Plato And Atlantis

[Viggen]

What was Plato refering to when he wrote about Atlantis in Timaeus and Critias?

 

A real place? A fictional place? A synonym for a different place?

Where did he actually get this idea from?

 

just wondering...

 

cheers

viggen

[WotWotius]

It is my view that Plato was indeed referring to the island of Santorini's destruction by the eruption of a Volcano located at the centre of the island (the same eruption which single-handedly wiped out the Minoans on Create). Before this island of Minoan civilization collapsed into the Aegean, its structure almost fitted Plato's description of Atlantis: an island in the sea encircled by a strip of land. Additionally, the fact that the island collapsed into the sea could add to the theory of it being Atlantis.

 

Santorini's pre-eurption structure.

 

Modern day Santorini

 

Its just a theory, any views on it?

Edited August 6, 2006 by WotWotius

[Ursus]

Yeah, as the myth goes the Atlantians were at war with the Athenians. Since the Minoans probably exacted some sort of tribute over the mainland Greeks, the Atlanteans probably refer to the Minoans in their heyday.

 

 

What gets me is that the New Age crowd seems to think Atlantis has something to do with the Celts and King Arthur. How do you get that out of a Greco-Egyptian myth??

[Rameses the Great]

On the history channel it says that the Greeks got the myth of Atlantis from the Egyptians. The Egyptians called this land Kapichu. The Atlanteans needed it's ally Egypt for financial support so it lived on as a story. The Greeks heard of this, and reported it all over. Plato was said to be hiding in some kind of baquet and told about the story in his rendition.

 

Plato's Atlanits this gives you some in sight on the book mentioned above by Viggen.

[Uros]

If you want know about Atlantis reand(but is in Italian) the books of Frau "Inchiesta sulle colonne d'Ercole" and the photobook called "Il popolo di Bronzo"

They are very good and tell a new, amnd rigthfull place for Atlantis, the Island of Sardinia

[Pantagathus]

I though I had posted in this thread when Viggen first put it up but I guess better late then never...

 

One of the best books I read last year was Plato Prehistorian which makes some interesting arguments based on paleo- to neolithic archaeology that Platos time frame may have actually been right and that 'Atlantis' should be sought on the Iberian Peninsula during the stone age...

 

What set this book apart from most Atlantis stuff is that the hypothesis is framed around real archaeology. Like I said, it was a great read. A real paradigm shift in thinking.

[phil25]

I am open to other ideas on this but after fairly wide reading on the subject of Atlantis, I think Plato made it up "for arguments sake", or maybe as a jest!! He may have based it on odds and sods of knowledge. But seeking a factual basis would be to chase a Chimera.

 

Phil

[Pantagathus]

For the most part I agree with you Phil, but even with the Chimera, the goat, lion & reptile are all real animals...

[Gaius Paulinus Maximus]

I've also read that that another more likely place for Atlantis was the Azores Islands, these a a group of islands belonging to Portugal, some people believed that that the islands are the mountain tops of the sunken continent of Atlantis

 

The truth of the matter is that it was probably just a story made up by Plato, but what a story it's been, it's definately stood the test of time, and kept people thinking...... what if??

[Rameses the Great]

As Plato studied in Egypt, along with many early Greek philosopher's, could it have been possible he made it to be more of a fictional place? It was said the the Atlanteans and Egyptians were allies and in times of disaster they would turn to them for financial support. So could it have been possible that it was made fact by the Egyptians, and then made fictional by some misunderstanding?

[phil25]

But where, in surviving Egyptian records, is the slightest suggestion of Atlanteans? or the need for them to explain any aspect of Egyptian development?

 

Do I not recall another aspect of Plato's legend as being that Atlantis was at war with Athens when it was destroyed? Yet at that date Athens would not have been in a position to wage such a war - neither is there any evidence for it.

 

Phil

[Pantagathus]

Rameses, have you ever read the Timaeus & Critias dialogs for yourself?

 

"...the sum of years since the war occurred, as is recorded, between the dwellers beyond the pillars of Heracles (Atlanteans) and all that dwelt within them..."

[WotWotius]

It is my view that Plato was indeed referring to the island of Santorini's destruction by the eruption of a Volcano located at the centre of the island (the same eruption which single-handedly wiped out the Minoans on Create). Before this island of Minoan civilization collapsed into the Aegean, its structure almost fitted Plato's description of Atlantis: an island in the sea encircled by a strip of land. Additionally, the fact that the island collapsed into the sea could add to the theory of it being Atlantis.

 

Just to reiterate my point: if you believe the above thesis and believe that the Atlanteans could have possibly been Minoans, their apparent war with Athens may well have been a reference to a war between the Minoans and the Mycenaeans on the Greek mainland.

[Jerikagoddess]

It's a common misconception, but the Santorini caldera couldnt have been responsible, for many reasons. Mainly the timing. Plato states that it was nine thousand years before. They had good enough records back then to distinguish between 1000, and 10,000 years before. In addition, the myth already existed in Egyptian records LONG before the Santorini eruption. The location is wrong, as Plato, places Atlantis well outside the pillars of hercules (Straight of Gibraltar) and Santorini is definitly within. Atlantis is something of a hobby of mine, so I thought I'd put my 2 cents in.

 

 

It is my view that Plato was indeed referring to the island of Santorini's destruction by the eruption of a Volcano located at the centre of the island (the same eruption which single-handedly wiped out the Minoans on Create). Before this island of Minoan civilization collapsed into the Aegean, its structure almost fitted Plato's description of Atlantis: an island in the sea encircled by a strip of land. Additionally, the fact that the island collapsed into the sea could add to the theory of it being Atlantis.

 

Santorini's pre-eurption structure.

 

Modern day Santorini

 

Its just a theory, any views on it?

[Jerikagoddess]

While I dont know much about the Aurthurian connection to Atlantis (Outside the fiction of Marion Zimmer Bradley) Part of the mythology of Atlantis is that many of the survivors escaped the blast to settle in modern day england. Ancient Celtic Mythology DOES refer to settlers who could have been Atlanteans, but you have to dig to find them.

 

 

Yeah, as the myth goes the Atlantians were at war with the Athenians. Since the Minoans probably exacted some sort of tribute over the mainland Greeks, the Atlanteans probably refer to the Minoans in their heyday.

 

 

What gets me is that the New Age crowd seems to think Atlantis has something to do with the Celts and King Arthur. How do you get that out of a Greco-Egyptian myth??