His most far-reaching legacy, however, which has immeasurably affected mankind for the better right up to current times, was in the realm of education. He founded the first university. It has been the world’s model ever since.
It is thought that Plato lived from 423 B.C. to 347 B.C.2 He opened the doors of his school, which gave us the name “academy” because it was built on land belonging to a man called Academos, in about 387 B.C. The university was devoted to research and instruction in philosophy and the sciences. Plato ran it until his death some forty years later.
His ambition was to train young men, enabling them to make better contributions, especially in the world of politics. Dabbling in that field earlier in his career, he had been appalled by the low standards of those holding public office. As an aside, one cannot but wonder what he would have made of today’s worldwide crop. Plato certainly managed to train men well. One of his pupils was Aristotle, who in turn became tutor to Alexander the Great. Ironically, it was Alexander who abolished the Athens democracy so beloved by Plato, and made Greece a dictatorship.
Plato’s academy ran continuously for nine hundred years, which to date remains the longest period ever sustained by a university. It was finally closed in A.D. 529 by the Christian Emperor Justinian, who claimed that it was a pagan establishment. How many times in the last two thousand years, I wonder, have the knowledge and written records of past civilizations been destroyed in the name of religion?
Plato is central to my investigation, as he is the only direct source of information about the legendary Atlantis. His writings usually took the form of debates between several well-known people—but he never included himself. They are called Plato’s Dialogues. The most famous of these is called Laws, but those that concern us here are Timaeus and Critias, both of which contain information about Atlantis. He claimed that the material had come down to him from yet another famous Greek: Solon, “the law-maker,” who was a friend of Plato’s great-grandfather, Dropides. He had passed it on to Critias, Plato’s ninety-year-old grandfather, who then related the story to Plato when he was about ten years old.
Solon had stayed for some years in Sais, an ancient Egyptian town on the Nile delta. This was not unusual, since the two countries involved were on friendly terms. There were many Greeks in Egypt, including a host of mercenaries in the Egyptian army. One day, while conversing with the priests of Sais, Solon started sounding off about the grand history of his native Athens. This rankled the very old and reputedly wisest priest, who admonished him and retaliated, saying that the Athenians were but children in comparison with the history of mankind.
Following my earlier comments about the advanced knowledge I believe Plato possessed, it is pertinent that the priest began by saying that there had been many races and civilizations of humans, each having been destroyed by huge natural disasters. Similar legends persist all over the world, particularly in South America and India. It is possible that other knowledge was passed on to Solon, in addition to the information about Atlantis—which Plato later claimed for himself.
The elderly priest then proceeded to make his point by recounting to Solon the astonishing story of Atlantis. The relevant parts of the two dialogues that resulted from the conversation can be read at the end of this book, but a précis of the circumstances and facts surrounding them may suffice here.
According to Plato, the priest claimed that the constitution of Sais was around eight thousand years old, but that of the Hellenes (Athenians) was older still, by a thousand years. He went on to relate how a mighty power came forth out of the Atlantic Ocean and launched an unprovoked attack against the whole of Europe and Asia. This power was Atlantis; it was overrunning the entire region before being heroically repulsed and defeated by the brave Hellenes. Subsequently there were violent earthquakes and floods and the whole Hellenic army was swallowed up by the earth. Atlantis then disappeared under the sea in a single awful day and night. As a consequence, the sea in those parts, previously navigable, became an impenetrable shoal of mud, stirred up from the sunken land. (SEE IMAGE 1, PAGE 21.)
Plato went on to give many other facts and extraordinary details about Atlantis. They are distilled and summarized at the end of this chapter to allow us to investigate further. You will see from the clues that he is talking about a country and its empire. It is surprising how many think Atlantis was just a city. The capital itself was relatively small and there would inevitably have been many other towns and regional capitals. The initial information was given in Timaeus, but the bulk is to be found in Critias, which, unfortunately, was never finished and comes to an abrupt end. No one has been able to fathom why, although by this stage Plato was certainly of quite an age.
Several times in his accounts, Plato stresses that he is telling the truth— which he never felt the need to do with his other writings. He must have realized that much of the story would sound a tad far-fetched. He was right—and it caused an uproar! Some of Plato’s contemporaries were openly skeptical, though others were convinced of the story’s veracity.
As mentioned earlier, however, Plato did have a reputation for overembellishing stories and had, at one point, been admonished for overstepping the mark by Socrates, his mentor. To try to assess this point, it is worth analyzing a few facts.
