Plato and Atlantis: Did the philosopher record a real city or invent a warning?
Did Plato describe a real lost city when he spoke about Atlantis or did he invent a warning? Bradley Walsh investigates in Out of this World.
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Atlantis has long been considered mythical. According to the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, Atlantis was a utopian island city ruled by descendants of the god Poseidon. It was said to be a hub of maritime trade in the Atlantic Ocean, with a formidable navy and an enlightened population of semi-gods.
However, the Atlanteans supposedly allowed this success to go to their heads. The story goes that Atlantis turned imperialistic, conquering new lands and enslaving people across Europe, Libya and Egypt. Athens put a stop to all this, triumphing over Atlantis in war.
Plato claims that Atlantis subsequently sank into the sea after being struck by an earthquake and colossal flooding. So, why have generations of explorers struggled to find Atlantis in the depths of the oceans? How much do we really know about Plato and Atlantis? In the new Sky HISTORY series Bradley Walsh: Out of this World, we see what could be a major breakthrough in the search for Atlantis…
What did Plato say about Atlantis?
Practically all the various Atlantis legends surviving to the modern day have their root in the Plato dialogues Timaeus and Critias. Around 360 BC, Plato wrote of the ancient Greek statesman Solon visiting Egypt and, while there, hearing an extraordinary tale from local priests.
Solon reportedly relayed the basic, now-ubiquitous story about the rise and fall of Atlantis. However, what is especially engrossing about the Plato dialogues is the immense detail they go into about Atlantis as a place. We read that when the Greek gods were helping themselves to different pieces of the world, Poseidon got his hands on Atlantis.
Poseidon fell in love with a mortal woman, Cleito. Their eldest son, Atlas, became the king of Atlantis, with further descendants of Poseidon going on to inherit the Atlantean throne. Atlantis, we learn, was larger than ancient Libya and Asia Minor combined, and comprised concentric circles of land. A canal apparently ran through these, towards the ‘Temple of Poseidon’ at the centre of the island.
Can we trust Plato’s story of Atlantis?
There are good reasons not to simply take the stories of Plato and Atlantis at face value. Plato claims that Atlantis existed about 9,000 years before Solon’s time, which would place it more than 11,600 years ago. The idea that such a bustling, advanced city-state was around earlier than any major human civilization seriously stretches credibility.
Nonetheless, it has been argued that Plato may have got the date wrong. After all, he reportedly heard it from Solon, whose own alleged sources were Egyptian priests. Some crucial details about Atlantis, if it did exist, could have been misreported at some point down the line. When judged in this context, the tales of Plato and Atlantis might be more reliable than they initially appear.
Let us also not forget that the city of Troy was long thought to be mythical until its rediscovery in the late 19th century. This led academics to see the story of the Trojan War in a whole new light. Much like the original account of Atlantis, it features deities as central characters but could still feasibly have been inspired by actual events. There’s even a theory that Troy is itself Atlantis.
Has Atlantis ever been found?
Perhaps this city really was the invention of Plato, and Atlantis was never meant to be more than a warning against political and spiritual corruption. The island was said to sit beyond the ‘Pillars of Hercules’, the edge of the world known to Greeks of Plato’s time. The Pillars of Hercules are thought to be the Strait of Gibraltar, placing Atlantis somewhere in the Atlantic, beyond Gibraltar.
So, where exactly is Atlantis today? Some think it never sank at all, and is instead hiding in plain sight under a different name. The Azores and the Canary Islands – both archipelagos off the coasts of Europe and Africa – have been put forward as candidates. Another is the suspiciously circular-looking ‘Richat Structure’ in the Sahara Desert. It’s even been suggested that the sunken Atlantis drifted far enough to end up encased in Antarctica.
In any case, none of these sites have been confirmed without a reasonable doubt to be the ‘true’ Atlantis. In Out of This World, host Bradley Walsh meets an explorer who may have an idea of where Atlantis really lies. To see how the evidence stacks up, you’ll have to watch the show…
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