although this idea is not very much talked about these days and people still believe that somehow body is separate from our minds and spirit. Which then creates confusion around the whole idea of medicine, as if it is just the absence of disease (but this a topic for another day).
The theory of the four temperaments or the four personalities has been written and re-written throughout history, so it can sometimes be hard to trace back to its origin, and this is why this post was born, to create a definition for the personalities or temperaments that would also explain its ancient origins.
Overview and Definition of The Four Temperaments Theory or Four Personalities
Claudius Galenus (129-201 B.C), a philosopher, doctor and surgeon, created his theory of the four personalities or four temperaments, which was based on previous discoveries of an ancient Greek theory of the humours, and the roots of that theory about the humours was within an ancient medical concept named humorism, the concept had its origin with Empedocles (495-435 B.C), who acknowledged that there were four basic and universal elements – air, water, earth, fire – that could explain the existence of all known substances – read the 1st part of the story of this segment about the theory of the four universal elements by Empedocles. It was firstly a medical concept because Empedocles was a doctor and an physics enthusiast and these theories were used primarily in medicine, to heal people.
Within this concept, came another Greek doctor that incorporated the four elements theory with his own findings, his name was Hippocrates (460 – 370 B.C) and he used Empedocles’ theory of the four elements of all substances, into an understanding that diseases had something to do with a dis-balance of one of the four humours, as he believed that the qualities of the four elements were translated in our body fluids (the 2nd part of the story of this segment about the theory of the four universal elements of Hippocrates will be coming very soon, stay tuned).
So, who was behind the Four Temperaments or Four Personalities Theory?
Galeno, Claudio Galeno. Or Glaudius Galenus, or Galen. This man from Greek origins was living back then in ancient Greece, in the region of today’s Turkey, in Pergamo. He was the son of a known architect, Aelius Nicon (if you want to look him up). Because he was lucky, he could travel and get an education for himself, and after learning some things, he established himself as a doctor in Rome and actually served some important people there at the time, like Marcus Aurelius, the Emperor, and other famous celebrities of the time.
Meet the man himself, Galenus.
At the time, the theory of the four elements was pretty much everywhere, and as Galenus had a background in medicine and as he was practicing it, he not only realized that Hippocrates’s theory about the qualities of the four basic and universal elements were reflected in our own body fluids was right, but also, he understood something else, that people’s personality was also influenced by those humours.
Before Galenus appeared in the scene, Hippocrates attributed names for those reflecting qualities of the four elements (they were the “humours” – sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic and choleric – (the 2nd part of the story of this segment about the theory of the four universal elements connected with the humours, by Hippocrates, will be coming very soon, stay tuned).
Main Differences between Hippocrates’s and Galenus’s theories
It can be a bit confusing to understand who discovered what. So it’s important to draw the lines between these two different discoveries so there is no confusion about who discovered what and what theory is who’s.
Galenus looked at the two theories that came before him, and thought to himself that he had his own understanding. While Hippocrates, considered the father of medicine, developed his medical concept of the elements and its qualities on human fluids, Galenus applied it into a different understanding, that not only Hippocrates’s theory was true, but also that the predominance of those fluids was the reason why people had different personalities, a more psychological understanding rather than only a medical one. Galenus therefore linked the two theories that came before him: the understanding of the four basic elements of nature (by Empedocles) with the four qualities of the humours in the body fluids (Hippocrates), and joined them together to create the understanding of the human personality.
Order of appearance in history:
- Empedocles (495 – 430 B.C) – known to be the founder of the theory of the four basic elements that could explain the existence of all existing substances.
- Hippocrates (460- 370 B.C) – the father of medicine, created a medical model based on the four fluids or humours that were believed to be found in the body, based on the theory of the four elements of Empedocles
- Claudius Galenus (129 – 210 B.C) – created his theory of the 4 personalities based on the previous theories, of the four humours by Hippocrates, and the theory of the four elements by Empedocles.
What is this theory of the four temperaments or four personalities about?
Galenus had a background in medicine and he stumbled across his own understanding about a new theory that linked his previous knowledge about medicine from Hippocrates and Empedocles. Hippocrates gave four designations for the reflecting qualities that people showed in their body fluids – they were the “humours” – sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic and choleric (the 2nd part of the story of this segment about the theory of the four universal elements connected with the humours, by Hippocrates, will be coming very soon, stay tuned).
So Galenus incorporated this idea of the fluids in his own idea that those were directly linked with the emotional, temperamental or behavioral inclinations of a person. This way, for instance, if a person was more energetic, cheerful and confident, it was because of the excess of blood, which meant that it was a sanguine (“sanguis” meant “blood”).
(This information has a bit of background, if you want to better understand the whole thing – link to Empedocles‘s and Hippocrates’s theories)
Yellow Bile – Air Element – Hot and Dry – Choleric Personality
Black Bile – Earth Element – Cold and Dry – Melancholic Personality
Phlegm – Water Element – Cold and Moist – Phlegmatic Personality
Blood – Fire Element – Hot and Moist – Sanguine Personality
This is part of the Grande Commande, Les Quatre temperaments (The Four Temperaments)
Fun fact about this image: Louis XIV, the Sun King, ordered to place these four statues in the Versailles palace as part of a whole bunch of others, called Grande Commande, to show his magnificence, of course. The main idea of all of this was the symbolic element of number four, present in multiple aspects of life.
