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What if · Story 2

What If Plato Was Telling the Truth About Atlantis?

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Plato is the only ancient source for Atlantis. This story takes his two dialogues, the Timaeus and the Critias, at their word and tells what they describe, in order, with his own words under every chapter.

This is a story, not proven history

This is a story built from Plato's words, not proven history: there is no archaeological evidence that Atlantis existed, and most scholars think Plato made it up to teach a lesson.

How to read it: start at chapter 1 and go in order. Each chapter quotes the text first, then tells the story, then says what is actually known.

  1. 1. Solon Hears a Story in EgyptAn Athenian lawmaker named Solon visits the Egyptian city of Sais and asks the priests about the distant past.About 590 to 560 BCE, when Solon travelled (Plato gives no exact year)
  2. 2. Why the Greeks ForgotThe priest explains that fires and floods keep wiping out people and their memories, but Egypt kept its records safe.Plato's priest speaks of events 9,000 years before Solon (about 9600 BCE)
  3. 3. Poseidon Builds an Island of RingsOut past the Strait of Gibraltar lies a huge island, and the sea god Poseidon carves its centre into rings of land and water.Before the war, in an age Plato places more than 9,000 years before Solon
  4. 4. A City of Canals and Shining WallsThe kings of Atlantis grow rich and build a city of bridges, canals, harbours, metal-covered walls and a silver temple.Many generations after Atlas, still more than 9,000 years before Solon
  5. 5. The Law on the PillarThe ten kings keep their laws on a metal pillar and meet in secret to hunt a bull and judge one another.The long age of the ten kings, as Plato tells it
  6. 6. The Empire Goes to WarAtlantis grows greedy, conquers lands across the Mediterranean, and tries to enslave Athens and Egypt, but Athens stands and wins.9,000 years before Solon (about 9600 BCE)
  7. 7. One Day and One NightEarthquakes and floods strike, and in a single day and night the island of Atlantis sinks into the sea.Soon after the war, about 9600 BCE by Plato's count
  8. 8. The Story Stops Mid-SentenceZeus calls the gods together to decide how to punish Atlantis, and just as he starts to speak, the text ends.The moment before Atlantis is judged; the dialogue was written about 360 BCE

