Plato's Atlantis...

So...why does anyone think that Plato's Atlantis exists? Look at his writing...he's a satirist!

This is like people believing Plato's Republic existed.

People believe it exists because of the highly enlightened people that has been given "information" from atlanteans in the past

Otherwise, Plato doesnt say much about it, no. The story still bear a remarkable resemblance to the Minoan civilization though.

Plato a satarist? He may have used conjecture, imagery or allegory but he is generally credited with a sound and sane view of reality as observed by him and others of his time.

Why can't Atlantis be a good part of the ocean floor eg. when the levels of the ocean were much lower? We are not going to know much about history or archeology until we start exploring the worlds oceans to a large extent I believe.

Most people think its because Socrates studied in Eygpt, where he learnt of the story; Plato overheard him telling his father... this could be another tale, like Atlantis... or they could both be true. Follow it through and there's a 1/4 chance Atlantis is real... so simple lol

But seriously, how are we gonna know when we do find Atlantis? It could be any number of underwater cities we've found.

[edit on 1/3/06 by byhiniur]

Good point, how will we know? What if Atlantis was a lot bigger place than we though it was and had diverse cultures within it's boundaries? We could discover parts of it and never realize that many parts make up the whole. Somewhere there has to be a roadmap to finding Atlantis and I tend to think it is in Egypt.

I'm not as confident in its existence as you, Status. I think that there were great civilisations in the past that we don't know about, but thats the thing... we don't know about them. We get this legendry story from Plato. From the best account I have, he overheard it in his youth. Socrates was telling his father, maybe enjoying a bit too much to drink, and tells this story of a once great nation, to explain how the people who he met in Egypt could create such marvelous pyramids (which in those days shone in gold) despite not seeming as civilised as the culture in his homeland.

Topic closed... we have so many threads with this same topic. Please add to them, instead.

Thanks.