Critias (Atlantis) By Plato Audiobook

Critias (Atlantis) By Plato audiobook with text and illustrations, and dramatized 🎵 with sound effects and music, by Audiobooks Dimension.

critias, the athenian philosopher is thinking about something

Title : Critias (Κριτίας)
Author : Plato (Πλάτων)
Written : 357 BCE.
Place of Origin : Ancient Greece
Original Media type : Papyrus, Manuscript
Original Language : Ancient Greek
Genre(s) : Ancient Greece, Dialogue, Philosophy
Translator : Benjamin Jowett (1817 - 1893)
Narrators : David Timson, David Rintoul, Peter Kenny, and Full Cast
Musician : Nature's Eye
Editor : Audiobooks Dimension

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Dramatized 🎵

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Critias (Κριτίας), one of Plato's late dialogues, recounts the story of the mighty island kingdom Atlantis and its attempt to conquer Athens, which failed due to the ordered society of the Athenians. Critias is the second of a projected trilogy of dialogues, preceded by Timaeus and followed by Hermocrates. The latter was possibly never written and the ending to Critias has been lost.

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INTRODUCTION AND ANALYSIS.

   The Critias is a fragment which breaks off in the middle of a sentence. It was designed to be the second part of a trilogy, which, like the other great Platonic trilogy of the Sophist, Statesman, Philosopher, was never completed. Timaeus had brought down the origin of the world to the creation of man, and the dawn of history was now to succeed the philosophy of nature. The Critias is also connected with the Republic. Plato, as he has already told us (Timaeus), intended to represent the ideal state engaged in a patriotic conflict. This mythical conflict is prophetic or symbolical of the struggle of Athens and Persia, perhaps in some degree also of the wars of the Greeks and Carthaginians, in the same way that the Persian is prefigured by the Trojan war to the mind of Herodotus, or as the narrative of the first part of the Aeneid is intended by Virgil to foreshadow the wars of Carthage and Rome. The small number of the primitive Athenian citizens (20,000), 'which is about their present number' (Critias), is evidently designed to contrast with the myriads and barbaric array of the Atlantic hosts. The passing remark in the Timaeus that Athens was left alone in the struggle, in which she conquered and became the liberator of Greece, is also an allusion to the later history. Hence we may safely conclude that the entire narrative is due to the imagination of Plato, who has used the name of Solon and introduced the Egyptian priests to give verisimilitude to his story. To the Greek such a tale, like that of the earth-born men, would have seemed perfectly accordant with the character of his mythology, and not more marvellous than the wonders of the East narrated by Herodotus and others: he might have been deceived into believing it. But it appears strange that later ages should have been imposed upon by the fiction. As many attempts have been made to find the great island of Atlantis, as to discover the country of the lost tribes. Without regard to the description of Plato, and without a suspicion that the whole narrative is a fabrication, interpreters have looked for the spot in every part of the globe, America, Arabia Felix, Ceylon, Palestine, Sardinia, Sweden.

   Timaeus concludes with a prayer that his words may be acceptable to the God whom he has revealed, and Critias, whose turn follows, begs that a larger measure of indulgence may be conceded to him, because he has to speak of men whom we know and not of gods whom we do not know. Socrates readily grants his request, and anticipating that Hermocrates will make a similar petition, extends by anticipation a like indulgence to him.

   Critias returns to his story, professing only to repeat what Solon was told by the priests. The war of which he was about to speak had occurred 9000 years ago. One of the combatants was the city of Athens, the other was the great island of Atlantis. Critias proposes to speak of these rival powers first of all, giving to Athens the precedence; the various tribes of Greeks and barbarians who took part in the war will be dealt with as they successively appear on the scene.

