ATLANTIS AND THE NATIONS

"The Athens and Atlantis of ancient lore represent the two faces of Plato’s own Athens. The former, the old primordial Athens, is what Plato would have liked the city of which he was a citizen to be; the latter is what Athens was in the age of Pericles and Cleon, an imperialistic power whose very existence constituted a threat to other Greek cities." An excellent appraisal of Plato's Atlantis story by Pierre Vidal-Naquet & Janet Lloyd in Critical Inquiry 18 (2):300-326 (1992)