Illustration of the five Platonic solids by 16th century German mathematician and artist Augustin Hirschvogel. These solids are: tetrahedron (triangular pyramid), hexahedron (cube), dodecahedron, octahedron and icosahedron. In ancient Greece, these perfect shapes represented the five natural elements thought to make up the universe; water, aether (or ether) air, earth and fire. In 16th century Germany, a fifth element, heaven, was added and represented by the dodecahedron. In this illustration, Hirschvogel also links the latin alphabet vowels A,E,I,O and U to the five solids and elements. Published in the booklet A True and Thorough Instruction in Geometry, 1543.