What is the origin of Plato's theory about the lost city of Atlantis?

Allergic2Life

In Plato's book, Timaeus, a character named Kritias tells an account of Atlantis that has been in his family for generations. According to the character, the story was originally told to his ancestor, Solon, by a priest during Solon's visit to Egypt. There had been a powerful empire located to the west of the "Pillars of Hercules" (what we now call the Straight of Gibraltar) on an island in the Atlantic Ocean. The nation there had been established by Poseidon, the God of the Sea. Poseidon fathered five sets of twins on the island. The firstborn, Atlas, had the continent and the surrounding ocean named for him. Poseidon divided the land into ten sections, each to be ruled by a son, or his heirs. http://www.unmuseum.org/atlantis.htm Jul 26 06, 7:55 AM

zbeckabee

With all due respect to Plato and in all fairness to Homer, one must really include Akrotiri, Santorini in the discussions. Now THIS is a "sweet" website!!! http://www.galenfrysinger.com/akrotiri.htm Jul 26 06, 9:04 AM

8m57w6

There was recently a History Channel show about this. It said that the origins of the story of Atlantis came from the Ancient Egyptians, and was passed down, eventually to Plato. The Egyptians knew of it because after the explosion, people from the area fled to Egypt, because they were trading parteners. It is believed that the Eruption that happened was 10 times larger than that of Krakatoa. Jul 26 06, 6:05 PM