ATLANTIS
Part 1
In order to explore this subject with objectivity, it is my opinion that one should first look into the sources of the story. Into its time and culture, into the mindset of those that wrote the texts, that we are lucky enough to have reached our time.
In the attempt to do just that, before any personal opinions, I will first look into Timaeus, Critias, and other ancient sources for the Atlantis story, although I will interrupt the dialogue, here and there, in order to make references I think relevant. Therefore, lets focus into the works of Plato, Critias and Timaeus, and what they had to say about Atlantis.
Timaeus
The selections of this book used here, are adapted from the 1871 translation by Benjamin Jowett.
As most of us know, Plato, the famous Athenian philosopher, is the primary ancient source for the legend of Atlantis. His Socratic dialogue, Timaeus, is the first in what had been planned as a trilogy of discourses.
It is followed by Critias and concluding with Hermocrates, that unfortunately, he did not had the chance to write.
In Timaeus, Atlantis, comes from the reports of the great law giver, Solon, that while exiled, spent many years in Egypt, bringing back these reports to Greece upon his return.
So lets hear the Tale as it was passed on.
Lets start with the question that Amynander asked of Critias:
-Do tell us Critias, the whole story, and how and from whom, Solon heard this veritable tradition.
To what Critias replied:
- In the Egyptian Delta, at the head of which the river Nile divides, there is a certain district which is called the district of Sais, and the great city of the district is also called, Sais, and is the city from which King Amasis came. The citizens have a deity for their foundress; she is called in the Egyptian tongue, Neith, and is asserted by them to be the same whom the Hellenises call, Athena. They are great lovers of the Athenians, and say that they are in some way related to them.To this city came Solon, and was received there with great honour.
He asked the priests, who were most skilful in such matters, about antiquity, and made the discovery that neither he, nor any other Greek, knew anything worth mentioning about the times of old.
On one occasion, wishing to draw them on to speak of antiquity, he began to tell about the most ancient things in our part of the world.
About Phoroneus, who is called “the first human,” and about Niobe. And after the Deluge, of the survival of Deucalion and Pyrrha.
He traced the genealogy of their descendants, and reckoning up the dates, tried to compute how many years ago the events of which he was speaking happened.
To this, one of the priests, who was of a very great age, said:
- Oh Solon, Solon, you Hellenes are never anything, but children, and there is not an old one among you.
Solon in return, asked him what he meant. To what the Priest replied:
- I mean to say, that in mind you are all young.
There is no old opinion handed down among you by ancient tradition, nor any science which is hoary with age.
And I will tell you why.
There have been, and will be again, many destructions of humanity arising out of many causes, the greatest have been brought about by the agencies of fire and water, and other lesser ones by innumerable other causes.
- There is a story, which even you have preserved, that once upon a time Phaethon, the son of Helios, that having yoked the steeds in his father’s chariot, because he was not able to drive them in the path of his father, burnt up all that was upon the earth, and was himself destroyed by a thunderbolt.
I here interrupt to try and enhance what the Priest told Critias next. By his words, I deduce that He and his priesthood order, were well aware of how Factual History, turns into Myth, while being shared as just another adventure of the Gods, often with serious consequences upon humans. They understood, that the events described in Phaeton’s ascension, regret and demise, are but allegories describing a cosmic event.
So the old Priest Continued:
- Now, this has the form of a myth, but really, signifies a declination of the bodies moving in the heavens around the earth, and a great conflagration of things upon the earth, which recurs after long intervals. At such times, those who live upon the mountains and in dry and lofty places, are more liable to destruction than those who dwell by rivers or on the seashore.
From this calamity the Nile, who is our never failing saviour, delivers and preserves us.
When, on the other hand, the gods purge the earth with a deluge of water, the survivors in your country are herdsmen and shepherds who dwell on the mountains, but those who, like you, live in cities are carried by the rivers into the sea.
