Plato's Atlantis

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Plato's Atlantis will explore of how the 'lost civilisation' introduced in the dialogues 'Timaios' and 'Kritias' has been interpreted, misinterpreted and sought for from Antiquity to the present day.

Plato's myth of Atlantis has exercised a fascination on the imagination since the time of the Ancient Greeks. But, when we read his dialogues 'Timaios' and 'Kritias', are we are looking at a real place and a real geological event remembered in mythical terms, or witnessing some other type of myth-making: is it true that Atlantis once existed? Is Atlantis the fountain-head of all civilization? Is there a basis of fact which Plato has embellished for his own purposes? Is Plato’s tale derived from earlier mythological traditions? What is Plato’s tale really about? How has the tale been used by historians, mystics, archaeologists, politicians and religious thinkers from antiquity, the middle ages and the renaissance through to modern times?

We will explore geophysical, archaeological and historical theories ranging from the academically credible to the downright bizarre. Moving from the depths of the Atlantic to the islands of Santorini and Crete, we will study locations as diverse as Scandinavia, Palestine and the Caribbean. In analysing flood myths from across the globe, we will unravel the ‘mystery of Atlantis’ in a sane, scholarly and perhaps surprising way.

Date created:

2017-01-13 09:49

Tutor:

Steve Kershaw

Subjects:

Archaeology

Keywords:

Plato, Atlantis

Course type:

