Story of Atlantis :: Research Essays Papers

Story of Atlantis Plato was the first to mention the city of Atlantis around 300 BC. He was a Greek philosopher who had studied under Socrates in Greece. Plato gave detailed stories in the books Timeus and Critias about a land that was on the fringes of what we know as the Mediterranean Sea that occurred around 9,000 years from when it was written. Atlantis was said to be bigger than Libya and Asia combined. Critias was a book based on how Atlantis came to be and stories about Atlantis. Timeus was a book of teachings in which Plato wrote about morality. Plato did not see Atlantis himself but he heard it from the Greek king Solon who had heard it from an Egyptian priest. Plato’s Critias story described the Greek gods dividing up the earth for land. Poseidon chose an island on which to build his empire. Poseidon had five sets of twins with his wife Helios; a female mortal. The Island was divided up amongst the sons by the eldest. Atlas was the eldest son and was given control of the city in the m iddle of the Island. Atlantis had cities with brilliant architecture and bountiful plains all on one island. The plains supported rare animals such as elephants, and that the land was rich with minerals and metals including gold, silver and copper. The inner area of Atlantis was main city then a moat around the first city and then a circular piece of concrete/land and then water again. This pattern was said to continue a six or seven more times until solid land and plains were throughout the rest of the Island populated with cities and canals. Atlantis was seamed with gold, copper and Iron. It is also described in Plato’s books that with this wealth that the Atlantean’s built a magnificent fighting force of 10,000 chariots, 24,000 ships, 60,000 officers, 120,000 hoplites (elite warriors) and 600,000 archers. The area was also dominated by many mountains. Atlantis also is the set of many stories and myths from Plato’s teachings but scientists today say that Atlantis also could have been created by Plato to illustrate a variety of teachings. This would explain the story of Atlantis being destroyed; being a demonstration that any advanced civilization tries to conquer Greece would be destroyed. Plato gave related to greed and morality using Atlantis as a reference.