• In Timaeus, Plato admitted that he had been only ten years old when he first heard about Atlantis and, before setting the story down in the Dialogues many decades later, he had to spend a night thinking about the subject and recovering the facts. He stresses, however, that even at such a young age, it is amazing how some things can make a lasting impression.
• Later, in Critias, he appears to contradict this by saying he still possessed original writings from his great-grandfather, Dropides, and had carefully studied them as a child. Solon was also reported to have started to write an epic poem about what he had been told.
• Plato stated that the war had occurred nine thousand years before. That is a daunting amount of time for information to be retained intact and recorded correctly.
• There are inconsistencies in some of his facts, including those statements that Athens had been founded nine thousand years previously, and that Atlantis had also disappeared nine thousand years previously after a defeat by the Athenians, leaving no time for Athens city, its civilization, and its army to develop.
• Conversely, the accounts contain some facts that were indubitably true—and quite astounding for Plato’s era—such as that Atlantis lay outside the Pillars of Hercules (Straits of Gibraltar) in the Atlantic Ocean and that the Atlanteans were rulers of other islands stretching westwards from it across the Atlantic to a vast continent on the other side. So, long before its eventual “discovery,” Plato was, of course, referring to America. He also says that compared to the sheer enormity of the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean, which represented his known world, was but a small harbor.
So was Plato essentially telling the truth? It was recorded by Proclus in the fourth century A.D. that Kranter of Soli (335 B.C.–275 B.C.), who was later a head of the Academy, thought the story was historically correct and even claimed to have had this confirmed by Egyptian priests who had shown him temple columns on which the story was inscribed. Unfortunately, these columns have yet to be discovered.
My conclusion is in agreement with many others before me: that Plato was indeed privy to information about Atlantis and that this information probably came from Egypt via Solon. The facts must, however, inevitably have been sketchy after so long a period. Like others, I do believe there is evidence that he padded the story to help him present the message he wanted to convey to his Greek audience. He was not recording the event to arouse our curiosity a few thousand years later, but to put forward his views on how the perfect Greek state should be organized. For example, one broad hint that he embellished the story to make it more colorful is provided by Plutarch (A.D. 45–120) in his book The Life of Solon. He wrote: “Plato, willing to improve the story of the Atlantic Island, as
if it were a fair estate that wanted an heir and came with some title to him, formed, indeed, stately entrances, noble enclosures, large courts, such as never yet introduced any story, fable or poetic fiction. …” So what exactly did Plato say—and how can it help us in our search for Atlantis today? Here is the complete list of clues derived from the two dialogues.
From Timaeus, taken from the widely used translation by Benjamin Jowett:
1. A mighty power which, unprovoked, made an expedition against the whole of Europe and Asia and to which your city [Athens] put an end.
2. This power came forth out of the Atlantic Ocean.
3. … for in those days the Atlantic was navigable.
4. … and there was an island situated in front of the straits.…
5. … which by you are called the Pillars of Hercules.
6. … the island was larger than Libya and Asia put together.…
7. … and was the way to other islands.…
8. … and from these you might pass to the whole of the opposite continent which surrounded the true ocean.…
9. … for this sea which is within the Straits of Hercules is only a harbor, having a narrow entrance, but that other is a real sea.…
10. … and the surrounding land may be most truly called a bound-less continent.
11. 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.
12. This vast power, gathered into one, endeavored to subdue at a blow our country and yours and the whole of the region within the Straits.
13. She [Athens] was the leader of the Hellenes … and when the rest fell off from her, being compelled to stand alone … she defeated and triumphed over the invaders.
14. But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods, and in a single day and night of misfortune all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth.
15. … and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the depths of the sea.
16. 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.
17. … became an impenetrable barrier of mud to voyagers sailing from hence to any part of the ocean.
From Critias:
18. In the days of old, the gods had the whole earth distributed among them by allotment.
19. They all of them by just apportionment obtained what they wanted.…
20. … and peopled their district.
21. Poseidon receiving for his lot the island of Atlantis.
22. He begat children by a mortal woman and settled them in part of the island.
23. Looking toward the sea, but in the center of the whole island, was a plain which is said to have been the fairest of all plains and very fertile.
24. 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.
25. Breaking the ground, enclosed the hill all round, making alternate zones of sea and land, larger and smaller encircling one another.…
26. … 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 center.