Whereas in this land, neither then, nor at any other time, does the water come down from above on the fields, having always a tendency to come up from below; for which reason the traditions preserved here are the most ancient.
The fact is, that wherever the extremity of winter frost, or of summer, does not prevent, humanity exists, sometimes in greater, sometimes in lesser numbers.
And whatever happened either in your country or in ours, or in any other region of which we are informed, if there were any actions noble or great, or in any other way remarkable, they have all been written down by us of old, and are preserved in our temples.
Whereas just when you, as other nations, are beginning to be provided with letters, and the other requisites of civilized life, after the usual interval, the stream from heaven, like a pestilence, comes pouring down, and leaves only those of you who are destitute of letters and education, and so you have to begin all over again like children, and know nothing of what happened in ancient times, either among us or among yourselves.
As for those genealogies of yours, which you just now recounted to us, Solon, they are no better than the tales of children.
In the first place, you remember a single deluge only, but there were many previous ones, in the next place, you do not know that there formerly dwelt in your land, the fairest and noblest race of people which ever lived, and that you and your whole city are descended from a small seed, or remnant of them which survived.
This was unknown to you, because, for many generations, the survivors of that destruction died, leaving no written word. For there was a time, before the great deluge of all, when the city which now is, Athens, was first not only in war, but in every other way. The best governed of all cities, 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.
After hearing this, Solon marvelled at his words, and earnestly, requested the priests to inform him exactly, and in order, about these former citizens.
To his request, the Priest replied:
- You are welcome to hear about them, both for your own sake, and for that of your city, and above all, for the sake of the goddess who is the common patron and parent and educator of both our cities.
She founded your city a thousand years before ours, receiving from the Earth and Hephaestus, the seed of your race, and afterwards she founded ours, of which the constitution is recorded in our sacred registers, to be eight thousand years old. As touching your citizens of nine thousand years ago, I will briefly inform you of their laws, and of their most famous action, the exact particulars of the whole, we will hereafter go through at our leisure, in the sacred registers themselves.
Here, I must interrupt the priest speech again, this time, to call your attention to the words, Sacred Registers, with eight thousand years of data. Just imagine what could be learned from such records. To exist still, we might have a very complete account of human history from the onset of this cycle. Perhaps even, of what set of events separated the one we are on, and ending, from the previous one.
But lets get back to the Priest words:
- 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 times.
In the first place, there is the caste of priests, which is separated from all the others.
Next, there are the artificers, who ply their several crafts by themselves and do not intermix.
There is the class of shepherds and of hunters, as well as that of husband-men and you will observe, too, that the warriors in Egypt are distinct from all the other classes, and are commanded by the law, to devote themselves solely to military pursuits. Moreover, the weapons which they carry are shields and spears, a style of equipment which the goddess taught from Asia.
First to us here, as in your part of the world, first to you.
Then as to wisdom, do you observe how our law, from the very first, made a study of the whole order of things, extending even to prophecy and medicine, which gives health, out of these divine elements, deriving what was needful for human life, and, adding every sort of knowledge, which was akin to them.
All this order and arrangement, the goddess first imparted to you, when establishing your city, and she chose the spot of earth, in which you were born, because she saw that the happy temperament of the seasons in that land, would produce the wisest of people. Wherefore the goddess, who was a lover, both of war and of wisdom, selected. and first of all, settled that spot, which was the most likely to produce people like herself. There, you dwelt,, having such laws as these and still better ones, and excelled all humanity in all virtue, as became the children and disciples of the gods.
Many great and wonderful deeds are recorded of your state in our histories. However, one of them exceeds all the rest in greatness and valour. For these histories tell of a mighty power, which unprovoked, made an expedition against the whole of Europe and Asia, and to which your city, your ancestors, put an end.
Interrupting the priest’s dialogue once more, this time, to underline the point in the speech, were he starts to speak about the civilization of Atlantis.