   In the beginning the gods agreed to divide the earth by lot in a friendly manner, and when they had made the allotment they settled their several countries, and were the shepherds or rather the pilots of mankind, whom they guided by persuasion, and not by force. Hephaestus and Athena, brother and sister deities, in mind and art united, obtained as their lot the land of Attica, a land suited to the growth of virtue and wisdom; and there they settled a brave race of children of the soil, and taught them how to order the state. Some of their names, such as Cecrops, Erechtheus, Erichthonius, and Erysichthon, were preserved and adopted in later times, but the memory of their deeds has passed away; for there have since been many deluges, and the remnant who survived in the mountains were ignorant of the art of writing, and during many generations were wholly devoted to acquiring the means of life...And the armed image of the goddess which was dedicated by the ancient Athenians is an evidence to other ages that men and women had in those days, as they ought always to have, common virtues and pursuits. There were various classes of citizens, including handicraftsmen and husbandmen and a superior class of warriors who dwelt apart, and were educated, and had all things in common, like our guardians. Attica in those days extended southwards to the Isthmus, and inland to the heights of Parnes and Cithaeron, and between them and the sea included the district of Oropus. The country was then, as what remains of it still is, the most fertile in the world, and abounded in rich plains and pastures. But in the course of ages much of the soil was washed away and disappeared in the deep sea. And the inhabitants of this fair land were endowed with intelligence and the love of beauty.

   The Acropolis of the ancient Athens extended to the Ilissus and Eridanus, and included the Pnyx, and the Lycabettus on the opposite side to the Pnyx, having a level surface and deep soil. The side of the hill was inhabited by craftsmen and husbandmen; and the warriors dwelt by themselves on the summit, around the temples of Hephaestus and Athene, in an enclosure which was like the garden of a single house. In winter they retired into houses on the north of the hill, in which they held their syssitia. These were modest dwellings, which they bequeathed unaltered to their children's children. In summer time the south side was inhabited by them, and then they left their gardens and dining-halls. In the midst of the Acropolis was a fountain, which gave an abundant supply of cool water in summer and warm in winter; of this there are still some traces. They were careful to preserve the number of fighting men and women at 20,000, which is equal to that of the present military force. And so they passed their lives as guardians of the citizens and leaders of the Hellenes. They were a just and famous race, celebrated for their beauty and virtue all over Europe and Asia.

   And now I will speak to you of their adversaries, but first I ought to explain that the Greek names were given to Solon in an Egyptian form, and he enquired their meaning and translated them. His manuscript was left with my grandfather Dropides, and is now in my possession...In the division of the earth Poseidon obtained as his portion the island of Atlantis, and there he begat children whose mother was a mortal. Towards the sea and in the centre of the island there was a very fair and fertile plain, and near the centre, about fifty stadia from the plain, there was a low mountain in which dwelt a man named Evenor and his wife Leucippe, and their daughter Cleito, of whom Poseidon became enamoured. He to secure his love enclosed the mountain with rings or zones varying in size, two of land and three of sea, which his divine power readily enabled him to excavate and fashion, and, as there was no shipping in those days, no man could get into the place. To the interior island he conveyed under the earth springs of water hot and cold, and supplied the land with all things needed for the life of man. Here he begat a family consisting of five pairs of twin male children. The eldest was Atlas, and him he made king of the centre island, while to his twin brother, Eumelus, or Gadeirus, he assigned that part of the country which was nearest the Straits. The other brothers he made chiefs over the rest of the island. And their kingdom extended as far as Egypt and Tyrrhenia. Now Atlas had a fair posterity, and great treasures derived from mines—among them that precious metal orichalcum; and there was abundance of wood, and herds of elephants, and pastures for animals of all kinds, and fragrant herbs, and grasses, and trees bearing fruit. These they used, and employed themselves in constructing their temples, and palaces, and harbours, and docks, in the following manner:—First, they bridged over the zones of sea, and made a way to and from the royal palace which they built in the centre island. This ancient palace was ornamented by successive generations; and they dug a canal which passed through the zones of land from the island to the sea. The zones of earth were surrounded by walls made of stone of divers colours, black and white and red, which they sometimes intermingled for the sake of ornament; and as they quarried they hollowed out beneath the edges of the zones double docks having roofs of rock. The outermost of the walls was coated with brass, the second with tin, and the third, which was the wall of the citadel, flashed with the red light of orichalcum. In the interior of the citadel was a holy temple, dedicated to Cleito and Poseidon, and surrounded by an enclosure of gold, and there was Poseidon's own temple, which was covered with silver, and the pinnacles with gold. The roof was of ivory, adorned with gold and silver and orichalcum, and the rest of the interior was lined with orichalcum. Within was an image of the god standing in a chariot drawn by six winged horses, and touching the roof with his head; around him were a hundred Nereids, riding on dolphins. Outside the temple were placed golden statues of all the descendants of the ten kings and of their wives; there was an altar too, and there were palaces, corresponding to the greatness and glory both of the kingdom and of the temple.