27. He himself, being a god, found no difficulty in making special arrangements for the center island, bringing up two springs of water from beneath the earth, one of warm and one of cold.
28. … and making every kind of food to spring up abundantly from the soil.
29. He also begat and brought up five pairs of twin male children.…
30. … and dividing the island 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.
31. The others he made princes, and gave them rule over many men, and a large territory.
32. And he named them all; the eldest who was the first king he named Atlas.
33. … and after him the whole island [Atlantis] and the ocean were called Atlantic.
34. To his twin brother, who was born after him, and obtained as his lot the extremity of the island toward the Pillars of Hercules, facing the country which is now called the region of Gades in that part of the world, he gave the name in the language of the country which is named after him, Gadeirus.
35. [He then lists the names of the other sons.] All these and their descendants for many generations were the inhabitants and rulers of diverse islands in the open sea.
36. … 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.
37. Now Atlas had a numerous and honorable family, and they retained the kingdom, the eldest son handing it on to his eldest for many generations.
38. … and they had such an amount of wealth as was never possessed by kings and potentates, and is not likely ever to be again.
39. … and they were furnished with everything 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.…
40. … and the island itself provided most of what was required by them for the uses of life.
41. In the first place they dug out of the earth whatever was to be found there, solid as well as fusile.…
42. … and that which is now only name and was then something more than a name. Orichalcum was dug out of the earth in many parts of the island being more precious in those days than anything except gold.
43. There was an abundance of wood for carpenters’ work.
44. … and sufficient maintenance for tame and wild animals.
45. Moreover there were a great number of elephants in the island.
46. … for as there was provision for all other sorts of animals, both for those which live in lakes and marshes and rivers.…
47. … and also for those which live in mountains and on plains, so there was for the animal which is largest and most voracious of all [i.e., the elephant].
48. Also whatever fragrant things there are now in the earth, whether roots, herbages, or woods, or essences which distill from fruit and flower, grew and thrived in that land.
49. 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.…
50. … and the fruits having a hard rind, affording drinks and meats and ointments,
51. … and a good store of chestnuts and the like.…
52. … and are fruits which spoil with keeping, and the pleasant kinds of dessert, with which we console ourselves after dinner.
53. Meanwhile they went on constructing their temples and palaces and harbors and docks. And they arranged the whole country in the following manner:
54. First of all they bridged over the zones of the sea which surrounded the ancient metropolis, making a road to and from the royal palace.
55. And at the very beginning they built the palace on the habitation of the god and their ancestors … which they continued to ornament in successive generations … until they made the building a marvel to behold for size and beauty.
56. And beginning from the sea they bored a canal of three hundred feet in width and one hundred feet in depth and fifty stadia in length [nine and a quarter kilometers] which they carried through to the outermost zone, making a passage from the sea up to this.
57. … which became a harbor and leaving an opening sufficient to allow the largest vessels to find ingress.
58. They divided at the bridges the zones of land which parted the zones of the sea leaving room for a single trireme to pass out of one zone into another.
59. … and they covered over the channels so as to leave a way under-neath for ships.
60. … for the banks were raised considerably above the water,
61. Now the largest of the zones into which a passage was cut from the sea was three stadia in breadth and the zone of land which came next was of equal breadth, but the next two zones, one of water and the other of land, were two stadia, and the one which surrounded the central island was a stadium only in width.
62. The island in which the palace was situated had a diameter of five stadia.
63. All this, including the zone and the bridge … they were surrounded by a stone wall on every side, placing towers and gates on the bridges, where the sea passed in.
64. The stone which was used in the work was quarried from underneath the center island, and from zones on the outer as well as the inner side.…
65. … one kind was white, another black, and a third red.
66. … and as they quarried they at the same time hollowed out double docks, having roofs formed out of the natural rock.
67. Some of the buildings were simple, but in others they put together different stones, varying the color to please the eye.
68. The entire circuit of the wall which went round the outermost zone, they covered with a coating of brass … the next wall they coated with tin … and the third, which encompassed the citadel, flashed with the red light of orichalcum.
69. In the center of the citadel was a holy temple dedicated to Poseidon and Cleito [his mortal wife] … which remained inaccessible … and was surrounded by an enclosure of gold.
70. Here was Poseidon’s own temple which was a stadium in length, and half a stadium in width.
71. All the outside of the temple, with the exception of the pinnacles, they covered in silver, and the pinnacles with gold.
Atlantis and the Silver City Page 2