Now returning to the Priest’s words:
- This power came forth out of the Atlantic Ocean, for in those days, the Atlantic was navigable, and there was an island situated in front of the straits, which are by you called, the Pillars of Heracles.
The island was larger than Libya and Asia put together, and was the way to other islands, and from these, you might pass to the whole of the opposite continent, which surrounded the true ocean, for this sea, which is within the Straits of Heracles, is only a harbor, having a narrow entrance, but that other is a real sea, and the surrounding land may be most truly called, a boundless continent.
Now in this island of Atlantis, there was a great and wonderful empire, which had rule over the whole island and several others, and over parts of the continent, and, furthermore, the Atlanteans had subjected the parts of Libya within the columns of Heracles as far as Egypt, and of Europe as far as Tyrrhenia.
This vast power, gathered into one, endeavoured to subdue at a blow our country and yours, and the whole of the region within the straits; and then, Solon, your country shone forth, in the excellence of her virtue and strength, among all humanity. She was pre–eminent in courage and military skill, and was the leader of the Hellenes. Moreover, when the rest fell off from her, being compelled to stand alone, after having undergone the very extremity of danger, she defeated and 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.
Afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods, and in a single day and night of misfortune, all your warriors in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner 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.
At this point, there is little more to be obtained from Timaeus.
But we have learned much.
To me, it clearly states that the island of Atlantis was not in the Mediterranean, and that alone, eliminates all propositions that placed it there. It is therefore time to move into Critias and what we can learn from this text.
Critias.
The selections used here, are adapted from the 1871 translation by Benjamin Jowett.
This is the second dialogue in what had been planned as a trilogy of discourses. In Critias, which follows along closely after the action of Timaeus, Socrates continues to describe the story of the war between Athens and Atlantis. I will enter the text with Critias speaking:
- And next, if I have not forgotten what I heard when I was a child, I will impart to you the character and origin of the Athenians, our adversaries. For friends should not keep their stories to themselves, but have them in common.
Yet, before proceeding further in the narrative, I ought to warn you, that you must not be surprised if you should perhaps hear Hellenic names given to foreigners. I will tell you the reason of this.
Solon, who was intending to use the tale for his poem, enquired into the meaning of the names, and found that the early Egyptians, in writing them down, had translated them into their own language, and he recovered the meaning of the several names, and when copying them out again, translated them into our language.
My great grandfather, Dropides, had the original writing, which is still in my possession,, and was carefully studied by me when I was a child. Therefore if you hear names such as are used in this country, you must not be surprised, for I have told how they came to be introduced. The tale, which was of great length, began as follows:
I have before remarked in speaking of the allotments of the gods, that they distributed the whole earth into portions differing in extent, and made for themselves temples, and instituted sacrifices. And Poseidon, receiving for his lot the island of Atlantis, begot children by a mortal woman, and settled them in a part of the island, which I will describe.
Looking towards the sea, but in the centre of the whole island, there was a plain which is said to have been the fairest of all plains, and very fertile. Near the plain again, and also in the center of the island at a distance of about fifty stadia, there was a mountain not very high on any side.
In this mountain there dwelt one of the earth born primeval dwellers of that country, whose name was Evenor, and he had a wife named Leucippe, and they had an only daughter who was called Cleito. The maiden had already reached womanhood, when her father and mother died.
Poseidon fell in love with her and had intercourse with her, and breaking the ground, enclosed the hill in which she dwelt all round, making alternate zones of sea and land larger and smaller, encircling one another, there were two of land and three of water, which he turned as with a lathe, each having its circumference equidistant every way from the centrer, so that no living soul could get to the island, for ships and voyages were not as yet. He himself, being a god, found no difficulty in making special arrangements for the centre island, bringing up two springs of water from beneath the earth, one of warm water and the other of cold, and making every variety of food to spring up abundantly from the soil.
