Why is Plato the only Greek writer who knows about Atlantis?

Question

Modern theories say its Santorini, or some other famous place.

If it was, why does no other ancient Greek or Roman writer ever mention Atlantis?
Panchaea, Hyperborea and dozens of other mythical lands turn up in all sorts of histories, geographies and stories. But Atlantis never gets even the briefest of mentions.

Answer 1

Until you pointed this out, I hadn't realised that Plato was the only Greek writer to refer to Atlantis. So out came the reference books...!

According to the ones I have, it states:

"The legend of Atlantis is known only from two connected dialogues of Plato, the Timaeus and the incomplete Critias. It is purported to have been recounted to Solon by Egyptians; the events are said to have occurred about 9500 B.C. No recollections of Atlantis are reflected in Greek mythology, however, and since Plato told the story to illustrate a thesis in political philosophy, he may well have invented it for that purpose. Nevertheless, innumerable theories have been put forward as to the location and fate of "Lost Atlantis". The most recent one hinges on the catastrophic explosions that destroyed much of the island of Thera on more than one occasion."

So it seems as though, in order to add credence to his tale, Plato claimed that the story had been told to Solon, one of the most important politicians in Athenian history, and used this as the basis of his arguments. However, just because he claimed Solon was told this, there is no reason to believe that Plato didn't just make this up, using authorial privilege to refer to hypothetical and fantastical events - he was a philosopher, after all. He could hardly have asked Solon himself, he having died years before. In a way, I suppose his creation of this place and the events that occurred there could be likened to Aesop's fables - stories and events were created deliberately to put across a point or a moral of a particular tale.

A well-deserved star given to you, Thalia, for making me think hard about my knowledge of Greek myths!

Answer 2

Curiously, no other Greek writers talks about Plato's Republic or The Cave either. It is almost like Plato invented these places in order to illustrate his philosophical points.

To be fair, people thought Utopia was a real place shortly after the book was published. People are just gullible and will do anything to preserve a little mystery.

Edit: Plato was the one to record Critias's account of Solon's travel to Egypt, therefore Solon (and the Egyptian priest) do not count as a seperate source. Plato had no problem putting words in Socrates' mouth, why should he have problems putting them into the mouth of an Egyptian, Solon, or Critias (who may or may not have been a real person)?

Answer 3

What happened to Atlantis is anybody’s guess, since we don't know for sure. Some say it sank under the North Atlantic Ocean at about 1600 B.C. due to some natural disasters such as a tsunami but some say there may not be Atlantis' existence at all! Honestly, in my opinion, i dont think it even existed but we gotta keep our minds open, right? It's a good topic to debate on.

Answer 4

If you read more about the myth of Atlantis and more about Plato you would learn that Plato isn't the originator of the story of Atlantis, the story of Atlantis came from another story teller from Egypt who told Plato the story of Atlantis.

Answer 5

Scholars the world over have repeatedly declared that ancient sources describing Atlantis are plentiful, "but before Plato - nothing". They make such a declaration because of several reasons. (1) They disregard every record in which Atlantis is not mentioned by name. (2) In their skepticism they disregard records which mention Atlantis by name. (3) They are unfamiliar with the Sanskrit writings of India. For a timeline of ancient writers before and after Plato,.


Let us use an example from a hundred years before Plato in which Herodotus, the "father of history," mentions Atlantis by name in referring to the body of water into which it sank. Here is the Greek text of a portion of Clio (History, Bk I, 202) in which the waters outside the Pillars of Hercules is said to be known as the Atlantis Sea.

Greek text from the "History" of Herodotus which mentions Atlantis
"But one of the mouths of the Araxes flows with clarity into the Caspian Sea; but the Caspian Sea is by itself, not connected to the other sea. For the sea navigated by the Greeks, also that outside of the Pillars called the Atlantis Sea and the Erythraean, are one and the same." (Translated by R. Cedric Leonard)

One does not need to be a Greek scholar to recognize the word "Atlantis" in the above Greek text (line 5, 3rd word from the left). Many of my colleagues insist that the phrase should be translated "the sea of Atlas" instead of the Atlantis Sea. While it is true that Atlantis is an inflected form of Atlas, these very same colleagues have never suggested that when Plato speaks of the "island of Atlantis" it would be more properly translated as the "island of Atlas". The island and the ocean were called "Atlantis" because they were named after Atlas (which is what the name "Atlantis" means).


The point here, which cannot be gainsaid, is that Atlantis was known before Plato--so well-known that the sea outside Gibraltar was commonly called the Atlantis Sea in Herodotus' time. It had acquired that name because Atlantis had once occupied that area. We carry the same tradition down when we refer to that same body of water as the Atlantic. While in Europe, I noticed that their maps label the same ocean "Atlantischer," preserving the word "Atlantis" intact.


In the above quote, Herodotus also mentions another name of the Atlantic, the Erythraean. The word in Greek indicates the color red--descriptive of the effect of sunset on the water, as would be seen from a European vantage point. (Note: It is this word, not Geryon, that means "red glow of the sunset," Ignatius Donnelly notwithstanding; 1882 edition, p. 307). But even a minimal amount of research demonstrates that the Atlantic Ocean had yet another more common name in ancient times.

Answer 6

I think Plato invented it as an illustration of one of his philosophical ideas. But because it's such a great story, it has captured people's imaginations from day one.

Perhaps he was inspired by Santorini.

Other people have said that it's somewhere in the Western Hemisphere, but if that's true, then how could Plato have known about it?

Answer 7

Consensus of non-crackpots is that Plato invented Atlantis to make a political point.

Answer 8

PLATO WASENT THE FIRST PERSON TO KNOW ,HE WAS INFORMED ABOUT THE WHEREABOUTS OF ATLANTIS BY CRITIAS VIA SOLON WHOM IN TURN GOT IT FROM THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN PRIESTHOOD ,HE WAS MEARLLY TALKING IN THIRD HAND

Answer 9

It may be that it is a myth thought up by Plato.