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Critias (dialogue), by Plato
The history of Atlantis started with Plato and his dialogue Critias. He claimed that Critias tells a true story about a war between Athens and Atlantis. Plato was born between 428 and 423 B.C.E. He was well educated in the arts and sciences and he dedicated his life to teaching. Plato developed his own philosophy and his own way of teaching and learning. He also produced manuscripts called dialogues. He started a school for higher learning called the Platonic Academy. He collected dialogues, kept then in his library, and used them to teach various subjects. Over thirty of his dialogues survived and are still being used today. Plato founded the Academy in 385 B.C.E and brought together the great thinkers of Greece. He produced the dialogue, Critias, at the Academy and kept it in the library. The story of Atlantis was in that dialogue.

People of Plato’s Dialogue

Plato, Critias, Hermocrates (dialogue), Timaeus (dialogue), and Socrates were in the dialogue. During a discussion at the Academy, the story of Atlantis came up and they spoke of it as a myth. Critias told Plato that it was not a myth but a true story and was part of Athen’s history. Critias said that he had to memorize and present it during special occasions when he was a child. Critias told Plato more about the story and Plato’s invited him to give a presentation at the Academy. Critias agreed to tell the story with an understanding that he might have trouble recalling some of the details the way they were written in the manuscript. They held discussions leading up to the telling of the story. Story of Atlantis

The story of Atlantis was part of a larger story about the history of Athens. Critias had gotten the story from someone believed to be his grandfather who was also named Critias. Grandfather Critias go it from, Solon or one of Solon’s relatives. Solon wrote the manuscript, which was handed down from relative to relative until Plato recorded and published the story. However, Plato did not record the story from the original manuscript because Critias did not have it with him when he told the story. Critias was the last one to see the original manuscript. We know all of the above information because Plato included it in the dialogue.

About the Dialogue

According to Plato’s dialogue, as Critias told the story, it was recorded. When Plato, recorded the story, his goal was to recapture history about Greece that was lost. Critias got the manuscript from his relative, Critias. Plato recorded the story the way it was told. As you read this article, keep in mind that Plato did not have maps to reference while writing the story. There was also a problem with translation. Solon, the original author, copied the story from the walls of a temple in Egypt and translated it from Egyptian to Greek.

Critias had memoized the story at age twelve. By the time he gave his presentation, some of the terms in the language had changed. This made it difficult to describe the location and geography regarding Atlantis without mistakes. Also, there were assumptions that the story-tellers used to explain things unknown to them. For instance, they assumed that the continent of Atlantis had sunk because of debris left over from earthquakes. Although thousands of books and articles (both positive and negative), have been written about Atlantis, Plato’s dialogue, Critias, is still the main source regarding the existence and location of the lost city. Researchers can match the story to the geography and the present day terrain.

Benjamin Jowett Translated the Dialogue
Benjamin Jowett was the first person to translated Critias from Greek to English. It took him over ten years to complete the task. He published it in 1871. This translation by Jowett is in the public domain as Critias. Since Jowett’s translation, many other scholars have translated and published their version of Atlantis. Those translations are protected by copyright.

Ignatius L. Donnelly, Atlantis: The Antediluvian World
Ignatius L. Donnelly wrote the book, Atlantis: The Antediluvian World. Starting with chapter one, he came up with thirteen propositions to explain the purpose of the book. He was trying to prove several things with those propositions. A brief summary of some of them are listed below. See Atlantis: The Antediluvian World to read all thirteen propositions.

He was trying to prove that somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean was the remains of a continent called Atlantis, that what Plato’s claimed about the island was true, that Atlantis established the first real civilization, and that the overflowings shores of the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi River, the Amazon, the Pacific coast of South America, the Mediterranean, the west coast of Europe and Africa, the Baltic, the Black Sea, and the Caspian were populated by civilized nations during the time of Atlantis.

Lewis Spence, The History of Atlantis
Lewis Spence wrote a book called, The History of Atlantis. In this book, Spence tried to prove the existence of Atlantis using scientific measures. You can see from the contents page of his book that he was using a scientific approach to understanding the mystery.

The History of Atlantis Contents Page:

Preface Introductory The Sources Of Atlantean History I: The Writings Of Plato The Sources Of Atlantean History Ii: From The Fourth Century B.C. Atlantean Historical Sources Examined The Geography Of Atlantis The Races Of Atlantis The Stone Age In Atlantis The Kings Of Atlantis Atlantis In Britain The Traditions Of Atlantis Life In Atlantis The Atlantean State And Polity The Religion Of Atlantis Animal Life In Atlantis The Colonies Of Atlantis The Atlantean Culture Complex

Rand Flem-Ath, When the Sky Fell: In Search of Atlantis
When Rand Flem-Ath published his book in December of 1997, it received good reviews. He convinced some people that about 12,000 years ago some parts of Antarctica were free of ice and that one of those areas was called Atlantis. This book was well researched and provided a new theory about the location of Atlantis.