He also begat and brought up five pairs of twin male children; and dividing the island of Atlantis into ten portions, he gave to the first–born of the eldest pair his mother’s dwelling and the surrounding allotment, which was the largest and best, and made him king over the rest; the others he made princes, and gave them rule over many, and a large territory. And he named them all.
The eldest, who was the first king, he named Atlas, and after him the whole island and the ocean were called Atlantic. To his twin brother, who was born after him, and obtained as his lot the extremity of the island towards the Pillars of Heracles, facing the country which is now called the region of Cadiz, former Gades.
To that part of the world, he gave the name which in the Hellenic language is Eumelus, in the language of the country which is named after him, Gadeirus.
Of the second pair of twins he called one Ampheres, and the other Evaemon. To the elder of the third pair of twins he gave the name Mneseus, and Autochthon to the one who followed him. Of the fourth pair of twins he called the elder Elasippus, and the younger Mestor. And of the fifth pair he gave to the elder the name of Azaes, and to the younger that of Diaprepes. All these and their descendants for many generations were the inhabitants and rulers of divers islands in the open sea, and also, as has been already said, they held sway in our direction over the country within the Pillars as far as Egypt and Tyrrhenia.
Regarding what he just heard, we now know who founded Atlantis, of its architecture, for whom the land was created, and of its first dynasties. He then goes on about other aspects of their culture.
Back to Critias and his words.
- Now, Atlas had a numerous and honourable family, and they retained the kingdom, the eldest son handing it on to his eldest for many generations, and they had such an amount of wealth as was never before possessed by kings and potentates, as is not likely ever to be again, and they were furnished with everything which they needed, both in the city and country.
For because of the greatness of their empire many things were brought to them from foreign countries, and the island itself provided most of what was required by them for the uses of life.
In the first place, they dug out of the earth whatever was to be found there, solid as well as liquid, and that which is now only a name and was then, something more than a name, orichalcum. It was dug out of the earth in many parts of the island, being more precious in those days than anything, except gold. There was an abundance of wood for carpentry work, and sufficient maintenance for both tame and wild animals.
I here place Critias in pause again. I think important to notice what we learned of the Land of Atlantis. It was a vast territory, rich in metals, water and forests. But it also had great prairies where their herds had plenty of food. So much, it is referenced that it was enough for wild game also. I here assume that this land was home for most, if not all, types of mega-fauna that, by this time was but extinct in the America continent. As we will ear next, there are mentions to elephants and what I deem to be lions. I would even speculate that such rich and diverse environment, could have been a haven for many species that would otherwise been extinct for many years, perhaps even ages. For instance, there are several reports of pterodactyls coming from the 18th century, most of witch, in North America. So, to me, its not hard to imagine that the phrase you will ear in the next paragraph, the animal which is the largest and most voracious of all, could be a beast or a family of beasts from a bygone era. But lets return to Critias:
-Moreover, there were a great number of elephants in the island, for as there was provision for all other sorts of animals, both for those which live in lakes and marshes and rivers, and also for those which live in mountains and on plains, so there was for the animal which is the largest and most voracious of all.
Also whatever fragrant things there now are in the earth, whether roots, or herbage, or woods, or essences which distil from fruit and flower, grew and thrived in that land; also the fruit which admits of cultivation, both the dry sort, which is given us for nourishment and any other which we use for food. We call them all by the common name pulse, and the fruits having a hard rind, affording drinks and meats and ointments, and good store of chestnuts and the like, which furnish pleasure and amusement, and are fruits which spoil with keeping, and the pleasant kinds of dessert, with which we console ourselves after dinner, when we are tired of eating.
All these that sacred island which then beheld the light of the sun, brought forth fair and wondrous and in infinite abundance. With such blessings the earth freely furnished them; meanwhile they went on constructing their temples and palaces and harbours and docks.
At this point in his speech, Critias starts to talk about the arrangement of the land:
- And they arranged the whole country in the following manner: First of all, they bridged over the zones of sea which surrounded the ancient metropolis, making a road to and from the royal palace. And at the very beginning, they built the palace in the habitation of the God and of their ancestors, which they continued to ornament in successive generations, every sovereign surpassing the one who went before to the utmost of the regal power, until they made the building a marvel to behold for size and for beauty.
