The Creation of Soul by the Demiurge

Plato is here assuming something that will become familiar in aristotle and most other ancient thinkers. The four elements mix together but tend towards being arranged in layers, with solid earth settling at the mid point of the spherical universe. As for the heavenly bodies, they cannot be observed up close, but timaeus says that they too are compounded out of the elements. He adds that their regular motions create time like a cosmic clock. This is explained by means of a detailed analysis of geometrical ratios.