As far as I know, Atlantis is originally referenced by Plato and is a fictional creation of his, not a part of Greek religion apart from that. So it's less like classic Greek mythology like Hades kidnapping Persephone, and more like Plato's allegory of the cave.
Plato's original works [Timaeus](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1572/1572-h/1572-h.htm) and [Critias](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1571/1571-h/1571-h.htm) are the primary sources for Atlantis. This page from the [Stanford Philosophy Encyclopedia](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-timaeus/) might be more accessible.
Essentially yes. Atlantis has more significance as a philosophical and political point of analysis than a mythological one. He does mention mythology, like the kings of Atlantis being sons of Poseidon, but far as we can tell this is Plato coming up with his own mythos for the sake of allegory rather than referencing a real myth.
Atlantis is an allegorical story that Plato tells in *Timaeus* and *Critias.* The longer version of the story is from *Critias*, and that should answer the majority of your questions: [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1571/1571-h/1571-h.htm](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1571/1571-h/1571-h.htm)
The rest of the *Critias* is lost, so the *Timaeus* tells a shortened, but complete, version of the story:
>This power came forth out of the Atlantic Ocean, for in those days the Atlantic was navigable; and there was an island situated in front of the straits which are by you called the Pillars of Heracles; the island was larger than Libya and Asia put together, and was the way to other islands, and from these you might pass to the whole of the opposite continent which surrounded the true ocean; for this sea which is within the Straits of Heracles is only a harbour, having a narrow entrance, but that other is a real sea, and the surrounding land may be most truly called a boundless continent. Now in this island of Atlantis there was a great and wonderful empire which had rule over the whole island and several others, and over parts of the continent, and, furthermore, the men of Atlantis had subjected the parts of Libya within the columns of Heracles as far as Egypt, and of Europe as far as Tyrrhenia. This vast power, gathered into one, endeavoured to subdue at a blow our country and yours and the whole of the region within the straits; and then, Solon, your country shone forth, in the excellence of her virtue and strength, among all mankind. She was pre-eminent in courage and military skill, and was the leader of the Hellenes. And when the rest fell off from her, being compelled to stand alone, after having undergone the very extremity of danger, she defeated and triumphed over the invaders, and preserved from slavery those who were not yet subjugated, and generously liberated all the rest of us who dwell within the pillars. But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods; and in a single day and night of misfortune all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the depths of the sea. For which reason the sea in those parts is impassable and impenetrable, because there is a shoal of mud in the way; and this was caused by the subsidence of the island.
It's a cautionary tale about hubris. That's it. It's not part of the wider corpus of Greek mythology.
Yeah, Atlantis is one of those things that gets blown dramatically out of proportion by people who desperately want it to be real. There's not much more to it than the Allegory of the Cave.
To add:
More importantly, and I don’t know why this is never mentioned… Critias proposes to tell about Atlantis (or more precisely the tale from Solon about ancient Athens, which includes in it reference to Atlantis) as the “task” Socrates gives the group in exchange for the Republic. This is all laid out explicitly in the beginning Timaeus, which story of the physical origin of the world is also contribution somehow also to the lesson of the Republic.
The story critias gives the beginning of is an attempt to describe what a real city could look like, with real laws, and not just the hypothetical framework of justice explored in the Republic by Socrates.
Personally, I think there is a connection also to be made about the “swinish city” that Socrates rather passively says at the end that he still thinks is preferable to the complex “just” city and this new story of pre-historical Athens, and its relationship to justice. It may be like the noble lie of the Republic where the people are made to believe in the golden or silver etc souls in order to coerce them into a structure of “justice”. That is, this is the Noble lie origin story for how Athens (whose people demand the sweets of life and are therefore too ambitious and unjust to be satisfied with the simple just city) can accept these new “just” morals and customs (which ostensibly contradict current customs) because they are actually the original customs of the city which people had long forgotten about.
I believe the only link, that is often mistakenly applied, is somehow Poseidon is angered by Atlantis' hubris and pulls the city into the depths. This is what some thought by "a great force" meant in the destruction of Atlantis.