Beginning from the sea, they bored a canal of three hundred feet in width, and one hundred feet in depth and 5.7 miles in length, which they carried through to the outermost zone, making a passage from the sea up to this, which became a harbour, and leaving an opening sufficient to enable the largest vessels to find ingress.
Moreover, they divided at the bridges the zones of land which parted the zones of sea, leaving room for a single trireme to pass out of one zone into another, and they covered over the channels so as to leave a way underneath for the ships, for the banks were raised considerably above the water.
Now the largest of the zones into which a passage was cut from the sea, was 16 hundred feet in breadth, and the zone of land which came next of equal breadth; but the next two zones, the one of water, the other of land, were twelve hundred feet, and the one which surrounded the central island was only 600 feet in width.
The island in which the palace was situated had a diameter of five stadia. All this including the zones and the bridge, which was the 100 feet in width, they surrounded by a stone wall on every side, placing towers and gates on the bridges where the sea passed in.
The stone which was used in the work, they quarried from underneath the centre island, and from underneath the zones, on the outer as well as the inner side. One kind was white, another black, and a third red, and as they quarried, they at the same time hollowed out double docks, having roofs formed out of the native rock. Some of their buildings were simple, but in others they put together different stones, varying the colour to please the eye, and to be a natural source of delight.
The entire circuit of the wall, which went round the outermost zone, they covered with a coating of brass, and the circuit of the next wall, they coated with tin, and the third, which encompassed the citadel, flashed with the red light of orichalcum.
In the next segment, Critias, describes the Palaces and Temples of Atlantis:
- The palaces in the interior of the citadel were constructed on this wise: in the centre was a holy temple dedicated to Cleito and Poseidon, which remained inaccessible, and was surrounded by an enclosure of gold, this was the spot where the family of the ten princes first saw the light, and thither the people annually brought the fruits of the earth in their season from all the ten portions, to be an offering to each of the ten.
Here was Poseidon’s own temple which was a 616 feet in length, and half of that in width, and of a proportionate height, having a strange barbaric appearance. All the outside of the temple, with the exception of the pinnacles, they covered with silver, and the pinnacles with gold. In the interior of the temple, the roof was of ivory, curiously wrought everywhere with gold and silver and orichalcum, and all the other parts, the walls and pillars and floor, they coated with orichalcum. In the temple they placed statues of gold, there was the god himself standing in a chariot, as the charioteer of six winged horses, and of such a size, that he touched the roof of the building with his head; around him there were a hundred Nereids riding on dolphins, for such was thought to be the number of them by the human race of those days.
There were also in the interior of the temple other images which had been dedicated by private persons. And around the temple on the outside, were placed statues of gold of all the descendants of the ten kings and of their wives, and there were many other great offerings of kings and of private persons, coming both from the city itself and from the foreign cities over which they held sway. There was an altar too, which in size and artistry corresponded to this magnificence, and the palaces, in like manner, answered to the greatness of the kingdom and the glory of the temple.
At this point in the narrative, we will jump into another architectural aspects of Atlantis, its Fountains and Water management, of race tracks and guardhouses.
- They had fountains, one of cold and another, of hot water, in gracious plenty flowing, and they were wonderfully adapted for use by reason of the pleasantness and excellence of their waters. They constructed buildings about them and planted suitable trees, also they made cisterns, some open to the heavens, others roofed over, to be used in winter as warm baths.
There were the royal baths, and the baths of private persons, which were kept apart, and there were separate baths for women, and for horses and cattle, and to each of them they gave as much adornment as was suitable.
Of the water which ran off, they carried some to the grove of Poseidon, where were growing all manner of trees of wonderful height and beauty, owing to the excellence of the soil, while the remainder was conveyed by aqueducts along the bridges to the outer circles.
