We’ve all heard of the tale of Atlantis. It’s that city the gods sunk because the inhabitants thought themselves better than the gods. There are many stories about a sunken city, from the British Lyonesse to the Hindi Dvārakā, the French Ys to the Baltic Vineta. There’s something fascinating about hearing tales of an underwater city where you can still hear the bells tolling in calm waters or see its remains on clear days.
But most people are more familiar with Atlantis. They’ve heard of it; they’ve seen media based around it. So just what has people so hooked on a three-thousand-year-old legend?
The legend of Atlantis is an allegory. Plato, a philosopher from Ancient Athens, wrote the story around 360 BCE to tell people that his idealised version of Athens is superior to even advanced nation-states like his mythical Atlantis. And because the gods favoured this utopian Athens, they sunk Atlantis for daring to wage war against the Athenians.
This leaves quite a lot of questions, so this episode will focus on asking the biggest. First, we’ll ask just what Plato actually said when he was writing about Atlantis. Then we’ll question some possible locations for the inspiration behind Plato’s writings. And finally, we’ll ponder the moral Plato gave us and if it’s still relevant today.
Buckle up, buttercups. We’re diving deep into the Aegean Sea to search for Plato’s historical Atlantis.
What did Plato say about Atlantis?
All mentions of Atlantis lead back to two of Plato’s fake conversations between historical statesmen. It’s like the Ancient Greek version of Shakespeare’s histories, if Shakespeare wrote mostly monologues.
Two of Plato’s dialogues mention Atlantis, Timaeus and Critias, and they’re the soapbox Plato uses to explain why democratic Athens is the best and all other systems will lead to hubris and subsequent ruin.
The first mention is in Timaeus (written around 360 BCE), where Solon, one of the founding fathers of Athenian democracy, visits Egypt between 590 and 580 BCE and learns about Atlantis. We’re told Atlantis is a continent larger than Libya and Asia Minor in the Atlantic Ocean.
“For the ocean there was at that time navigable; for in front of the mouth which you Greeks call, as you say, ‘the pillars of Heracles,’ there lay an island which was larger than Libya and Asia [Minor] together; … Now in this island of Atlantis there existed a confederation of kings, of great and marvellous power, which held sway over all the island, and over many other islands also and parts of the continent.”
In Critias, Poseidon is the deity watching over Atlantis. Poseidon was the Ancient Greek god of the sea, storms, earthquakes, and horses. When Plato writes about the destruction of Atlantis, it’s because of Poseidon’s anger:
“But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods; and in a single day and night of misfortune all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared into the depths of the sea.”
Plato describes Atlantis as an advanced civilisation, wealthy in trade, and produces its own wine. It’s mountainous and arable, with moats and canals leading to the sea, all encircled within walls. So just where did Plato base this nation-state on?
Minoan Crete and the Similarities to Atlantis
Let’s first look at the way Plato describes Atlantis. It’s arable land. There are mountains everywhere (it’s named for the Titan Atlas), and it may as well control the seas. Poseidon is the patron god; his trident is everywhere.
We might as well be talking about Minoan Crete with these details. (I talk a bit more about the Minoans in this article.)
The Minoans were the people who lived on Crete around 3100–1100 BCE. A lot of their artwork featured bulls. Since Crete is famous for the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, it was the fictional King Minos who lends his name to the civilisation (this is when I set my story Out of the Grave). But when it comes to the island of Atlantis, we’ve got to look a little closer.
Firstly, Minoan trade was extensive around the Mediterranean. Minoan agricultural products and luxury crafts turn up in Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean. Crete still produces wine, and mountains dominate the landscape. And there are tridents etched into the walls of Knossos Palace acting as directional signposts.
The various finds archaeologists have uncovered from sites across Greece indicate the civilisation was advanced and prosperous. Myths from later Ancient Greece suggest this information might have been common knowledge. So why isn’t Crete the lost civilisation of Atlantis?
Knossos, and Crete in general, simply wasn’t sunk under the waves. The Minoan volcanic eruption may have sent shockwaves to northeastern Crete, but it didn’t disrupt life elsewhere. When the Mycenaeans conquered Crete, life continued. They simply abandoned places for higher, more defensible ground.
There’s nothing to say the civilisation wasn’t an inspiration for the nature of the Atlanteans’ culture. It’s just that the Minoan decline wasn’t due to natural causes.
The Destruction of Akatori, a Contender for Atlantis
So did natural causes destroy any other ancient settlements to the extent Plato describes?
Yes, a volcano erupted sometime in the 16th century BCE and blew up the island of Santorini (Thera). Before the eruption, known as the Minoan eruption, the civilization, as discovered in the settlement of Akatori, showed paved streets, an extensive drainage system, and the production of high-quality pottery and further craft specialization. And it all suggests a level of sophistication. The city’s strategic location on the primary sailing route between Cyprus and Minoan Crete also made it an important point for the copper trade.
The force of the Minoan eruption was one of the largest volcanic events in human history. China at the time reported yellow skies and summer frost. The eruption resulted in an estimated 30-35 km (19-22 miles) high eruption column. It also generated 35-150 metre (115-492 foot) high tsunamis which devastated the coastal town of Amnisos on Crete, some 110 kilometres (68 miles) away.
