Atlantis (was: Re: [UA] Commercial)

[Ysidro]

Nick Wedig wrote:
> 
> >I hate to get all mundane on you, but a it's probably because in the
> >dialogue, Plato has Socrates claiming it's true and the story was handed
> >down from Solon.  Everyone seems to take this as fact.  However, there's
> >no reason to actually think this.  It lends an air of veracity to what
> >is otherwise another simple allegory.  I can find no reference to Solon
> >writing about Atlantis that doesn't wind up being from Plato.
> 
> The thing is, Socrates says 

You did mean Plato, didn't you?  Because if not,  I'm confused.  :)

> that about a bunch of the other allegories as well.  Not always Solon, but he claims that the story about, > say, the guy with the ring of invisibility (the standard fantasy staple long before it was so) is true and he > heard it from some reliable source, but no one believes that.  (Actually, the guy witht he invisibility ring > might be an anecdote from Herodotus, but the point remains).


OK.  I'm not familiar with all (read most) of the allegories.  Maybe a
lost kingdom is just easier to believe in than a magic ring.    There
are other legends of "lost cities".  Heck, some of them have even been
found.  Plus, you can use these legends to support other theories just
as "Atlantis - The Antediluvian World" did.  I blame that book and Edgar
Cayce, really.

Great, now I'm getting interested in tracking down the history of belief
in the existance of Atlantis.  So far Ignatius Donnelly's "Atlantis -
The Antediluvian World" is the oldest non-Platonian reference I can
find.  However, reading it gives an impression that this has been
discussed before.

OBUA: <insert random mention of cliomancy>

> Mr. Teapot
> and his magic power ring
> 

Greg and his Amazing Technocolor Magnavox with Picture in Picture
-- 
Penn-Ohio Historical European Martial Arts Society
http://members.bellatlantic.net/~ysidro/pohemas.html

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