Political Philosophy PDF EPUB Audio

Critias

by Plato

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Pages: 20

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Read by Kevin Johnson · 1 h 6 min · 2 parts

Section I
20:48
Section II
45:44

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About this book

Ancient Athens and the island of Atlantis stand opposite one another in Plato's unfinished dialogue. Critias presents a story traced through Solon to Egyptian priests, setting the rival societies nine thousand years before his own time. Benjamin Jowett's translation includes an introduction that considers the account as an imaginative representation of the ideal state, rather than a map to a lost island.

The descriptions linger on how people live and how land supports them. Athenian guardians share dwellings near the temples, while artisans and farmers work below the Acropolis. Forests, deep soil and springs are compared with a landscape thinned by floods and erosion. Atlantis supplies a different scale of construction: concentric waterways, a royal palace, metal-covered walls and richly decorated temples.

About the author

Plato

Plato (c. 428-348 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher, student of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle, and founder of the Academy in Athens. His dialogues are among the most influential works in the history of thought.