The
legend which Plato presented in his dialogues Timaios and
Kritias is a story which was told to Kritias by his great-grandfather,
who had heard it from his father Dropidas and he from the
sagacious legislator Solon. According to the story Atlantis
was an extensive insular continent whose inhabitants had developed
an exceptionally high standard of civilization. The unique
power of the kings of Atlantis was not only confined to their
own continent but extended to the surrounding islands and
they controlled part of Libya, as far as Egypt, as well as
part of Europe up to Tyrrhenia (Northern Italy).
From
the days of Plato to the present day many attempts have been
made to interpret the myth or even to rediscover Atlantis.
Thousands of studies and articles have been written on this
subject. The fact is that Plato, through the myth, presented
to his fellow-citizens a paradigm of an ideally organized
state which flowered and prospered for as long as men respected
and enforced the laws and worshipped the gods who had given
them the legislation. However, when the men became arrogant
and ceased to obey the laws of their state the wrath of the
gods was such that they were condemned to annihilation.
Nevertheless,
Atlantis can be more than true, at least within our imagination.
It is believed that Atlantis was very close to Santorini.
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