Santorini & the Atlantis Myth

The reception of Plato's Atlantis through history

Even though Plato himself sustains the thruth of his story, already short time after he had published it, Atlantis was interpreted by some as an educational legend invented by Solon and /or Plato in order to glorify the virtue of the Athenians and to illustrate their philosophical ideas. Aristotle (384-322 BC), as inferred from two passages in Strabo (Geographica II, 102 and XIII, 598) was among the first major critics. On the other hand, there were also sustainors of Platon's theory, as Plutarch (Solon 32.1-2), Proclus (410-485 AD, 76.1-10), Strabo (67 BC- 23 AD, Geographica II.3.6-7), Posidonius (135-51 BC), Ammianus Marcellinus (330-400 AD) who tell that the legend was regarded a historic fact in Alexandria (from Friedrich, 1994). One thing is very clear: invented or not, the major purpose of Platon's dialogues was not to tell a historic story or a fascinating science fiction, but to educate people and glorify Athens and its virtues. In this, the decadence of Atlantis from its divine origins and its prosperity to decadence and total destruction acts as both as a counterpoint to Athens and as a warning. It is also important to note, that the connection between gods, humans and nature is always present and naturally embedded in Plato's and the Ancient world. So to say, there are several levels within Plato's story: the Ancient world where gods and humans are connected and natural phenomena, especially if exceptionally powerful, are acts of gods, the educational and moral aspects of the tale, and finally, the story in terms of actual or fictional events. Today, we tend to see only this last aspect, but for Plato it was surely the least important one. This makes it even more difficult to judge whether Plato was telling pure fiction, pure reality or a mixture of both. Most likely, the latter is true. The story is rich in details, some of which seem invented and some appear surprisingly real. It is very improbable, in fact, that he based his story on nothing, and it is also unlikely, that he had such a detailed report (the translation of the old Egyptian report). Even if he had, it is natural to assume, that he modified it according to the purposes of his tale, which as has been said, certainly were not the telling of facts.
So, it is fair to assume, that there is a historic core of Plato's legend. Until this point, most people agree. But then...
The name
Most people think that the name 'Atlantis' is derived from the Atlantic Ocean (and therefore put it automatically somewhere into the Atlantic Ocean), but this reflects just our modern geographic view-point. Both the ocean's and the island's name are derived from the mythical giant Atlas, who held the sky upon his shoulders. Later, as Greek geographical knowledge grew, it gave also name to the high Moroccean mountain range. To locate Atlantis by using its name is not possible.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------