Atlantis: the island of Plato

Book extract

Atlantis: the island of Plato

Translated by Elena Castorina

Index

Foreword................................................................. 5

Introduction............................................................ 19

1. The origins of the Myth and the previous researches of Atlantis 21

2. The city, the plain and the whole island................. 33

3. The Region of Gades and its Pillars of Heracles... 43

4. About the Hyperboreans and the garden of the Hesperides 66

5. The expedition of the Argonauts........................... 80

6. The Island of Atlantis............................................. 120

7. The city of Atlantis.................................................. 147

8. Greenland ice cap.................................................... 159

Valediction.............................................................. 168

Appendices.............................................................. 173

Bibliography............................................................ 195

Image Credits.......................................................... 203

Foreword

"Is it true what Plato tells? This is what all the readers of the tale of Atlantis wonder". This is how the famous Greek scholar Enrico Turolla (1896-1985) introduces the myth of the island disappeared, which Plato summoned first in his Timaeus and Critias, and which, since then on, has never ended to let rivers of ink flow.

The answer provided by the scholar himself is clear and firm: in his opinion, Plato "is the carrier of a tale coming from much farther. He has received, has organized, but has not invented anything. In fact, he has accurately kept, like the reference to the continent beyond the sea (Timaeus, 25a1) shows undoubtedly". This refers to the part where Plato states that in the Atlantic, beyond the missing island, there are other isles, beyond which the immense sea is surrounded by "a land that, absolutely, clearly and for sure (pantelôs alethôs orthótata), can be called a continent". Now, the fact that a wonderful thinker like Plato, with his ever-elegant prose, has put his credibility on the line, by betting on the existence of a continent beyond the sea that was completely unknown in his days – with three adverbs after each other – shows the reliability of his tale (and of his sources, which he clearly had utmost confidence in), for we know nowadays, that continent beyond the ocean truly exists!