Colin Wilson, From Atlantis to the Sphinx
Colin Wilson wrote this book, which is based on true facts. He talks about things that probably happened thousands of years before recorded history. Wilson believes there was an Atlantis civilization whose ships traveled the world from China to the Americas. He also claimed that Atlantis was not a small island that sank, but was a great civilization that either declined naturally or was destroyed by a great catastrophe.

Ignatius L. Donnelly, The Destruction of Atlantis: Ragnarok, or the Age of Fire and Gravel
Donnelly also wrote and published this book in the 1800s and gave it a modern-day scientific theme. He believed that a comet struck the Earth during ancient times and created the catastrophic event that destroyed Atlantis. This was an interesting theory that many people thought could be true given what we know about comets striking the earth. Donnelly supports this theory with geological, archeological, and astronomical evidence.

Colin Wilson, The Atlantis Blueprint: Unlocking the Ancient Mysteries of a Long-Lost Civilization
Colin Wilson and Rand Flem-Ath teemed up to write this book. They claim that the Great Pyramids, Stonehenge, Machu Picchu, are all related to Atlantis in History and its culture.

Mark Adams, Meet Me in Atlantis: My Obsessive Quest to Find the Sunken City
This book was written by Mark Adams. Adams has searched the globe trying to find out why people are so fascinated by Atlantis. He also studied many different theories trying to determine if they can be proven true or false. The result of his research is included in his book. He claims that during the process or researching and writing the book, he realized that everything we know about the lost city of Atlantis comes from Plato.

Edgar Cayce, Edgar Cayce on Atlantis
This book is part of a series written by Edgar Edgar. In book, he talks about the mysteries of the lost continent. He also predicts where and when the small island of Atlantis will rise again.

Andrew Scott, Atlantis: The History and Legacy of the Ancient World’s Fabled Lost Island and Modern Searches for It
Andrew Scott wrote this book that includes pictures, ancient accounts describing Atlantis, online sources, and bibliographic information. He also goes over Plato’s story in great detail explaining the writings and terms.

George Erikson, Atlantis in America: Navigators of the Ancient World by Ivar Zapp
George Erikson wrote this book to presents evidence for a new theory. It establishes links between Meso-America, Egypt, and the Middle East. With this new theory, he claims that the stone spheres of Costa Rica and sighting stones throughout the Pacific were used to teach sea routes and constellation paths to ancient navigators.

L. Sprague de Camp, Lost Continents
L. Sprague de Camp wrote the Book called, Lost Continent. His sources included reports of expeditions that took place searching for Atlantis. The subtitle of his book is called “The Atlantis Theme in History, Science, and Literature.” A few of his chapters titles are listed below: The Story of Atlantis The Mayan Mysteries The Author of Atlantis By the time L. Sprague de Camp completed this book in 1954, about 2,000 books and articles had been written about Atlantis. Since that number has more that doubled.

Critias Told the Story
The following quote shows how Critias started off telling the story of Atlantis:

“Let me begin by observing first of all, that nine thousand was the sum of years which had elapsed since the war which was said to have taken place between those who dwelt outside the pillars of Heracles and all who dwelt within them; this war I am going to describe. Of the combatants on the one side, the city of Athens was reported to have been the leader and to have fought out the war; the combatants on the other side were commanded by the kings of Atlantis, which, as I was saying, was an island greater in extent than Libya and Asia, and when afterwards sunk by an earthquake, became an impassable barrier of mud to voyagers sailing from hence to any part of the ocean. The progress of the history will unfold the various nations of barbarians and families of Hellenes which then existed, as they successively appear on the scene; but I must describe first of all the Athenians of that day, and their enemies who fought with them, and then the respective powers and governments of the two kingdoms. Let us give the precedence to Athens.”

From this point onward, Critias gave his presentation of Athens first. After telling the history of Athens, he told the story of Atlantis. To find this story online, visit the Internet Classic Archive. The story of Atlantis is also available at other locations. The Analysis is not part of the story.

Note: Confusing Items to Look for When Reading the Story
Because of the passing of time, the way they talked and some of the language that Critias and Plato used can be confusing. Here is an explanation of how some of the terms might be confusing: Plato used the term “Atlantis” to refer to different things in different ways: the continent of Atlantis, the country of Atlantis, the plain of Atlantis, the city of Atlantis, the small island of Atlantis, and the royal city of Atlantis. The terms “hill” and “mountain” are use interchangeably when describing the city. The terms “continent” and “island” are used interchangeably when referring to Atlantis. The term “sea” is used for any body of water including moat, bay, or ocean. He used the term “boundless continent” when referring to two continents together. He used the term “whole continent” to refer to one continent by itself. He used the term “opposite continent” when referring to the continent next to the continent of Atlantis. The term “Strait of Gibraltar” is referred to as the pillows of Hercules. He described the river or canal that ran around the plain of Atlantis as a great ditch.

Other Books About Atlantis
Atlantis in popular culture Atlantean Chronicles Atlantis Found Attack from Atlantis Hermocrates (dialogue) Oera Linda Book Romance of Atlantis Timaeus (dialogue)