What is the story behind atlantis?

Question

What is the story behind atlantis?

Answer 1

Aristotle wrote that his teacher Plato invented it to teach a lesson. It was to be in three of Plato's "Dialogues", but it isn't finished. Many things about the story are suspicious. The time and place can't be real. Egyptian literature has no stories about anything like Atlantis. Geologists say such a continent couldn't sink in the Atlantic Ocean, as Plato says Atlantis did. The time is wrong too. Athens hadn't been built when this story is supposed to've happened, 13,000 B.C.

Answer 2

Plato wrote about an ancient lost island called Atlantis.

He states that the account was translated from the Egyptian by Solon. He also states that Critias (Plato's close relative) had Solon's original translation in his possession. If the original manuscript actually existed, Plato likely has access to it.

Plato locates it in the Atlantis Ocean just outside the "Pillars of Herakles" (today the Straits of Gibraltar).

He says it was a central plain with Mountains on the West, North, and East. The central plain of Atlantis is described as being 2000 x 3000 Greek stades in size; which equals about 79,212 US square miles (roughly the size of South Dakota).

Nowhere does he call it a Continent.

Nor does he say it sank in a single day and night.

What he says is that in a single day and night, the Greek army was swallowed by the Earth. He then says that "in the same manner" Atlantis was "swallowed by the sea." But nowhere does he indicate the two events happened at the same time.

Every theory I've seen on Atlantis is either based upon Plato or relies on him for at least some support. This makes Plato's writing the only clear common ground, among all interested parties, in discussions about Atlantis. Plato is the foundation upon which most Atlantean theories are based.

Strangely though, many people who discuss Atlantis (both skeptics and true believers) have never actually read the original account; which is actually quite short.

The account is found in Plato's Timaeus and Critias dialogues. The actual Atlantean sections of any book with Timaeus and Critias, are reasonably short. For example, in the Penguin classic edition, the complete dialogue of Timaeus is about 100 pages long, but the Atlantean section is only 8 pages long. Critias is only 17 pages long.

Linguistically, Plato's writings on Atlantis are reasonably straight forward. In nearly all cases, the meaning of the original Greek is clear enough.

As far as I am concerned, people should be free to choose to accept what Plato wrote, or to reject it. However, what I do have a problem with, is when people take what Plato actually said and twist it into what they claim he "meant" in an effort to adjust Plato to support their theory about Atlantis. They often do this just so they can then say "Plato supports my theory."

You can download a free, pdf copy of my "New Atlantis Reference Edition" from my website:

http://www.greekatlantis.org  

This edition contains Jowett's translation with aligned referencing, explanatory essays, and a comprehensive concordance.

Answer 3

The story of the Isle of Atlantis first occurs in Plato's two dialogues the "Timaeus" and the "Critias." Plato's story centers on Solon, a great Greek legislator and poet who journeyed to Egypt some 150 years earlier. While in the Egyptian city of Sais Solon received the story of Atlantis from priests. The priests respected Solon's reputation and cordially welcomed him. They also respected the Athenians, whom they regarded as kinsmen, because they believed their deity Neith to be the same deity as the Greeks called Athena. Therefore, she was believed to be the patroness and protector of both Greece and Egypt.