Discovery of Atlantis
Chapter 1 Excerpt

Plato (c. 427-347 B.C.) was a revered Athenian philosopher when he took up the subject of Atlantis toward the end of his career. In two parts of an unfinished trilogy—in the famous dialogues named the Timaeus and the Critias—Plato gave the world its first glimpse into the remarkable mystery of Atlantis. For some unknown reason he left the project incomplete and moved on to write Laws, another great work that was also left unfinished at his death. Nevertheless, Plato’s crucial writings about Atlantis—which appear chiefly in the Critias—have managed to inspire almost every generation since his time, and in fact remain vital 25 centuries later. This is perhaps not surprising, considering that his references to Atlantis appear prominently in the body of work of what many consider to be the most influential Western thinker of all time.

Coming as he did from a prominent family, Plato was fortunate enough to have made acquaintance with the leading thinkers and teachers of his time (or any time) including, of course, Socrates and Aristotle. After the trial and tragic execution of Socrates that he describes in his Phaedo, Plato declined to follow a political career and instead turned for consolation to philosophy in the hope of finding the truest model of an ideal society. No doubt, this philosophical fascination with exemplary social systems eventually led him to elevate the example of Atlantis and its “golden age” civilization in two of his most profound dialogues, the Timaeus and the Critias.

In these dialogues Plato reveals that another renowned Greek figure named Solon (c. 638-559 B.C.), known to history as one of the “Seven Wise Men” of ancient Greece, imported the story of Atlantis from Egypt. Solon was a truly unique figure, a man of altruistic and poetic temperament, and yet a powerful Athenian political leader and lawmaker. Historians credit him with ending aristocratic control of the government of Athens, and for the first time introducing a new and more humane code of laws to the city. Solon is widely regarded as one of the founding fathers of the democratic ideal and of the Western concept of the rule of law. To commemorate that fact, a marble relief portrait of Solon stands over the gallery doors of the House of Representatives Chamber in the Capitol complex at Washington D.C.

Figure 1:1 — Solon, a renowned Greek lawmaker and philosopher, received the original story of Atlantis from the Egyptians around 600 B.C. This record was passed to Plato many generations later.