1 h 6 minAudiobook9 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when an ideal city faces an island rich in canals, temples and gleaming metal?
In Plato’s unfinished dialogue Critias, Socrates asks to see his ideal city brought to life. Critias answers with a story of ancient Athens and its war against Atlantis, a great sea power beyond the Pillars of Heracles. Farmers and warriors stand against an island whose wealth fills a richly described landscape.
Critias traces his account through his family to Solon, the Athenian lawgiver who hears the tale from Egyptian priests. He insists that it is true. As his story moves between Athens and Atlantis, Plato explores laws, virtue and their slow loss. The dialogue stops before the tale is complete, leaving its questions open.
What you’ll discover
- The source of Atlantis Explore the main ancient source for the island and the story Critias claims is true.
- An ideal city tested See how ancient Athens gives concrete shape to the city Socrates pictures in theory.
- Rings of gleaming metal Enter an island landscape of canals, temples and prized orichalcum, second only to gold.
- Laws beneath the wealth Discover kings who renew their oaths beside laws inscribed in the temple of Poseidon.
- Virtue under strain Follow the contrast between great wealth and the slow loss of laws and virtue.
Who will love it
For anyone curious about the origin of the Atlantis story, or about how Plato tests his ideal city against a living example.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Critias takes on a harder task
- A story carried from Egypt to Athens
- Ancient Athens is the ideal city at work
- Poseidon founds a royal house on Atlantis
- A city of rings, canals and gleaming metal
- Laws, virtue and the slow loss of both
Who’s who
- CritiasAn Athenian who tells the story of ancient Athens and Atlantis, claiming it came down to him through his family from Solon.
- SocratesThe philosopher who asked for a living picture of his ideal city and listens kindly to the speakers.
- TimaeusAn astronomer who has just spoken on the making of the universe and now hands the stage to Critias.
- HermocratesA Syracusan guest who will speak after Critias and who urges the company to grant the speaker its patience.
- SolonThe Athenian lawgiver and poet who heard the tale from Egyptian priests at Sais and meant to make it into a poem.
- PoseidonThe sea god who receives Atlantis, loves the mortal Cleito, and shapes the island's central hill into a ringed fortress.
- AtlasThe eldest of Poseidon's ten sons, who rules the central kingdom and gives his name to the island and the sea.
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Critias
by Plato
On an island of canals, temples and metal walls, Critias explores what keeps a city good and what ruins it.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
Critias takes on a harder task
The dialogue picks up right after the Timaeus, with the same company. Socrates is there, along with Timaeus, Critias and Hermocrates. The night before, Socrates had asked for a favor. He had described an ideal city in speech, and he wished to see it in action, like a beautiful painting come to life. The three guests agreed to repay his hospitality with speeches. Timaeus has done his part by telling of the cosmos and of human origins.
Now Critias must take the next step. He will bring the people of the ideal city into history and show them in a great trial. He admits at once that his job is harder than that of Timaeus. Timaeus spoke of the gods, and listeners forgive a speaker who falls short on such a vast subject. Critias must speak of mortals, and an audience is quick to notice any mistake in a portrait of its own kind.
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What is Critias by Plato about?
It is a dialogue in which Critias describes an ancient Athens and the island of Atlantis. He tells how each was founded, how they were ruled, and how their values differed. It is the main ancient source for the Atlantis story.
Is the story of Atlantis in Critias true?
Plato presents it as a true account from Egyptian priests, but scholars disagree. Many think he invented it to illustrate his ideas about the state, and no firm evidence of such an island has been found.
Why is Critias unfinished?
No one knows for sure. The text simply stops just before Zeus speaks, and ancient writers did not explain why. Some think Plato left it incomplete, perhaps because he turned to other work, such as the Laws.
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