''Pneuma'' () is an

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...

word for "

breath Breathing (or ventilation) is the process of moving air into and from the lungs to facilitate gas exchange with the internal environment, mostly to flush out carbon dioxide and bring in oxygen. All aerobic creatures need oxygen for cellu ...

", and in a religious context for " spirit" or "

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest att ...

". It has various technical meanings for medical writers and philosophers of

classical antiquity Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...

, particularly in regard to physiology, and is also used in Greek translations of ''ruach'' רוח in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Greek New Testament. In classical philosophy, it is distinguishable from '' psyche'' (), which originally meant "breath of life", but is regularly translated as "spirit" or most often "

Classical antiquity

Presocratics

, "air in motion, breath, wind", is equivalent in the material monism of Anaximenes to (, "air") as the element from which all else originated. This usage is the earliest extant occurrence of the term in philosophy. A quotation from Anaximenes observes that "just as our soul (''psyche''), being air (), holds us together, so do breath () and air () encompass the whole world." In this early usage, and are synonymous.

Ancient Greek medical theory

ancient Greek medicine Ancient Greek medicine was a compilation of theories and practices that were constantly expanding through new ideologies and trials. Many components were considered in ancient Greek medicine, intertwining the spiritual with the physical. Specifi ...

, ''pneuma'' is the form of circulating air necessary for the systemic functioning of vital organs. It is the material that sustains

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...

in a body. According to Diocles and Praxagoras, the psychic pneuma mediates between the

heart The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as ca ...

, regarded as the seat of

Mind The mind is the set of faculties responsible for all mental phenomena. Often the term is also identified with the phenomena themselves. These faculties include thought, imagination, memory, will, and sensation. They are responsible for various m ...

in some

physiological Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemica ...

theories of ancient medicine, and the

brain A brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as Visual perception, vision. I ...

. The disciples of

Hippocrates Hippocrates of Kos (; grc-gre, Ἱπποκράτης ὁ Κῷος, Hippokrátēs ho Kôios; ), also known as Hippocrates II, was a Greek physician of the classical period who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history o ...

explained the maintenance of vital heat to be the function of the breath within the organism. Around 300 BC, Praxagoras discovered the distinction between the

arteries An artery (plural arteries) () is a blood vessel in humans and most animals that takes blood away from the heart to one or more parts of the body (tissues, lungs, brain etc.). Most arteries carry oxygenated blood; the two exceptions are the pu ...

and the

veins Veins are blood vessels in humans and most other animals that carry blood towards the heart. Most veins carry deoxygenated blood from the tissues back to the heart; exceptions are the pulmonary and umbilical veins, both of which carry oxygenated ...

, although close studies of vascular anatomy had been ongoing since at least Diogenes of Apollonia. In the corpse arteries are empty; hence, in the light of these preconceptions they were declared to be vessels for conveying ''pneuma'' to the different parts of the body. A generation afterwards,

Erasistratus Erasistratus (; grc-gre, Ἐρασίστρατος; c. 304 – c. 250 BC) was a Greek anatomist and royal physician under Seleucus I Nicator of Syria. Along with fellow physician Herophilus, he founded a school of anatomy in Alexandria, where th ...

made this the basis of a new theory of

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

s and their treatment. The ''pneuma'', inhaled from the outside air, rushes through the arteries till it reaches the various centres, especially the

and the

, and there causes thought and organic movement.

Aristotle

The "connate pneuma" (''symphuton pneuma'') of

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ...