Characteristics and Definition of The Four Temperaments
Choleric Types – Air, Cold and Dry
A choleric (“kholéra” in Greek, today “colera” in Italian and Portuguese, means excess of fury, anger) type of person is hot-tempered, fiery, due to the excess of yellow bile (“kholé”, in Greek), energetic and passionate.
Fun fact: Colera is also the name of a disease, an infectious and epidemic disease, from asiatic origins, caused by the bacteria Vibrio Cholerae. Its symptoms are constant diarrea, intense vomiting, and general indisposition. People die from it, due to the loss of liquids, victims of toxins in the blood and cardiacal stops. The main cause of it is due to bad sanitation and good hygiene. It can be prevented drinking potable water, washing and cooking the food properly. Melancholic Types – Earth, Cold and DryA Melancholic person suffers from excess of black bile (“melan” meaning black, “kholé” meaning “bile” in Greek) and has inclinations for poetic and artistic pursuits, is more prone to depression, has frequent sadness and fear feelings. Phlegmatic Types – Water, Cold and MoistA phlegmatic person is a person with excess of phlegma (meaning “flame” in Greek), has a sluggish disposition, is amicable, tranquil, shy, rational, constant and slow. Sanguine Types – Fire, Hot and MoistA sanguine type of person (in Latin, “sanguis”, meaning “blood”) has too much blood, and is cordial, joyful, optimistic and self-assured and can be egoistical. After Galenus’s discovery, up until the Renaissance, it was believed that a person’s health and overall state of mind was due to the presence of these qualities of the elements that were present in the body fluids.
Disequilibrium of the Humours
Galenus found that there was a pattern, that the type of personality a person had and the tendency for certain diseases came according to the equilibrium or the disequilibrium of the humours. If one of the humours was in excess in a person, then the according type of personality would predominate. Galenus believed that problems with temperament were due to the disequilibrium of the humours, so a person could treat those problems with special diet and exercise (as he was a doctor). For example, if a person expressed egoistical behaviours, it was due to excess of blood, so the solution would be to reduce the consumption of meat or to practice bloodletting – which is a medical practice used to prevent or cure illnesses and disease – to release a little blood from the body. Because again, humoral balance was needed to be healthy. If the opposite symptoms were present, Galenus would either give an emetic to induce vomiting, or a diuretic to induce urination. Fun fact: the popularity of bloodletting in the classical Mediterranean world was reinforced by the ideas of Galenus, after he discovered that not only veins but also arteries were filled with blood, not air, as was commonly believed at the time. In fact, Galenus had made enormous contributions to medicine that lasted for centuries. His teachings had dominated European medicine up until the Renaissance, when scholars started to dispute those old theories. Galen was a very important figure in our history. He was the first that identified the difference between veins and arteries, and he disputed a 400-year-old theory that said that arteries conveyed air, not blood.
480-470 B.C. This is an ancient greek painting on a vase showing that bloodletting technique
This is a picture of the bloodletting points, dating back to 1517 by Hans von Gersdorff, proof that bloodletting had been used after the ancient times.
Galenus’s theory of the four temperaments later in history
As you can observe in these images, Galenus’s theory prevailed till the Renaissance time, but then it started to lose authority due to more advanced studies. In Italy, in 1543, the physician Andreas Vesalius found more than 200 errors in the anatomical descriptions of Galenus’s studies. This is because at the time of Galenus, physicians mainly studied anatomy through animals, as it was believed that people had the same anatomy as animals. Because at the time dissections and vivisections on humans were strictly prohibited. However, the theory of the four temperaments still had an influence in the later centuries, as psychology emerged from philosophy and separated into a more defined separation than all the centuries before. For instance, in 1879 Wilhem Wundt claimed that the temperaments would evolve themselves into different proportions across two axes: immortality and emotion. Later, in 1947, Hans Eysenck concluded that temperaments had a biological base, and as he discovered the 2 dimensions of personality – neuroticism and extroversion -, he understood that the theory that dated back 2000 years, was still relevant.
Many today used theories use this notion, in Ayuvedic Medicine, in Iranian culture to name just a few.
Important Books Claudius Galenus wrote:
Claudius Galenus wrote many books, and some of his most important books were:
- 190 B.C On Temperaments
- 190 B.C On the Natural Faculties
- 190 B.C Three Treatises on the Nature of Science
***If you are curious to understand the full story on a deeper level, you may then need to know that this post is part of a story, namely, this is the 4th part of the whole story that involves the science and evolution around the theory of temperaments, the four elements and the four humours. I have separated all the different findings in history about this topic from the first discoveries to all the other ones that came after around, so it would be clear where we are now and where we were before, so we can know how we evolved, how different people discovered different things around this theory and how everything is interrelated and what changed after all these centuries.
- link to the 1st part of the story – Empedocles (495 – 430 B.C)
- the 4th story is the one you just read – Claudius Galenus (129 – 210 B.C)
More links to come.
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