   Also there were fountains of hot and cold water, and suitable buildings surrounding them, and trees, and there were baths both of the kings and of private individuals, and separate baths for women, and also for cattle. The water from the baths was carried to the grove of Poseidon, and by aqueducts over the bridges to the outer circles. And there were temples in the zones, and in the larger of the two there was a racecourse for horses, which ran all round the island. The guards were distributed in the zones according to the trust reposed in them; the most trusted of them were stationed in the citadel. The docks were full of triremes and stores. The land between the harbour and the sea was surrounded by a wall, and was crowded with dwellings, and the harbour and canal resounded with the din of human voices.

   The plain around the city was highly cultivated and sheltered from the north by mountains; it was oblong, and where falling out of the straight line followed the circular ditch, which was of an incredible depth. This depth received the streams which came down from the mountains, as well as the canals of the interior, and found a way to the sea. The entire country was divided into sixty thousand lots, each of which was a square of ten stadia; and the owner of a lot was bound to furnish the sixth part of a war-chariot, so as to make up ten thousand chariots, two horses and riders upon them, a pair of chariot-horses without a seat, and an attendant and charioteer, two hoplites, two archers, two slingers, three stone-shooters, three javelin-men, and four sailors to make up the complement of twelve hundred ships.

   Each of the ten kings was absolute in his own city and kingdom. The relations of the different governments to one another were determined by the injunctions of Poseidon, which had been inscribed by the first kings on a column of orichalcum in the temple of Poseidon, at which the kings and princes gathered together and held a festival every fifth and every sixth year alternately. Around the temple ranged the bulls of Poseidon, one of which the ten kings caught and sacrificed, shedding the blood of the victim over the inscription, and vowing not to transgress the laws of their father Poseidon. When night came, they put on azure robes and gave judgment against offenders. The most important of their laws related to their dealings with one another. They were not to take up arms against one another, and were to come to the rescue if any of their brethren were attacked. They were to deliberate in common about war, and the king was not to have the power of life and death over his kinsmen, unless he had the assent of the majority.

   For many generations, as tradition tells, the people of Atlantis were obedient to the laws and to the gods, and practised gentleness and wisdom in their intercourse with one another. They knew that they could only have the true use of riches by not caring about them. But gradually the divine portion of their souls became diluted with too much of the mortal admixture, and they began to degenerate, though to the outward eye they appeared glorious as ever at the very time when they were filled with all iniquity. The all-seeing Zeus, wanting to punish them, held a council of the gods, and when he had called them together, he spoke as follows:—

   No one knew better than Plato how to invent 'a noble lie.' Observe (1) the innocent declaration of Socrates, that the truth of the story is a great advantage: (2) the manner in which traditional names and indications of geography are intermingled ('Why, here be truths!'): (3) the extreme minuteness with which the numbers are given, as in the Old Epic poetry: (4) the ingenious reason assigned for the Greek names occurring in the Egyptian tale: (5) the remark that the armed statue of Athena indicated the common warrior life of men and women: (6) the particularity with which the third deluge before that of Deucalion is affirmed to have been the great destruction: (7) the happy guess that great geological changes have been effected by water: (8) the indulgence of the prejudice against sailing beyond the Columns, and the popular belief of the shallowness of the ocean in that part: (9) the confession that the depth of the ditch in the Island of Atlantis was not to be believed, and 'yet he could only repeat what he had heard', compared with the statement made in an earlier passage that Poseidon, being a God, found no difficulty in contriving the water-supply of the centre island: (10) the mention of the old rivalry of Poseidon and Athene, and the creation of the first inhabitants out of the soil. Plato here, as elsewhere, ingeniously gives the impression that he is telling the truth which mythology had corrupted.

