Plato said that Atlantis was a large island that was in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. He said that it was a very advanced society and that it was sunk by a natural disaster.
Actually, Plato’s account of Atlantis is only one of many stories about lost civilizations. He wrote this story to teach his students about how great civilizations could be destroyed by their own mistakes and vices.
According to Plato, Atlantis was governed by “nine kings” who were descended from Poseidon (the Greek god associated with horses). They divided up land in a fair way and built palaces for themselves on an island near Egypt called Platea. The people lived for several thousand years until an earthquake destroyed their city, leading them to move westward towards Sicily, Italy, Spain and North Africa. These people were known as the Atlantians and they passed down their knowledge from generation to generation until they settled in what we now call Egypt.
Plato also said that there were Egyptian priests who told him about this island when he visited Egypt in his 20s. A few years later, while traveling through the Mediterranean Sea on his way home from Italy, he met someone who claimed to have seen the ruins of Atlantis near Sicily.
He wrote about Atlantis in two of his books: Timaeus and Critias. These books were written around 360 BC but weren’t published until many years later. The story has been interpreted as an allegory for Athens’ rise to power and eventual decline.
