I have been researching Plato’s story about Atlantis in the dialogues Timaeus and Critias. The texts are located in an interesting book entitled “Plato Selected Myths.” It is in the Oxford World’s Classics library.
What I have learned or, perhaps, re-learned is that there are all kinds of interesting statement in the texts statements that make identifying Atlantis as any specific place quite difficult unless a person chooses to ignore those facts. For example, Plato states that there are elephants on Atlantis. Plato states: “In fact there were even large numbers of elephants there, because there was ample grazing for all creatures…but equally for this creature too, the largest and most voracious in the world.” Critias on 115a. People have seen elephants in the wild and they are, indeed, voracious eaters. In any case, a popular theory for the inspiration for Atlantis was the island of Santorini. It is certainly hard to imagine elephants on that island, even 9,000 years prior to Solon’s time!
This is just one of what can be considered ‘uncomfortable facts.’ And there are more. I just want to suggest that the subject matter of the dialogues was meant to be primarily about Athens and not Atlantis. What follows is a selection of quotes praising ancient Athens and some questions.
The story originally developed by Solon after a trip to Sais in Egypt was passed down to Critias in a recitation contest during the annual festival, the Panathenaea during which Athena, the patron deity of Athens, was celebrated.
When asked about the story of Solon that was passed down through his family Critias said:
“It was about our city’s most impressive achievement ever, one which deserves to be better known than any other, but time and the destruction of the people involved have prevented the story from surviving until now.” 22d
In the story itself, an Egyptian Priest (EP) says, “…in addition you are unaware that the finest and most heroic race in all humankind once existed in your land. You and all your current fellow citizens are the descendants of what little of their stock remained, but none of you realizes it, because for many generations the survivors died without leaving a written record. But in fact there was a time, Solon, before the greatest and most destructive flood, when the city which is now Athens not only excelled in warfare, but was also outstandingly well governed in all respects. The finest achievements and he finest political institutions we have ever heard of on earth are attributed to it.” 23b – d
This resulted in “…an even better system of government than ours and there was no people on earth which came close to you all-around excellence- which is hardly surprising since you were the offspring and the wards of gods.” 24d
This build-up of early Athens leads to the discussion of their greatest achievement. The EP says, “Our documents record how your city once halted an enormous force which was marching insolently against not just the whole of Europe, but Asia as well, from its base beyond Europe in the Atlantic Ocean.” 24c
Finally, perhaps a reminder of the war with the Persians, it is stated:
“The Athenians were at first the leader of the Greek opposition to the Atlantans, but as other Greek states fell out, Athens not only stood alone but in spite of being at the brink of disaster we’re able to defeat the Atlantans and liberate the lands east of the boundaries of Heracles.”
In the case of the Persian war, the enemy came from the East rather than the West. In both cases, Athens was able to triumph.
This was not the case, however, in the Peloponnesian war. Could Plato be trying to examine what went wrong in the recent war by creating and examining an example of faraway history? Could Plato be trying to make a comparison between an originally good Atlantis gone bad and an originally great Athens, victor over the Persians but a loser against its neighbors? Such a critique might not have gone down very well with Athenians so soon after the war.
What I have learned or, perhaps, re-learned is that there are all kinds of interesting statement in the texts statements that make identifying Atlantis as any specific place quite difficult unless a person chooses to ignore those facts. For example, Plato states that there are elephants on Atlantis. Plato states: “In fact there were even large numbers of elephants there, because there was ample grazing for all creatures…but equally for this creature too, the largest and most voracious in the world.” Critias on 115a. People have seen elephants in the wild and they are, indeed, voracious eaters. In any case, a popular theory for the inspiration for Atlantis was the island of Santorini. It is certainly hard to imagine elephants on that island, even 9,000 years prior to Solon’s time!
This is just one of what can be considered ‘uncomfortable facts.’ And there are more. I just want to suggest that the subject matter of the dialogues was meant to be primarily about Athens and not Atlantis. What follows is a selection of quotes praising ancient Athens and some questions.
The story originally developed by Solon after a trip to Sais in Egypt was passed down to Critias in a recitation contest during the annual festival, the Panathenaea during which Athena, the patron deity of Athens, was celebrated.
When asked about the story of Solon that was passed down through his family Critias said:
“It was about our city’s most impressive achievement ever, one which deserves to be better known than any other, but time and the destruction of the people involved have prevented the story from surviving until now.” 22d
In the story itself, an Egyptian Priest (EP) says, “…in addition you are unaware that the finest and most heroic race in all humankind once existed in your land. You and all your current fellow citizens are the descendants of what little of their stock remained, but none of you realizes it, because for many generations the survivors died without leaving a written record. But in fact there was a time, Solon, before the greatest and most destructive flood, when the city which is now Athens not only excelled in warfare, but was also outstandingly well governed in all respects. The finest achievements and he finest political institutions we have ever heard of on earth are attributed to it.” 23b – d
This resulted in “…an even better system of government than ours and there was no people on earth which came close to you all-around excellence- which is hardly surprising since you were the offspring and the wards of gods.” 24d
This build-up of early Athens leads to the discussion of their greatest achievement. The EP says, “Our documents record how your city once halted an enormous force which was marching insolently against not just the whole of Europe, but Asia as well, from its base beyond Europe in the Atlantic Ocean.” 24c
Finally, perhaps a reminder of the war with the Persians, it is stated:
“The Athenians were at first the leader of the Greek opposition to the Atlantans, but as other Greek states fell out, Athens not only stood alone but in spite of being at the brink of disaster we’re able to defeat the Atlantans and liberate the lands east of the boundaries of Heracles.”
In the case of the Persian war, the enemy came from the East rather than the West. In both cases, Athens was able to triumph.
This was not the case, however, in the Peloponnesian war. Could Plato be trying to examine what went wrong in the recent war by creating and examining an example of faraway history? Could Plato be trying to make a comparison between an originally good Atlantis gone bad and an originally great Athens, victor over the Persians but a loser against its neighbors? Such a critique might not have gone down very well with Athenians so soon after the war.