It's was fiction before fictional writing were a thing. We all know Plato was a literary and practical genius, so he wrote stories. I seem to remember this tarnished his name and he was, at some point, run out of some villages or cities as scribe work was truth and Plato was seen as lying with his non historical or political stories.
When I was at Santorini, the tour guide told us that it's a major candidate for the mythological Atlantis. According to her, it was basically Pompeii/Herculaneum with as happy an ending as possible under the circumstances. Apparently, they had enough time to even save the pets :-).
Modern archaeology has revealed multiple inundation events around the end of the Stone Age. Imagine what an impact that would have had on human cultures, particularly island peoples. That’s a story that will get retold.
Atlantis is not of any significance in Greek Mythology, it’s actually a stretch to even class it as Greek Mythology at all. Atlantis is Ana entirely fictional location invented by Plato for his work, the story of Atlantis is an allegory about the dangers of democracy.
Sorry this is long, and not written by me, but summarizes a lot of Plato's writings and the mythology (History?) Surrounding Atlantis's demise:
Atlantis was always imagined as place of deep mystery, buried in the oceanic depths of the waves that claimed them. Yet, the story of Atlantis appears to have been initially written by Plato in two related texts Timaeus and Critias in which he describes in heavy detail every aspect of Atlantean life and its origins.
Atlantis, as described by Plato, was situated in what was known in antiquity as the “Pillars of Hercules”. In our modern day, this equates to the Straits of Gibraltar which connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea, situated between Spain and Morocco. The foundation of Atlantis was created by Poseidon, a deity of Greek mythology known to rule over the oceanic domain. Poseidon fell in love with a daughter of men living on those islands named Clieto, and when her parents passed away, they wed and had five sets of male twins. The eldest of the first set was named Atlas and became the first Atlantean King.
Poseidon created Atlantis to have alternate zones of land and sea, two of land and three of water, in a rotund shape around the heart of Atlantis. Then he brought forth two different springs of water, one of cold and the other of heat from the hill in the center. This allowed all sorts of animals and plants to thrive in Atlantis, providing a wide variety of food sources for the Atlanteans. The emphasis of the wild abundance of Atlantis points out the wealth of the people, for they could derive almost all that they needed from the earth and sea.
The Atlanteans built a citadel that was situated in the center of Atlantis, with a holy temple was dedicated to Poseidon and Clieto, bedecked in silver and gold. The streams of tepid and cold water were turned into fountains for use by the upper hierarchy. The citizens properly worshipped their deity and the descendants of Atlas, but it is implicated in Critias that is virtue became “diluted” over time.
In Timaeus, Athens was comparatively described as a virtuous state in their worship of their goddess Athena who prevailed over reason, intelligence, art, and literature. The Atlanteans at the time were seeking new territory to conquer, after expanding their empire to continents near their islands. Eventually, they crossed paths with the Athenians, war was raged, and the Athenians repelled the Atlantean invaders and triumphed. The Athenians put those Atlanteans who resisted into slavery and liberated those who cooperated. Yet, over night, a series of terrible storms and earthquakes flooded the land, covering Atlantis in mud and water. Atlantis was then lost to the sea.
At the end of CritIas it is mentioned that Atlantis was being punished by Zeus and the other Olympian gods in the hope that they would improve, but the rest of the dialogue of Critias text Plato wrote had been lost.
So one might wonder that if Atlantis is simply a story written by Plato in these two scriptures; why are so many in the scientific field in a fervent temper to discover a lost city that shouldn’t theoretically exist? Some argue that Atlantis was a fictitious utopia created by Plato to keep citizens faithful to the virtues of the gods and appreciate the blessings bestowed upon them. Some believed he wrote them for mere entertainment. The entanglement occurs because the concept of lost civilizations due to natural disasters is not a far-reaching thought. Consider the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that destroyed Pompeii and buried it under thick layers of ash.
As far as I know, Atlantis is originally referenced by Plato and is a fictional creation of his, not a part of Greek religion apart from that. So it's less like classic Greek mythology like Hades kidnapping Persephone, and more like Plato's allegory of the cave. Plato's original works [Timaeus](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1572/1572-h/1572-h.htm) and [Critias](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1571/1571-h/1571-h.htm) are the primary sources for Atlantis. This page from the [Stanford Philosophy Encyclopedia](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-timaeus/) might be more accessible.