All sources

  1. Plato's TimaeusA dialogue written by the Greek philosopher Plato in Athens around 360 BC. It opens with the story of Atlantis, said to come from Egyptian priests by way of the Athenian lawmaker Solon, then explains how the world was made. It is the oldest source for Atlantis; no earlier writer mentions it.Plato, Timaeus, translated by Benjamin Jowett (Project Gutenberg ebook 1572), hosted in the Credible Theories Library
  2. The Histories, by HerodotusA history of the wars between Greece and Persia by Herodotus, often called the father of history, written around 430 BC. It also records what he heard on his travels, such as Egyptian priests' claims about the age of their kingdom. He sometimes passes on stories he did not believe himself.Herodotus, Histories 1.30 (Solon visits Amasis in Egypt), translated by A. D. Godley, Perseus Digital Library
  3. Plutarch's LivesLife stories of famous Greeks and Romans written by Plutarch, a Greek writer and priest at Delphi, around AD 100 to 120. They are full of personal detail and anecdotes, not all of them checked. Bernadotte Perrin's English version came out from 1914.Plutarch, Life of Solon 26 and 31 to 32, translated by Bernadotte Perrin (Loeb, 1914), LacusCurtius
  4. WikipediaA free online encyclopedia written and edited by volunteers. It is a good starting point and usually lists its own sources, but anyone can change it, so we treat it as a guide to better sources, not the final word.Wikipedia, 'Sais, Egypt' Archived copy, 2026-07-18
  5. Plato's TimaeusBenjamin Jowett, Introduction to the Timaeus (1892), in the same Library file: 'The tale of Atlantis is the fabric of a vision' and 'there is no such legend in any writer previous to Plato'
  6. WikipediaWikipedia, 'Holocene' (start of the epoch about 11,700 years ago)
  7. WikipediaWikipedia, 'Younger Dryas' (the last cold snap of the ice age) Archived copy, 2026-10-03
  8. Plato's CritiasA dialogue Plato wrote soon after the Timaeus, around 360 BC, describing Atlantis, its ring-shaped harbors and its kings, and the gods' decision to punish it. Plato left it unfinished; every copy breaks off mid-sentence. Most scholars think Plato made up Atlantis to make a point.Plato, Critias, translated by Benjamin Jowett (Project Gutenberg ebook 1571), hosted in the Credible Theories Library
  9. WikipediaWikipedia, 'Pillars of Hercules'
  10. US Geological SurveyThe US Geological Survey, the government's science agency for the earth, its rocks, water and natural hazards. Its publications are written and checked by its scientists.U.S. Geological Survey, This Dynamic Earth: 'Understanding plate motions' (the Mid-Atlantic Ridge)
  11. WikipediaWikipedia, 'Atlantis' Archived copy, 2026-10-03
  12. WikipediaWikipedia, 'Richat Structure'
  13. WikipediaWikipedia, 'Orichalcum' (including the 2015 ingots found off Gela, Sicily)
  14. Plato's TimaeusPlato, Timaeus and Critias, translated by W. R. M. Lamb (Loeb, 1925), Perseus Digital Library, used to check the Stephanus section numbers
  15. WikipediaWikipedia, 'Bull-leaping'
  16. WikipediaWikipedia, 'Doggerland' Archived copy, 2026-10-02
  17. A research articleAn article written by a researcher and published in a scholarly journal or book. Most such journals have other experts check a paper before it is printed, so it carries more weight than a news story, though later studies can still change the picture.Walker, J., Gaffney, V. and others, 'A great wave: the Storegga tsunami and the end of Doggerland?', Antiquity 94 (378), 2020
  18. BBC NewsThe news service of the BBC, the UK's public broadcaster. A mainstream news source with professional editors; it reports on events rather than being the original record.Paul Rincon, 'Prehistoric North Sea "Atlantis" hit by 5m tsunami', BBC News, 1 May 2014
  19. WikipediaWikipedia, 'Minoan eruption' Archived copy, 2026-09-18
  20. WikipediaWikipedia, 'Akrotiri (prehistoric city)'
  21. A research articleSpyridon Marinatos, 'The Volcanic Destruction of Minoan Crete', Antiquity 13 (52), 1939
  22. WikipediaWikipedia, 'Critias (dialogue)'
  23. Atlantis: The Antediluvian World (1882)An 1882 book by Ignatius Donnelly, an American congressman and writer, arguing that Plato's Atlantis was real and the source of all ancient civilizations. It was hugely popular and shaped most later Atlantis theories, but scholars reject its claims.Ignatius Donnelly, Atlantis: The Antediluvian World (1882), Project Gutenberg ebook 4032

Questions people ask about What If Plato Was Telling the Truth About Atlantis?

Is Atlantis real?

There is no archaeological or geological evidence that Atlantis existed. The only ancient source is Plato, writing around 360 BCE, and most scholars read the story as a parable he invented about a proud empire and an ideal Athens.

Where did Plato say Atlantis was?

Plato placed Atlantis in the Atlantic Ocean, just outside the Pillars of Heracles, the Greek name for the Strait of Gibraltar. He said it was larger than Libya and Asia put together (Timaeus 24e).

When did Atlantis sink according to Plato?

Plato says the war with Athens and the sinking happened 9,000 years before Solon's visit to Egypt, which works out to about 9600 BCE. He says the island sank in a single day and night of earthquakes and floods (Timaeus 25c-d).

Who first told the Atlantis story?

Plato is the first known writer to tell it, in the Timaeus and the Critias. In the dialogues he says the Athenian lawmaker Solon heard it from Egyptian priests at Sais, but no earlier text or Egyptian record of it has been found.

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