Weekly class

Course: Further details, online booking

Resources for this course

Displaying 1 - 40 of 42

Resource	Description	People	Full details
ATLANTIPEDIA	Typing ‘Atlantis’ into a web browser will bring up over 93 million results. This website, ‘Atlantipedia’, helps to narrow down the options and...		view
Atlantis Scout	This website compiled by Thorwald C. Franke offers "approaches at an academic level towards Plato's Atlantis as a real place, along with a large...		view
"BAD ARCHAEOLOGY"	“Bad Archaeology: exposing frauds, misconceptions and distortions.” This site maintains that “Bad Archaeology is all around us. Many of its ideas...		view
PLUTARCH'S "LIFE OF SOLON" AND ATLANTIS	Atlantis, "The Island of Atlas", had never been mentioned anywhere in the whole of world literature until, in a fictional conversation in Plato’s...		view
SOLON'S POETRY	Plutarch wrote a biography of Solon, in which he tells us that Solon tried, unsuccessfully, to introduce to the Atlantis story to the Greeks in a...		view
HOMER, CALYPSO, OGYGIA AND ATLANTIS	Homer’s Odyssey takes us through the fabulous world of Odysseus’ travels, and the first time we encounter him at first hand he is on...		view
SCHERIE, PHAEACIA, AND ATLANTIS	In Homer's Odyssey, having left Ogygia, Odysseus is wrecked by a mighty storm sent by Poseidon, but is washed up on the island of Scherie...		view
ERYTHEIA: THE 'RED LAND'	Erytheia, the sea-circled mythical ‘Red Land’ located out in the far west beyond the mighty earth-encircling river Oceanus, occassionally excites...		view
HESPERIA AND THE HESPERIDES	Hesperia and the Hesperides occasionally find their way into Atlantis theorising. This link takes you to some useful information and links about...		view
HYPERBOREA, HYPERBOREANS AND ATLANTIS	Up in the Greek mythological north we find Hyperborea, ‘the Land Beyond the North Wind’, inhabited by the Hyperboreans - a blessed race who spent...		view
HERODOTUS ON EGYPT	The Greek historian Herodotus, produced a wonderfully engaging account of his historia (= ‘inquiry’) into the origins and events of...		view
HERODOTUS ON BABYLON	Herodotus' History includes a memorable description of the city of Babylon, which may have had a considerable influence on Plato's...		view
HERODOTUS ON ECBATANA	One major city in the Persian Empire that Herodotus describes, and which might have had a bearing on Plato’s description of Atlantis-ville, was...		view
XERXES AND THE MOUNT ATHOS CANAL	The construction of Xerxes' canal across the base of mount Athos is the type of hybristic engineering project which Plato's Atlanteans, themselves...		view
XERXES' CANAL	This link takes you to an article in World Archaeology about Xerxes' canal.		view
XERXES AT THE HELLESPONT	Herodotus' description of Xerxes' bridging of the Hellespont show us the combination of ambitious engineering projects with out-of-control...		view
, , , , ,	Herodotus' History includes a memorable description of the city of Babylon, which may have had a considerable influence on Plato's...	Steve Kershaw	view
,	[Plato, Timaeus 21e] Critias replied, ‘In Egypt, at the apex of the Delta, where the stream of the River Nile divides, there is an...	Steve Kershaw	view
THE FLOOD MYTHS OF DEUCALION, NOAH, GILGAMESH, ATRAHASIS AND HATHOR	In the Timaeus 22a-b, Plato's Critias tells us that, 'on one occasion, when [Solon] wanted to lead [the Egyptian priests at Sais...	Steve Kershaw	view
THUCYDIDES AND ATLANTIS	‘In order to understand the myth [of Arlantis], you need first to read Thucydides’ (Vidal-Naquet, P., The Atlantis Story: A Short History of...		view
THE LIFE OF PLATO	There is an overview of the life of Plato in Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 3. This link takes you to a...		view
INUNDATION OF ATALANTE (426 BCE)	An even took place in 426 BCE that some scholars think might have come to influence Plato in his Atlantis story: earthquakes, tsunamis, and the...		view
INUNDATION OF ATALANTE (426 BCE) - DISCUSSION	Strabo and Diodorus Siculus mention tsunamigenic earthquakes in the region of Atalante, with the former basing his account on a lost catalogue of...		view
PLATO'S 7th LETTER	Plato’s Seventh Letter provides some evidence for his visits to Italy and Sicily.This link takes you to a translation.		view
INUNDATION OF HELIKE (HELICE), 373 BCE	A disastrous event occurred in 373 BCE that could have inspired Plato’s thinking regarding his Atlantis story: Helice, a city on the Corinthian...		view
HELIKE PROJECT	Helice, a city on the Corinthian Gulf, was destroyed by a tsunami in 373 BC. This could have inspired Plato’s thinking regarding his Atlantis...		view
HELIKE (HELICE), 373 BCE	Helice, a city on the Corinthian Gulf, was destroyed by a tsunami in 373 BC. This could have inspired Plato’s thinking regarding his Atlantis...		view
INUNDATION OF HELIKE (HELICE), 373 BCE	This link takes you to a BBC production about the inundation of Helike in 373 BCE. ...		view
INUNDATION OF HELIKE (HELICE), 373 BCE	This link gives information about the inundation of Helike of the Corinthian Gulf in 373 BCE.		view
INUNDATION OF HELIKE (HELICE), 373 BCE	This link takes you to some interesting research by the Laboratory of Marine Geology & Physical Oceanography of the University of Patras into...		view
PLATO'S TIMAEUS (TIMAIOS)	Without Plato there would be no Atlantis. If the dialogues Timaeus (Timaios) and then the Critias (Kritias) ...		view
PLATO'S CRITIAS (KRITIAS)	The Atlantis myth is unique in the corpus of Greek mythology in that it has no antecedents, and it has no genealogical relationship to any earlier...		view
A BRIEF HISTORY OF ATLANTIS: PLATO'S IDEAL STATE	The text book for the course is Kershaw, S.P., A Brief History of Atlantis: Plato's Ideal State, London: Robinson, 2016. It can be...		view
ATLANTIS, PYTHGOREANISM AND STICHOMETRY	By opening the Timaeus with the words, 'One, two, three...', Plato invited future commentators to speculate on the Pythagorean nature of his...		view
, ,	Having left Egypt, assuming he really went there, Herodotus probably travelled via Tyre to the River Euphrates and down to Babylon, from where he...	Steve Kershaw	view
PSEUDOSCIENCE AND ATLANTIS	An excellent discussion of pseudoscience by the philosopher Stephen Law of the University of London, which is very pertinent to many approaches to...		view
THE MINOAN ERUPTION OF SANTORINI	An interesting article "Reconstructing A Catastrophe: The Minoan Eruption Of Santorini". The Late Bronze Age eruption is sometimes linked to (a)...		view
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...		view
THE PLATONIC CITY: HISTORY AND UTOPIA	A relevant article to Plato's Atlantis story by Ives Charbit, entitled 'The Platonic City: History and Utopia'. Starting with Malthus,...		view
WHY IS THE ATLANTIS STORY STILL SO POPULAR?	This brief article explores why a tale created by Plato over 2000 years ago still remains popular.		view

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Plato's Atlantis

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