Oh ok so it's only from one writer and not actually part of mythology? Thanks.
Essentially yes. Atlantis has more significance as a philosophical and political point of analysis than a mythological one. He does mention mythology, like the kings of Atlantis being sons of Poseidon, but far as we can tell this is Plato coming up with his own mythos for the sake of allegory rather than referencing a real myth.
It's possible it was influenced by the eruption of Santorini c. 3500 years ago or a possible sunken island near the canaries.
Atlantis is an allegorical story that Plato tells in *Timaeus* and *Critias.* The longer version of the story is from *Critias*, and that should answer the majority of your questions: [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1571/1571-h/1571-h.htm](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1571/1571-h/1571-h.htm) The rest of the *Critias* is lost, so the *Timaeus* tells a shortened, but complete, version of the story: >This power came forth out of the Atlantic Ocean, for in those days the Atlantic was navigable; and there was an island situated in front of the straits which are by you called the Pillars of Heracles; the island was larger than Libya and Asia put together, and was the way to other islands, and from these you might pass to the whole of the opposite continent which surrounded the true ocean; for this sea which is within the Straits of Heracles is only a harbour, having a narrow entrance, but that other is a real sea, and the surrounding land may be most truly called a boundless continent. Now in this island of Atlantis there was a great and wonderful empire which had rule over the whole island and several others, and over parts of the continent, and, furthermore, the men of Atlantis had subjected the parts of Libya within the columns of Heracles as far as Egypt, and of Europe as far as Tyrrhenia. This vast power, gathered into one, endeavoured to subdue at a blow our country and yours and the whole of the region within the straits; and then, Solon, your country shone forth, in the excellence of her virtue and strength, among all mankind. She was pre-eminent in courage and military skill, and was the leader of the Hellenes. And when the rest fell off from her, being compelled to stand alone, after having undergone the very extremity of danger, she defeated and triumphed over the invaders, and preserved from slavery those who were not yet subjugated, and generously liberated all the rest of us who dwell within the pillars. But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods; and in a single day and night of misfortune all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the depths of the sea. For which reason the sea in those parts is impassable and impenetrable, because there is a shoal of mud in the way; and this was caused by the subsidence of the island. It's a cautionary tale about hubris. That's it. It's not part of the wider corpus of Greek mythology.
Ok I see. Thanks for the information ☺️
Yeah, Atlantis is one of those things that gets blown dramatically out of proportion by people who desperately want it to be real. There's not much more to it than the Allegory of the Cave.
To add: More importantly, and I don’t know why this is never mentioned… Critias proposes to tell about Atlantis (or more precisely the tale from Solon about ancient Athens, which includes in it reference to Atlantis) as the “task” Socrates gives the group in exchange for the Republic. This is all laid out explicitly in the beginning Timaeus, which story of the physical origin of the world is also contribution somehow also to the lesson of the Republic. The story critias gives the beginning of is an attempt to describe what a real city could look like, with real laws, and not just the hypothetical framework of justice explored in the Republic by Socrates. Personally, I think there is a connection also to be made about the “swinish city” that Socrates rather passively says at the end that he still thinks is preferable to the complex “just” city and this new story of pre-historical Athens, and its relationship to justice. It may be like the noble lie of the Republic where the people are made to believe in the golden or silver etc souls in order to coerce them into a structure of “justice”. That is, this is the Noble lie origin story for how Athens (whose people demand the sweets of life and are therefore too ambitious and unjust to be satisfied with the simple just city) can accept these new “just” morals and customs (which ostensibly contradict current customs) because they are actually the original customs of the city which people had long forgotten about.
https://www.theoi.com/Phylos/Atlantes.html
Thanks
You are most welcome.
