Customer Reviews

The Atlantis Dialogue: Plato's Original Story of the Lost City and Continent

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This is the source of the whole tale. The translation is 19th century, so if you prefer a more modern style English, you should perhaps look for another book. But I like this old style, long sentences with lots of punctuation marks; kind of varies the pace more than the modern, boring way the language is written--don't you think? Another plus is that it has brought out only the parts from Critias and Timaeus that deal with Atlantis (adn Athens), making it compact.

I was pleased to be able to own in book form this literature by Plato, even if it is available online for free. There is something about having a book in my hand that I truly enjoy. Anyway, I wish this book was JUST Plato's work on Atlantis, not including such a bias intro, calling Plato's story of Atlantis "pure fiction" discounting it as a real possibility of place and history.

The first best thing to do when seriously curious about a legend like Atlantis is to become familiar with the source materials from which it sprang, in order to expose later embellishments. Enhancements added over time commonly render otherwise believable original accounts into fanciful yarns, believable only as myths. (Sorting out the embellishments from legitimate research findings is another task.) This book presents that source account; the whole and nothing but. It is much like an archaeological find; a genuine relic dug up. A bit pricey for its size; its main sellig point is convenience: Quick, easy, portable reference, without the bulk of the full dialogues; and its slim enough to fit into a notebook. The editor seems to hint of bias in the introduction; but, the text itself is plain and free of italics, paraphrasing, and other editors' devices, and is not a new translation. To me, this oldest version reads like a new one. I found no mention of lasers, energy vortices, or power crystals. I did find an eerily familiar description of a civilization whose construction and archetectural achievements and innovations were no more astounding, and certainly no less, than those of the Egyptians, Chinese, Romans, Maya, or Inca, most of which remain equally mystifying. I was far more intrigued by the plausibility of this story than by the modern myth it has become. Atlantis must remain a myth until someone finds it. On the other hand; the city Ilios of Troy was also another myth invented by another ancient author for another work of fiction, until it was discovered in 1871 by Heinrich Schliemann, using Homer's Iliad as his guide. If Atlantis can be found, the lead clues are in this work.

I enjoyed the dialogues immensely, however, one who is looking for a more in depth look into Plato's philosopies on this "Utopic Society, Atlantis", this is not the book. From a theatrical perspective it is great fun and the imagination takes over.

While the content of the book was quite interesting, all the author did was combine Plato's dialogues of Timaeus and Critias which are free in various formats on the Internet. I already had them and was expecting more than a mere title change. The author's opinion of Plato's work can be viewed on the back cover where he quotes Socrates in bold italics "... what a lot of lies this young man is telling about me!" As far as I see it, he is merely using the popularity of the name Atlantis to fund a self-publishing enterprise. P.S. Kudos to Plato.

This is a very small book, but then it contains all that Plato managed to tell us about the mysterious island nation of Atlantis. Very nice to have it all compact in one source. I wanted more, but then so have generations of people. A valuable resource.

In my quest to obtain and read on the story of Atlantis, I learned that only Plato ever actually wrote about it. That being the case, I went in search of the writings that would allow me to see the original story, and not the convoluted versions handled by the Atlanian Conspiritors. That said, I have learned that it was the Timaeus and Critias which it was described.

I am glad I did get this book, I also obtained the Penguin Classics Timaeus and Critias, because I learned a lot. For example: The orininal tale of Atlantis was not about Atlantis only. It was really a tale of Athena and the war Athens had to fight against the Atlanean invaders.

Further, it increased my belief that such places did exist and that Atlantis is probably under the Atlantic ocean due to the wide spread influence Atlantis had, and the further reference to how Athens freed all the other nations, including Lybia and Egypt, from the domination of the Atlanteans.

If you want to simply read about the Athens-Atlantis war and cultures, then this is the book for you. If you want more on the Myth part of the tale, then go for the Penguin Classic, Timaeus and Critias (Warning, Timaeus and Critias removes from the historic reference of Ancient Greece as a polytheistic society and puts it into a duplex theology of a Single God, who made the other

I understand all things in a book must be questioned.
I found this book very interesting and enlightening.
I recommend an objective mind to review this book and enjoy it.

This book is really quite intriguing. But, if your looking for great adventure, this isn't the book for you. On the other hand, this book does provide what seems to be a first-hand account of Atlantis. Whether Atlantis turns out to be fact or fiction, this is an interesting read.

This is a very concise summary that contains the info from Plato's writings that directly talk about Atlantis. You can read the entire book in about an hour.

The author is wrong in saying in the introduction that Atlantis was not a real place. Many people are experiencing past life memories now and remembering their experiences on Atlantis.

Fascinatingly it indicates that at the beginning the gods divided up the earth and Poseidon took what was to become Atlantis. Poseidon created Atlantis and another name for Atlantis is Poseidia.

Poseidon's first born son was Atlas who the Atlantic ocean was named after. Sadly Atlas was turned into a mountain of stone by the witch Medussa if I remember my mythology correctly.

The temple of Poseideon was beautiful but yet had a 'strange, barbaric appearance'.

Fascinatingly Plato abruptly ends his writings at precicely the point where Zeus and the other gods have convened to talk about destroying Atlantis (and I think some other places).

Why did Plato do this ? Was he perhaps afraid of misquoting 'the god of gods' ?

Sadly we may never know.

But most likely it was only through the intervention of the gods that Athens could have defeated Atlantis. I think the Atlanteans had nuclear weapons and other strange military technologies.

I suspect that Plato was in fact the reincarnation of Poseidon.

As Plato's student Aristotle said of Atlantis:

"He who invented it also destroyed it."

Jeff Marzano

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