Atlantis according to Plato

Plato in his works Timaeus and Critias gave us the first historical record of Atlantis.

The Timaeus is a report of an episode in the life of Solon, a relative of Plato. As an old man, liked to tell his life story and this one was probably one of the most interesting one. It happened when Solon was travelling in Egypt.

"I will tell an old story which I heard from an aged man, Critias, who, at the time of telling it, was nearly ninety years of age, and I was about ten..."

Where did he hear the story?

"In the Egyptian Delta, where the river Nile divides, there is a district which is called the district of Sais, and a great city also called Sais. This is the city from which King Amasis came.

The citizens of Sais have a deity ...she is called in the Egyptian language, Neith, and is asserted by them to be the same whom the Hellenes call Athena. They are great lovers of the Athenians, and say that they are related to them.

Solon... began to talk about the ancient things in our part of the world ...and tried to compute how many years ago the events he was speaking about happened.

One of the priests, who was of a very old, said:

"O Solon, you Hellenes are but children, there is not an old man among you".

Solon asked him what he meant.

"I mean to say," he replied, "that in mind you are all young.... And I will tell you why."

"There have been many destructions of mankind ...the greatest have been brought about by fire and water, and other lesser ones by innumerable other causes.

...

 "When, the gods purify the earth with a flood, the survivors are shepherds who dwell on the mountains, but those who, live in cities are carried by the rivers into the sea.

In this land, (Egypt) the water... on the fields, has tendency to come up from below, for which reason the traditions preserved here are the most ancient.

The fact is that mankind exist, sometimes in greater, sometimes in lesser numbers. Just when you are beginning to be educated, the waters comes pouring down, and leaves only those of you who are uneducated.

So you have to begin all over again like children, and know nothing of what happened in ancient times...

As for those genealogies of yours...Solon, they are no better than the tales of children....

You remember a single deluge only, but there were many previous ones.

And this was unknown to you, because, for many generations, the survivors of that destruction died, leaving no written word.

For there was a time, Solon, before the great deluge, when the city which now is Athens (Europe) was first in war and ...the best governed of all cities.

It is said to have performed the noblest deeds and to have had the fairest constitution of any of which tradition tells, under the face of heaven."

The goddess ...founded your city a thousand years before ours, ... the constitution of which is recorded in our sacred registers to be eight thousand years old.

"As for your citizens of nine thousand years ago, I will briefly inform you of their laws and of their most famous action...

If you compare these very laws with ours you will find that many of ours are the counterpart of yours as they were in the olden time.

"In the first place, there is the caste of priests, (cast system) which is separated from all the others.

Next, there are the artificers (craftsmen), who carry on their several crafts by themselves and do not intermix.

There is the class of shepherds and of hunters, as well as that of farmers.

The warriors in Egypt are distinct from all the other classes, and are commanded by the law to devote themselves solely to military pursuits.

The weapons which they carry are shields and spears, a style of equipment which the goddess taught Asiatics first (Arians?...Dravidians)...and, in your part of the world, first to you.

" As to wisdom, do you observe how our law from the very beginning, made a study of the whole order of things, extending even to prophecy and medicine...

"Many great and wonderful deeds are recorded of your state in our stories. But one of them exceeds all the rest in greatness and valor.

These stories tell of a mighty power (Atlantis) which, unprovoked made an expedition against the whole of Europe and Asia, and to which your city put an end.

This power came out of the Atlantic Ocean.

In those days the Atlantic was navigable, and there was an island situated (beyond) ...the Pillars of Heracles (strait of Gibraltar).

The Mediterranean Sea is only a harbor, having a narrow entrance, but the Atlantic Ocean is a real sea, and the surrounding land (America?) is a boundless continent.

" In this island of Atlantis there was a great empire which ruled over the whole island and several others, and over parts of the continent (of America).

The men of Atlantis had subjected parts of North Africa within the columns of Heracles as far as Egypt, and of Europe as far as Tyrrhenia.

This vast power, gathered into one, endeavored to subdue our country and yours and the whole of the region within the straits.

Your country (Europe) 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 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. In a single day and night of misfortune, all your warriors sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis 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. *

I have told you briefly, Socrates, what the aged Critias heard from Solon and related to us."

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