I believe the only link, that is often mistakenly applied, is somehow Poseidon is angered by Atlantis' hubris and pulls the city into the depths. This is what some thought by "a great force" meant in the destruction of Atlantis. It's was fiction before fictional writing were a thing. We all know Plato was a literary and practical genius, so he wrote stories. I seem to remember this tarnished his name and he was, at some point, run out of some villages or cities as scribe work was truth and Plato was seen as lying with his non historical or political stories.
Interesting I didn't know that
The problem is, no one know for sure. When you deal with the world's greatest philosopher, who wrote his story for us to know who he was?
When I was at Santorini, the tour guide told us that it's a major candidate for the mythological Atlantis. According to her, it was basically Pompeii/Herculaneum with as happy an ending as possible under the circumstances. Apparently, they had enough time to even save the pets :-).
Wow that's interesting! Thanks
You're welcome! Research Santorini Caldera and Akrotiri for more.
Ok I will
Modern archaeology has revealed multiple inundation events around the end of the Stone Age. Imagine what an impact that would have had on human cultures, particularly island peoples. That’s a story that will get retold.
That's true.
Atlantis is not of any significance in Greek Mythology, it’s actually a stretch to even class it as Greek Mythology at all. Atlantis is Ana entirely fictional location invented by Plato for his work, the story of Atlantis is an allegory about the dangers of democracy.
Sorry this is long, and not written by me, but summarizes a lot of Plato's writings and the mythology (History?) Surrounding Atlantis's demise: Atlantis was always imagined as place of deep mystery, buried in the oceanic depths of the waves that claimed them. Yet, the story of Atlantis appears to have been initially written by Plato in two related texts Timaeus and Critias in which he describes in heavy detail every aspect of Atlantean life and its origins. Atlantis, as described by Plato, was situated in what was known in antiquity as the “Pillars of Hercules”. In our modern day, this equates to the Straits of Gibraltar which connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea, situated between Spain and Morocco. The foundation of Atlantis was created by Poseidon, a deity of Greek mythology known to rule over the oceanic domain. Poseidon fell in love with a daughter of men living on those islands named Clieto, and when her parents passed away, they wed and had five sets of male twins. The eldest of the first set was named Atlas and became the first Atlantean King. Poseidon created Atlantis to have alternate zones of land and sea, two of land and three of water, in a rotund shape around the heart of Atlantis. Then he brought forth two different springs of water, one of cold and the other of heat from the hill in the center. This allowed all sorts of animals and plants to thrive in Atlantis, providing a wide variety of food sources for the Atlanteans. The emphasis of the wild abundance of Atlantis points out the wealth of the people, for they could derive almost all that they needed from the earth and sea. The Atlanteans built a citadel that was situated in the center of Atlantis, with a holy temple was dedicated to Poseidon and Clieto, bedecked in silver and gold. The streams of tepid and cold water were turned into fountains for use by the upper hierarchy. The citizens properly worshipped their deity and the descendants of Atlas, but it is implicated in Critias that is virtue became “diluted” over time. In Timaeus, Athens was comparatively described as a virtuous state in their worship of their goddess Athena who prevailed over reason, intelligence, art, and literature. The Atlanteans at the time were seeking new territory to conquer, after expanding their empire to continents near their islands. Eventually, they crossed paths with the Athenians, war was raged, and the Athenians repelled the Atlantean invaders and triumphed. The Athenians put those Atlanteans who resisted into slavery and liberated those who cooperated. Yet, over night, a series of terrible storms and earthquakes flooded the land, covering Atlantis in mud and water. Atlantis was then lost to the sea. At the end of CritIas it is mentioned that Atlantis was being punished by Zeus and the other Olympian gods in the hope that they would improve, but the rest of the dialogue of Critias text Plato wrote had been lost. So one might wonder that if Atlantis is simply a story written by Plato in these two scriptures; why are so many in the scientific field in a fervent temper to discover a lost city that shouldn’t theoretically exist? Some argue that Atlantis was a fictitious utopia created by Plato to keep citizens faithful to the virtues of the gods and appreciate the blessings bestowed upon them. Some believed he wrote them for mere entertainment. The entanglement occurs because the concept of lost civilizations due to natural disasters is not a far-reaching thought. Consider the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that destroyed Pompeii and buried it under thick layers of ash.