is the warm mobile "air" that plays many roles in Aristotle's biological texts. It is in sperm and is responsible for transmitting the capacity for locomotion and certain sensations to the offspring. These movements derive from the soul of the parent and are embodied by the ''pneuma'' as a material substance in semen. ''Pneuma'' is necessary for life, and as in medical theory is involved with preserving the "vital heat," but some commentators think the Aristotelian ''pneuma'' is less precisely and thoroughly defined than that of the Stoics. Movement of Animals explains the activity of desire (''orexis'') as an expansion and contraction of ''pneuma.'' The innate spirit (''symphuton pneuma'') is the power of the soul (''psychiken'') to be mobile (''kinetikon'') and exercise strength. All animals "possess an inborn spirit (''pneuma sumphuton'') and exercise their strength in virtue of it." (703a10). This inborn spirit is used to explain desire (''orexis''), which is classified as the "central origin (''to meson''), which moves by being itself moved." (703a56). Aristotle furthers this idea of being a "middle cause" by furnishing the metaphor of the movement of the elbow, as it relates to the immobility of the shoulder (703a13). The inborn ''pneuma'' is, likewise, tethered to the soul, or as he says here, ''tēn'' ''arche tēn psuchikēn, "''the origin of the soul," the soul as the center of causality. This "spirit" is not the soul itself but a limb of the soul that helps it move. The inborn spirit causes movement in the body by expanding and contracting. Each of these implies not only a movement but also a change in the degree of power and strength of the animal. "when it contracts it is without force, and one and the same cause gives it force and enables it to thrust." (703a23). He also explained this in ''On Sleeping and Waking'' "In another place it has been laid down that sense-perception originates in the same part of an animal's body as movement does...In sanguineous animals this is the region about the heart; for all sanguineous animals possess a heart, and both movement and the dominant sense-perception originate there. As for movement, it is clear that breathing and in general the process of cooling takes its rise here, and that nature has supplied both breathing and the power of cooling by moisture with a view to the conservation of the heat in that part. We will discuss this later on. In bloodless animals and insects and creatures which do not respire, the naturally inherent breath is seen expanding and contraction in the part which corresponds to the heart in other animals." 456a1–13. "Since it is impossible to make any movement, or do any action without strength, and the holding of the breath produces strength" 456a17. Pneuma also played an important role in respiration. Respiration is the process by which breathing helps to cool and moderate the inner vital heat (''thermotēta psychikēs'') held in the heart. "We have said before that life and the possession of heat depend upon some degree of heat; for digestion, by which animals assimilate their food, cannot take place apart from the soul and heat; for all food is rendered digestible by fire." 474a25–27. Aristotle explains that if there is an excess of heat created in the heart the animal will "burn out" by excessively consuming the power sustaining its life (474b10–24). Its heat must be kindled (474b13) and in order to preserve (sōtērias) life, a cooling must take place (''katapsyxis'') (474b23).

Stoic ''pneuma''

In Stoic philosophy, ''pneuma'' is the concept of the "breath of life," a mixture of the elements air (in motion) and fire (as warmth). For the Stoics, ''pneuma'' is the active, generative principle that organizes both the individual and the

cosmos The cosmos (, ) is another name for the Universe. Using the word ''cosmos'' implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity. The cosmos, and understandings of the reasons for its existence and significance, are studied in ...

. In its highest form, ''pneuma'' constitutes the human soul (''psychê''), which is a fragment of the ''pneuma'' that is the soul of God (

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek relig ...

). As a force that structures

matter In classical physics and general chemistry, matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space by having volume. All everyday objects that can be touched are ultimately composed of atoms, which are made up of interacting subatomic part ...

, it exists even in inanimate objects. In the foreword to his 1964 translation of Marcus Aurelius' ''

Meditations ''Meditations'' () is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from AD 161 to 180, recording his private notes to himself and ideas on Stoic philosophy. Marcus Aurelius wrote the 12 books of the ''Meditations'' in Koine ...

'', Maxwell Staniforth writes:

Cleanthes Cleanthes (; grc-gre, Κλεάνθης; c. 330 BC – c. 230 BC), of Assos, was a Greek Stoic philosopher and boxer who was the successor to Zeno of Citium as the second head ('' scholarch'') of the Stoic school in Athens. Originally a boxe ...
, wishing to give more explicit meaning to Zeno's 'creative fire', had been the first to hit upon the term ''pneuma'', or 'spirit', to describe it. Like fire, this intelligent 'spirit' was imagined as a tenuous substance akin to a current of air or breath, but essentially possessing the quality of warmth; it was immanent in the universe as God, and in man as the soul and life-giving principle.

Christianity

''Pneuma'' is a common word for "spirit" in the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond t ...

and the Greek

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

. At John 3:5, for example, ''pneuma'' is the Greek word translated into English as "spirit": "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit (pneuma), he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." In some translations such as the King James version, however, ''pneuma'' is then translated as "wind" in verse eight, followed by the rendering "Spirit": "The wind (pneuma) bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit (pneuma)."

Philo Philo of Alexandria (; grc, Φίλων, Phílōn; he, יְדִידְיָה, Yəḏīḏyāh (Jedediah); ), also called Philo Judaeus, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt. Philo's de ...

, a 1st-century Hellenistic Jewish philosopher, commented on the use of , rather than , in the

translation of . Philo explains that, in his view, ''pneuma'' is for the light breathing of human men while the stronger ''pnoē'' was used for the divine Spirit.

References

External links

* {{wiktionary-inline, pneuma
about Soma and Pneuma
Concepts in ancient Greek metaphysics Vitalism New Testament Greek words and phrases