Two Part Question:

1. What are the best books about/set in Atlantis?



2. I purchased Timeaus and Critias as I heard that is the origin of it's explanations. But I started reading it and was very confused. It looks like a bunch of math equations and stuff. I'm kinda new to philosophical stuff so I was just curious about that? Also does it actually tell a story about Atlantis, or is it like a page or two just saying they were so advance they destroyed themselves or something and thats it?

>>21952747 (OP)

The story of Atlantis originates with Plato and it isn't real, Plato most likely made it up as a mythic example of a society collapsing due to injustice (probably as a counter example to contemporary poetic depictions of divine people) and represents part of his (or at least Timaeus') formulation of human history as a series of cycles between extreme weather events that cause most societies to absolutely restart.

https://en.wikipedia.org//wiki/Atlantis:_The_Antediluvian_World



If you're interested in an anthropology of atlantis, this is it.

Yes I understand that, but my question is moreso where does Plato actually tell about Atlantis? Is it only within Timaeus? And how lengthy is it? Is it just a few pages of Timaeus? Or is Timaeus the whole story?

Thanks anon, looks interesting

Plato only talks about Atlantis in the first bit of Timaeus (before Timaeus begins the main monologue of the work, Critias tells the story of Atlantis given to his grandfather by Solon who received it from the Egyptians) and all of Critias. Timaeus is mostly a work of cosmogony, cosmology, and human biology.

Ok so Critias is a full story of Atlantis basically, and Timaeus is just a monologue?

Thanks. Will definitely go through and read it out.



Curiously, what was with all the math equations I saw when skimming through the book? Was philosophy tied to mathematics heavily in this period?

>Was philosophy tied to mathematics heavily in this period?

Short answer, yes.

Hold on, to clarify: the dialogue Timaeus has an introductory section in which the character Critias gives part of the Atlantis story, while the dialogue Critias is entirely about Atlantis. And to answer your question, for Plato and the Pythagoreans, very much yes. For both, mathematics acted as a vehicle for theoretical thinking and understanding the intelligible world. For example, in Timaeus each of the four elements are described as being made up of microscopic triangles. These triangles in turn form into different 3d shapes with their shapes reflecting certain properties observed in the elements. There is a tradition I've heard (I forget the source) that Plato's Academy had this saying inscribed above the enterence: "He who does not know geometry may not enter."

>>21952747 (OP)

>read Plato expecting it to be Narnia

lmao
