Name: Kevin Azpilcueta Vsquez Instructor: Jacques Morin Assignment 2 Platos Atlantis Story The story of Atlantis is conceived

by Plato in two dialogues: the Timateus and the Critias, in both of them Plato explains the history of the city of Atlantis, which at that time was supposed to be one of the most wonderful, great, and dominant in the world. As it will be shown in the text, the history of Atlantis has a sense of order and organization of a land, according to what the Gods order. The first dialogue, the Timateus, starts with Critias addressing to Socrates, and at the same time he makes reference about Solon, who was considered the wisest of the seven sages at that time. What we can conclude from this is that the reason why Critias refers Solon is because when Critias was in an early age he received this testimony from his grandfather whose name was also Critias, in this one Solon referred to the grandiosity of the Athenian City, how much wonderful and powerful it was at a certain period of time, and the enemies this city possessed to whom he refers as greater than all the rest. The first element we have to analyse in this writing of Plato is that he uses Critias as a medium for letting know about the story of Atlantis, and the other element that should be considered is the oral tradition, in the sense of transmitting information via oral stories, accounts, etc. The relation between Solon, Critias and the oral tradition has an aim, and this aim is to give veracity to the story, to make this one much more reliable. Before Critias concludes his speech, it is necessary also to notice the last phrase he proclaimed: a hymn of praise true and worthy of the goddess, on this her day of festival, according to Kathryn A. Morgan, this is a festival speech, which is told on the day of the Panathenaea in honour to Athena, and is coloured by the epideictic rhetoric that characterized many Athenian festival occasions (104). According to this explanation proposed, we may conclude that because this is a speech, the veracity of these words cannot be truly contrasted with any kind of sources that supports

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the existence of its content. But of course this is not the only reason why this tale cannot be considered as a veridical one, it will be explained forward in this essay. The text follows an order, after it tries to give a reason why the veracity of this tale should not be questioned by using Solon as the highest example of wisdom, knowledge and truth. The words of Solon are to be considered as true because as the story starts by criticizing Greek people and by giving reason why they cannot talk about History or about the origin of things through comparison with inhabitants of the Nile, is it there where actually Solon is supposed to have taken or learnt this story from. The reason why Greek people cannot have a true knowledge about history is because according to their geographical position they are much more prone to suffer from any kind of natural disaster than people that live in the border or close to a river, in this case the Nile. Based in this affirmation, because Greek people did not have the chance or fortune for conserving their history, they had to require to the creation of Myths for explaining this origin of their civilization; in words of Kathryn A. Morgan, Civilization, and any accurate memory of the past, is destroyed everywhere else [] After each destruction, we infer, the rising of civilization will have to provide itself with what we might call charter myths (103). This affirmation makes even more trustable the story of Solon, because he supposedly took it from the place or city where history can effectively be kept alive. This was one of the arguments Plato used for giving a sense of truthiness to the tale, for that period of time in History it would be acceptable to trust in this words, but nowadays there are some people that still believe in the real existence of this story, I firmly believe that one of the reasons why people still believe that Atlantis was in fact a real place might be because of the accurate geographical description Plato made about it. In this description, Plato mentioned a place which he named Atlas, 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 Gades in that part of the world. According to this geographical description some people may believe that Atlantis was and should have been located in an area further than the Mediterranean Sea, probably near to the cost of
Comment [JM1]: truthfulness

Africa, to a probable extent to the South, closer to the Equator. The reason that might probably explain both of the previous affirmation can be deduced from the physical description Plato made of the land, he refers to a place where 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 plains [] roots, or herbage, or woods, or essences which distil from fruit and flower, grew and thrived in that land, according to this its geographical positions allowed it to have such a huge variety of vegetables, animals, ecosystems, etc. And because of this accurate description made by Plato, some people can believe that that city really existed. But of course not all believes of its existence are related with its geographical position, but also with the way how Plato described it in what concerns its political organization. As many authors have already explained, the reason why Plato made this description of Atlantis is because in words of Kathryn A. Morgan he wanted to offer a paradigm of the ideal state elaborated in the Republic for the city of Athens (101). Also in her text, she quoted il ne faut pas chercher lle mystrieuse nulle part ailleurs que dans lAthnes du Vme et du IVme sicles dont une des faces ests tourne vers la puissance maritime (L. Brisson qtd. In Morgan 101). A translation of these words says theres no need to look for this mysterious island in any other place, but only in Athens of the V and IV th century when one of its faces has become to the power; these words should be interpreted in the sense that Plato used Atlantis as an example of the political organization he desired for Athens, in words of the author as a paradeigma. If we consider that the affirmation of both authors is accurate, we should have a look at the text itself and how it is structured. First of all, we can find the element of the divine origin, we can see that the origin of Atlantis has been made according to Poseidons desire, and in this divine order, the land of Atlantis has been perfectly designed, it followed a metrical order according to the its creator. In the case of Athens, as it is explained by Plato; Hephaestus and Athene, who were brother and sister, and sprang from the same father, having a common nature, and being united also in the love of philosophy and art, both obtained as their common portion of land, which was naturally
Comment [JM2]: is turned to sea power

adapted for wisdom and virtue. In this description, it was not only a divine origin, but also Athene transmitted its wisdom, knowledge, and virtue to the people that would live in that land. This reference can be considered as an explanation of the origin, but also as a medium for making all inhabitants in that area feel proud of the land that the Goddess has given to them; this aspect can be considered as a medium for legitimacy, according to the beliefve that if everything was created and ordered by the Gods, it would have a major impact in peoples life. The second element that should be noticed is the military and political organizations of the citizens, the text says: since military pursuits were then common to men and women, the men of those days in accordance with the custom of the time set up a figure and image of the goddess in full armour, to be a testimony that all animals which associate together, male as well as female, practise in common the virtue which belongs to them without distinction of sex. [] they regarded all that they had as common property. We have elements of equality of rightness between men and women, and also one notable element which is the common property of the land. I must say that these both elements are the most important in this sense, the continuation of the text describes how the city should be constructed and organized, but it is less relevant if we compare with other elements as the political organization, as it we have that it was a kind of democracy mixed with aristocracy. And in the military sphere, Athens has endured many great struggles, both on her own behalf and on behalf of the freedom of others (105). It shows what Plato was actually trying to do while describing the city of Atlantis, through this story to teach the citizens of Athens how they should be like. As I made mention previously, it is a reason of trying to find an example or paradigm of organization or constitution for the city of Athens.

Grading scheme Contents (60%) includes the use of sources, accuracy of report, proper paraphrasing, absence of copying and proper length of the essay. Style and language (30%) includes also form of essay (introduction, body of argument and conclusion) References (10%) Penalty (up to 20% if received late)

General Comment Word count: 1622 A bit longer than required. Good essay, although you do not concentrate on the aspects that I was expecting: essentially a comparison of the history of Athens and that of Atlantis

Grade 60

30

10 Received on 8 December - 14 Total 86%

Formatted: Font: 24 pt Formatted: Font: 24 pt

Grade B