There were many temples built and dedicated to many deities, also gardens and places of exercise, some for people, and others for horses, this in both of the two islands formed by the zones, and in the centre of the larger of the two, there was set apart a race course of 606 feet in width, and in length, allowed to extend all round the island, for horses to race in.
Also there were guardhouses at intervals for the guards, the more trusted of whom, were appointed to keep watch in the lesser zone, which was nearer the Acropolis, while the most trusted of all, had houses given them within the citadel, near the royal persons. The docks were full of triremes and naval stores, and all things were quite ready for use.
Critias where makes a description of the The Walls of the City, its houses and of its intense trade by the harbours:
- Leaving the palace and passing out across, you came to a wall which began at the sea, and went all round.
This was everywhere distant 5.75 miles from the largest zone or harbour, and enclosed the whole.
The ends meeting at the mouth of the channel which led to the sea. The entire area was densely crowded with habitations, and the canal and the largest of the harbours, were full of vessels and merchants coming from all parts, who, from their numbers, kept up a multitudinous sound of human voices, and din and clatter of all sorts night and day.
Lets now listen to his description of The Districts Surrounding Atlantis and its rich and fertile lands.
- I have described the city and the environs of the ancient palace nearly in the words of Solon, and now, I must endeavour to represent the nature and arrangement of the rest of the land.
The whole country was said by him to be very lofty and precipitous on the side of the sea, but the country immediately about and surrounding the city was a level plain, itself surrounded by mountains which descended towards the sea.
It was smooth and even, and of an oblong shape, extending in one direction 345 miles, but across the centre inland it was 230 Miles.
This part of the island looked towards the south, and was sheltered from the north. The surrounding mountains were celebrated for their number and size and beauty, far beyond any which still exist, having in them also many wealthy villages of country folk, and rivers, and lakes, and meadows supplying food enough for every animal, wild or tame, and much wood of various sorts, abundant for each and every kind of work.
I will now describe the plain, as it was fashioned by nature, and by the labours of many generations of monarchs through long ages.
It was for the most part rectangular and oblong, and where falling out of the straight line followed the circular ditch. The depth, and width, and length of this ditch were incredible, and gave the impression that a work of such extent, in addition to so many others, could never have been artificial.
Nevertheless, I must say what I was told. It was excavated to the depth of a hundred feet, and its breadth was 607 feet everywhere, it was carried round the whole of the plain, and was 1150 miles in length.
It received the streams which came down from the mountains, and winding round the plain and meeting at the city, was there let off into the sea.
Further inland, likewise, straight canals of a hundred feet in width were cut from it through the plain, and again let off into the ditch leading to the sea: these canals were at intervals of a 11.5 miles, and by these canals, they brought down the wood from the mountains to the city, and conveyed the fruits of the earth in ships, cutting transverse passages from one canal into another, and to the city.
Twice in the year they gathered the fruits of the earth. in winter having the benefit of the rains of heaven, and in summer the water which the land supplied by introducing streams from the canals.
We are now approaching the end of the description provided by Critias, as he learn them from his ancestors. In this last sentences he speaks of the inhabitants of this mythical land:
- As to the population, each of the lots in the plain, had to find a leader for the persons who were fit for military service, and the size of a lot was a square of 1.15 Miles each way, and the total number of all the lots was sixty thousand.
The inhabitants of the mountains and of the rest of the country there was also a vast multitude, which was distributed among the lots and had leaders assigned to them according to their districts and villages.
Beyond this point, little more is said about the land, although much is said about the responsibilities and obligations of the Leaders of each Lot. In the last lines that reached us, the old Priest told Solon of the high virtues and strong values of the Atlantean civilization. Qualities that they kept for generations on end, but with their increasing exposure to other lands and cultures, blood and morals started to fade. This would ultimately be cause for punishment from the Gods, leading to the catastrophe that removed Atlantis from the world.