   The world, like a child, has readily, and for the most part unhesitatingly, accepted the tale of the Island of Atlantis. In modern times we hardly seek for traces of the submerged continent; but even Mr. Grote is inclined to believe in the Egyptian poem of Solon of which there is no evidence in antiquity; while others, like Martin, discuss the Egyptian origin of the legend, or like M. de Humboldt, whom he quotes, are disposed to find in it a vestige of a widely-spread tradition. Others, adopting a different vein of reflection, regard the Island of Atlantis as the anticipation of a still greater island—the Continent of America. 'The tale,' says M. Martin, 'rests upon the authority of the Egyptian priests; and the Egyptian priests took a pleasure in deceiving the Greeks.' He never appears to suspect that there is a greater deceiver or magician than the Egyptian priests, that is to say, Plato himself, from the dominion of whose genius the critic and natural philosopher of modern times are not wholly emancipated. Although worthless in respect of any result which can be attained by them, discussions like those of M. Martin (Timée) have an interest of their own, and may be compared to the similar discussions regarding the Lost Tribes (2 Esdras), as showing how the chance word of some poet or philosopher has given birth to endless religious or historical enquiries. (See Introduction to the Timaeus.)

   In contrasting the small Greek city numbering about twenty thousand inhabitants with the barbaric greatness of the island of Atlantis, Plato probably intended to show that a state, such as the ideal Athens, was invincible, though matched against any number of opponents (compare Republic). Even in a great empire there might be a degree of virtue and justice, such as the Greeks believed to have existed under the sway of the first Persian kings. But all such empires were liable to degenerate, and soon incurred the anger of the gods. Their Oriental wealth, and splendour of gold and silver, and variety of colours, seemed also to be at variance with the simplicity of Greek notions. In the island of Atlantis, Plato is describing a sort of Babylonian or Egyptian city, to which he opposes the frugal life of the true Hellenic citizen. It is remarkable that in his brief sketch of them, he idealizes the husbandmen 'who are lovers of honour and true husbandmen,' as well as the warriors who are his sole concern in the Republic; and that though he speaks of the common pursuits of men and women, he says nothing of the community of wives and children.

   It is singular that Plato should have prefixed the most detested of Athenian names to this dialogue, and even more singular that he should have put into the mouth of Socrates a panegyric on him (Timaeus). Yet we know that his character was accounted infamous by Xenophon, and that the mere acquaintance with him was made a subject of accusation against Socrates. We can only infer that in this, and perhaps in some other cases, Plato's characters have no reference to the actual facts. The desire to do honour to his own family, and the connection with Solon, may have suggested the introduction of his name. Why the Critias was never completed, whether from accident, or from advancing age, or from a sense of the artistic difficulty of the design, cannot be determined.

Film adaptation :
Socrates (1971)

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Persons of Critias dialogue :

Critias (Κριτίας) : an ancient Athenian poet, philosopher and political leader.
Hermocrates (Ἑρμοκράτης) : an ancient Syracusan general from Greek Sicily during the Athenians' Sicilian Expedition in the midst of the Peloponnesian War.
Socrates (Σωκράτης) [469 - 399 BCE] : an Athenian whose mature life was devoted to discussing ethical questions with any and all interested persons, in a charateristic way which has come to be considered as one of the central methods of philosophizing in western culture. Plato was greatly influenced by Socrates, and he used Socrates as a speaker in nearly all of his dialogue.
Timaeus (Τίμαιος) : a philosopher of the Pythagorean school. If there ever existed a historical Timaeus of Locri, he would have lived in the fifth century BCE, but his historicity is dubious since he only appears as a literary figure in Plato's works; all other ancient sources are either based on Plato or are fictional accounts.

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Persons mentioned in Critias dialogue :

