Atlantis Myths

The lost city of Atlantis has awoken the interest of people for a long time. Being the mysterious story of a long ago disappeared island, it has remained a fanciful myth in the eyes of many. For yet others, it is the center of dreams about finding a lost empire. In a tale so full of mythical events, it is hard to imagine reality intermingled, but, in the end, what determines the veracity of the long-lasting story? The legend of the lost city of Atlantis might hide more truth than at first meets the eye.
It is in the origin of the myth that the search for this truth begins; an origin that can be traced back to the Greek philosopher Plato, an important figure in Greece. This philosopher lived from 428 to 347 B.C, and had great influence in the
Ancient Greek world. He was particularly interested in the ideal; this is, in how individuals and societies should be. He imparted his beliefs to students from all over the Greek world in his Academy in Athens, which is often credited to be the first university of the world. He left several manuscripts of his philosophical ideas as well, throughout which he often made use of written dialogues to convey his messages (“Plato”). It is in this man’s writings that the story of Atlantis first appeared (Radford).
Being the first known written record that specifically refers to Atlantis, Plato’s account on the legend holds great relevance in understanding it. It reveals its first recorded version (Radford), being, therefore, the only accurate story. His account is the main and sometimes only used tool to analyze the myth objectively. All these facts add to its importance in determining what is true and what is not in the story of Atlantis.
In many ways, Plato’s writings on the lost city follow the pattern of his other manuscripts. Most of those manuscripts used Socrates- who was Plato’s teacher (“Plato”) -as a participant in a dialogue intended to convey an idea. So is the case with his account on Atlantis, which is written in the form of a dialogue between Socrates and two men named Timaeus and Critias (Hodge). The text uses real characters to convey a conversation that could have been real or could have been invented by Plato himself.
According to Plato, the information about Atlantis came from Egypt. An aged Egyptian priest told Solon, a famous politician and sage of Athens, about it (“The Lost”). Solon in turn passed his knowledge to an ancestor of one of the characters involved in the dialogue – Critias. Throughout the conversation, Critias relates to Socrates, in a very detailed way, the story that had been in his family for years (Krystek).
The dialogue describes Atlantis as a great and powerful island with a geography that led to its prosperity.
It was formed by alternating areas of land and circular water canals, with escarpments around its coast (“Atlantis, Real”) and an elevated area at its center featuring a temple dedicated to Poseidon -the Greek god of the sea and alleged founder of Atlantis (Krystek). The island was said to be greater than Libya and Asia combined, and had a beautiful landscape, with a rich soil that supported a healthy population. It also had access to rough gold (“Atlantis, Real”) and to a valued mysterious metal, thought to be an alloy between gold and copper (“Atlantis, The Problems”). The story of Atlantis, however, was even more notorious than its
geography.
Atlantis was founded, as previously mentioned, by Poseidon.
He divided the island-nation among his ten sons and made them kings over it (“The Lost”). The eldest of these sons was Atlas, for whom the Atlantic Ocean and possibly other features, such as the Atlas Mountains in Africa, where allegedly named (Hodge). Over time, Atlantis became a powerful empire and conquered large portions of the European continent and Africa, extending as far as Egypt (Hodge). This extension is probably the reason why the Egyptian priest mentioned in Plato’s account knew about the lost nation. As related by this priest, the Atlanteans began a war against the Athenians, trying to conquer their territory as well, but lost. Apparently, they had become greedy and corrupt, which ignited their gods’ wrath. Right after being defeated, they were struck by an earthquake and tsunami, and sunk into the sea, disappearing forever (Krystek). Their story was lost for the Athenians as well, since most of them were also affected by the natural disaster, leaving only illiterate people of the mountains alive. All of this was said to happen 9,000 years before Plato’s time, somewhere beyond the Strait of Gibraltar (“The
Lost”).
This story, however, is not the one known by most people today. Throughout time, the legend of Atlantis has been modified and elements have been added to it. These elements include claims about the people of Atlantis using crystals to power their city, having flying machines, living for extraordinarily long times and having extremely advanced technology (“Atlantis, The Problems”).
The most widespread story is the one presented in the animated Disney movie “Atlantis, the lost Empire”. In this version, the city was submerged under the sea because of a tsunami caused by an accidental weapon discharge. However, it was not destroyed. A powerful crystal, known as The Heart of Atlantis, protected it. This crystal served also to power the city, and small fragments of it, carried by the people, were used to heal and to power flying vehicles. In this version of the legend, the Atlanteans’ language is the source of all other languages in the world.