There were four phases of volcanic activity. The first featured up to seven metres of pumice and ash deposited east-southeast. The second and third phases involved pyroclastic surges, lava fountaining, the initiation of caldera collapse, and possible tsunamis. What wasn’t buried before now definitely was. The last phase, the fourth phase, featured base surge deposits, lava flows, lahar floods and ignimbrite ash-fall deposits. The completion of caldera collapse produced mega-tsunamis.
Archaeologists haven’t found any human remains, which could mean the inhabitants of Akatori fled, at least since the earthquakes prior to the eruption. Some may have come back to bury the dead and recover their belongings, but for the most part, the island’s population fled.
We have the earthquakes and tsunamis of Atlantis. But it was the volcanic eruption that buried Akatori, not the tsunami. So where do we turn next?
The Sinking of Helike
Helike was an ancient Greek city-state that was submerged by a tsunami in the winter of 373 BCE. This was within Plato’s lifetime, around ten years before the estimated date of his dialogue, Timaeus. Modern research suggests the tsunami accompanied an earthquake. Sometime after the Roman era, the site silted over and people forgot all about it.
So just what was the city-state of Helike? And how similar was it to Plato’s Atlantis?
In the first instance, coins and the remains of a temple suggest Poseidon was the patron god of the city. Because of this temple, Helike was second only to Delphi in religious importance. People would travel to Helike for Poseidon’s blessings and to trade.
Secondly, there’s the destruction itself which is attributed to Poseidon’s wrath. Days prior to the event proper, “immense columns of flame appeared” and all the animals fled towards Keryneia. And then the city sank into the earth and the sea covered it over. All the inhabitants perished without a trace, and ten Spartan ships anchored in the harbour were dragged down with it.
Doesn’t that sound like what happened on Atlantis?
If the seismic activity caused soil liquification on a large scale, it could have dragged the city below sea level. If it was strong enough to knock down sections of the coastline, there would have been a tsunami flooding the inland lagoon.
From what archaeologists have uncovered so far, Helike doesn’t appear to be an advanced city-state, just a wealthy one. We can’t discount it as a contender simply because Plato most definitely heard of it (his enemy was in the city when it sunk).
Our next question is what we can learn from all this.
The Moral of the Story of Atlantis
Plato ends his tale of Atlantis quite simply. After an ill-fated attempt to conquer “Ancient Athens,” Atlantis falls out of favour with the deities and submerges into the Atlantic Ocean.
In more detail, according to Critias, 9,000 years before his lifetime (Critias’ lifetime being the 400s BCE) a big war took place between the Atlantean Empire and a resistance led by the Athenians. As the Athenian alliance disintegrated, the Athenians prevailed alone against the empire, liberating the occupied lands. After the war, Atlantis sank beneath the sea because the gods no longer granted them their favour.
Essentially, Plato is presenting an allegory on the hubris of nations. If you don’t respect the gods, you and your entire civilisation will get punished. (I find this rather similar to the Norse myths of destruction, as mentioned in this post.)
To put it into a modern context: if we don’t respect the earth we live on, Mother Earth is gonna get us really, really good. We can already see this in the havoc of wildfires and floods because of climate change. Nature always reclaims the abandoned buildings. Every culture has their own version of Ragnarök, and perhaps Plato was writing his own.
In our quest to find Atlantis, we must conclude that Plato’s intentions aren’t known to any historian, and he often borrowed elements from older traditions or made things up. Plato’s hand-wavy timeline and vague location has led to pseudoscience and misinterpretations, particularly around the nineteenth century. A lot of modern media around Atlantis tends toward the fantasy elements of an advanced prehistoric civilisation, rather than give any thought to the destruction itself.
If we want to understand what the story of Atlantis is telling us, we probably need to turn back to the natural world.
Conclusion
As with any ancient text, we have more questions than answers. We don’t know where Plato got his ideas from, or what sources he used to find them. But it’s clear that despite Atlantis being a fictional tale, there are grains of truth littered throughout the story.
We know from Plato’s descriptions that Atlantis’ downfall was earthquakes and floods, like in Helike and Akatori. We know Atlantis was an advanced and prosperous empire, like Akatori and Knossos. And we know Plato had heard of it, like Helike and Knossos. As a philosopher, Plato was no stranger to weaponizing his views for the masses.
So what can we learn from all this? People have tried to understand what Plato meant with Atlantis for centuries. The moral Plato gives is a warning for the hubris of humanity against the way the world works (or, if you’re Plato, the power of Athens).
In two of the three examples I’ve shared, a tsunami sunk the city because of another natural disaster (volcano in Santorini, earthquakes in Helike). In two of the examples, Poseidon was the main Greek god of the city (Knossos and Helike), and Poseidon was the god of the sea, earthquakes, and therefore tsunamis.
According to the Athenians, the dominant naval power at the time of Plato’s writing, the Athenians were the gods’ favoured people. And if you went up against them, you’d lose. Plato was no different. He adored Athens and wanted to showcase the city in the best light. The Atlantians went up against Athens and Poseidon showed them why that was a bad idea. Natural disasters destroyed the cities of Helike and Akrotori, and the Mycenaeans (the precursors of the Ancient Greeks) destroyed Knossos.
So my question to you now is, what do you think is the truth behind the lost city of Atlantis?
Resources and Links
- Atlantis: The Discovery with Dan Snow (2024). A fantastic documentary about the real locations which could have influenced Plato’s story.
- “Critias” by Plato, translated by Benjamin Jowett at Project Gutenberg. This is the dialogue which contains most of the references to Atlantis.