Ampheres (Ἀμφήρη) : he elder twin brother of Evaemon, one of the ten sons of Poseidon and Cleito in Plato's myth of Atlantis.
Atlas (Ἄτλας) : the elder twin brother of Eumelus and the first legendary king of Atlantis.
Autochthon (Αὐτόχθονα) : the younger twin brother of Mneseus and one of the ten sons of Poseidon and Cleito in Plato's myth of Atlantis.
Azaes (Ἀζάης) : the elder twin brother of Diaprepes and one of the ten sons of Poseidon and Cleito in Plato's myth of Atlantis.
Cecrops (Κέκροψ) : a legendary king of Attica. He was the founder and the first king of Athens itself though preceded in the region by the earth-born king Actaeus of Attica. Cecrops was a culture hero, teaching the Athenians marriage, reading and writing, and ceremonial burial.
Cleito (Κλειτὼ) : an Atlantian, daughter of the autochthon Evenor and Leucippe. When she reached a marriageable age, both her parents died, and the sea-god Poseidon, after falling in love with Cleito married her. They had five pairs of twins, namely: Atlas and Eumelus, Ampheres and Evaemon, Mneseus and Autochthon, Elasippus and Mestor, and lastly, Azaes and Diaprepes.
Deucalion (Δευκαλίων) : the son of Prometheus. He is closely connected with a flood myth in Greek mythology. The flood in the time of Deucalion was caused by the anger of Zeus, ignited by the hubris of Lycaon and his sons, descendants of Pelasgus. According to this story, King Lycaon of Arcadia had sacrificed a boy to Zeus, who, appalled by this offering, decided to put an end to the "Bronze" Age by unleashing a deluge. During this catastrophic flood, the rivers ran in torrents and the sea flooded the coastal plain, engulfing the foothills with spray, and washing everything clean. Deucalion, with the aid of his father Prometheus, was saved from this deluge by building a chest. He used this device to survive the great flood with his wife, Pyrrha.
Diaprepes (Διαπρέπης) : the younger twin brother of Azaes and the youngest of the five pairs of twins borne of Poseidon and Cleito in Plato's myth of Atlantis.
Dropides : great-grandfather of Critias[1].
Elasippus (Ἐλάσιππον) : the elder twin brother of Mestor and one of the ten sons of Poseidon and Cleito in Plato's myth of Atlantis.
Erechtheus (Ἐρεχθεύς) : a king of Athens, the founder of the polis.
Erichthonius (Ἐριχθόνιος) : a legendary early ruler of ancient Athens. According to some myths, he was autochthonous (born of the soil, or Earth) and adopted or raised by the goddess Athena.
Erysichthon (Ἐρυσίχθων) : an Athenian prince as the son of King Cecrops I of Athens and Agraulus, daughter of King Actaeus.
Eumelus (Εὔμηλος) or Gadeirus : (Εὔμηλος) : the younger twin brother of Atlas in Plato's myth of Atlantis, and the son of Poseidon and Cleito, daughter of the autochthon Evenor and Leucippe. His other brothers were: Ampheres and Evaemon, Mneseus and Autochthon, Elasippus and Mestor, and lastly, Azaes and Diaprepes. Eumelus, along with his nine siblings, became the heads of ten royal houses, each ruling a tenth portion of the island, according to a partition made by Poseidon himself, but all subject to the supreme dynasty of Atlas who was the eldest of the ten.
Evaemon (Εὐαίμων) : one of the ten sons of Poseidon and Cleito in Plato's myth of Atlantis. He was the younger twin brother of Ampheres.
Evenor (Εὐήνωρ) : the autochthonous father of Cleito by Leucippe.
Leucippe (Λευκίππη) : Leucippe, the wife of Evenor and mother of Cleito in Plato' s legend of Atlantis.
Mestor (Μήστωρ) : the second of the fourth set of twins borne of Poseidon and the mortal, Cleito. His older twin brother was Elasippus.
Mneseus (Μνησεύς) : the elder twin brother of Autochton and one of the ten sons of Poseidon and Cleito in Plato's myth of Atlantis.
Solon (Σόλων) : an archaic Athenian statesman, lawmaker, political philosopher, and poet. He is one of the Seven Sages of Greece and credited with laying the foundations for Athenian democracy. Solon's efforts to legislate against political, economic and moral decline resulted in his constitutional reform overturning most of Draco's laws. Solon's reforms included debt relief later known and celebrated among Athenians as the seisachtheia (shaking off of burdens). He is described by Aristotle in the Athenian Constitution as "the first people's champion". Demosthenes credited Solon's reforms with starting a golden age.
Theseus (Θησεύς) : a divine hero in Greek mythology, famous for slaying the Minotaur. He then goes on to unite Attica under Athenian rule. As the unifying king, he is credited with building a palace on the fortress of the Acropolis.

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Deities mentioned in Critias dialogue :

Apollo (Απολλων) : the Olympian god of prophecy and oracles, music, song and poetry, archery, healing, plague and disease, and the protection of the young.
Athene (Αθηνη) : the Olympian goddess of wisdom and good counsel, war, the defence of towns, heroic endeavour, weaving, pottery and various other crafts.
Hephaestus (Ἥφαιστος) : the Greek god of artisans, blacksmiths, carpenters, craftsmen, fire, metallurgy, metalworking, sculpture and volcanoes. He was cast off Mount Olympus by his mother Hera, the result of a congenital impairment.
Heracles (Ἡρακλῆς) : the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon. He was the greatest of the Greek heroes, the ancestor of royal clans who claimed to be Heracleidae (Ἡρακλεῖδαι), and a champion of the Olympian order against chthonic monsters.
Mnemosyne (Μνημοσύνη) : the goddess of memory and the mother of the nine Muses by her nephew Zeus.
Muses (Μούσες) : the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric songs, and myths that were related orally for centuries in ancient Greek culture. The number and names of the Muses differed by region, but from the Classical period the number of Muses was standardized to nine, and their names were generally given as Calliope, Clio, Polyhymnia, Euterpe, Terpsichore, Erato, Melpomene, Thalia, and Urania.
Nereids (Νηρηΐδες) : sea nymphs (female spirits of sea waters), the 50 daughters of the 'Old Man of the Sea' Nereus and the Oceanid Doris, sisters to their brother Nerites. They often accompany Poseidon, the god of the sea, and can be friendly and helpful to sailors.
Poseidon (Ποσειδων) : the Olympian god of the sea, earthquakes, floods, drought and horses.
Zeus (Ζεύς) : the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus.

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Place mentioned in Critias dialogue :

Acropolis (ἀκρόπολις) : the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens, yet every Greek city had an acropolis of its own. Acropoli were used as religious centers and places of worship, forts, and places in which the royal and high-status resided. Acropoli became the nuclei of large cities of classical ancient times, and served as important centers of a community.
Asia : the largest continent in the world. Asia shares the landmass of Eurasia with Europe, and of Afro-Eurasia with both Europe and Africa. In general terms, it is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the south by the Indian Ocean, and on the north by the Arctic Ocean. The border of Asia with Europe is a historical and cultural construct, as there is no clear physical and geographical separation between them. A commonly accepted division places Asia to the east of the Suez Canal separating it from Africa; and to the east of the Turkish straits, the Ural Mountains and Ural River, and to the south of the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian and Black seas, separating it from Europe.
Asopus (Ασωπός) : a river in Boeotia and northern Attica, Greece. In antiquity, it formed the border between the cities of Thebes and Plataea.
Athens (Αθήνα) : one of the world's oldest cities, with its recorded history spanning over 3,400 years, and its earliest human presence beginning somewhere between the 11th and 7th millennia BCE. Classical Athens was one of the most powerful city-states in ancient Greece. It was a centre for democracy, the arts, education and philosophy, and was highly influential throughout the European continent. It is often regarded as the cradle of Western civilization and the birthplace of democracy in its own right independently from the rest of Greece.
Atlantic Ocean : the second-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about 85,133,000 km2 (32,870,000 sq mi). It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for separating the New World of the Americas (North America and South America) from the Old World of Afro-Eurasia (Africa, Asia, and Europe).
Atlantis (Ἀτλαντὶς) : a fictional island mentioned in Plato's works Timaeus and Critias as part of an allegory on the hubris of nations. In the story, Atlantis is described as a naval empire that ruled all Western parts of the known world, making it the literary counter-image of the Achaemenid Empire. After an ill-fated attempt to conquer "Ancient Athens," Atlantis falls out of favor with the deities and submerges into the Atlantic Ocean. Since Plato describes Athens as resembling his ideal state in the Republic, the Atlantis story is meant to bear witness to the superiority of his concept of a state.
Attica (Αττική) : the most prominent region in Ancient Greece, specifically during the Golden Age of Athens in the classical period.
Cithaeron (Κιθαιρών) : a mountain and mountain range about sixteen kilometres (ten miles) long in Central Greece. The range is the physical boundary between Boeotia region in the north and Attica region in the south. The range was the scene of many events in Greek mythology and was especially sacred to Dionysus.
Egypt (Αίγυπτος) : a country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and the Sinai Peninsula in the southwest corner of Asia. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip of Palestine and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south, and Libya to the west.
Eridanus (Ἠριδανός) : a river in Athens.
Europe : a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east. Europe shares the landmass of Eurasia with Asia, and of Afro-Eurasia with both Africa and Asia. Europe is commonly considered to be separated from Asia by the watershed of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Greater Caucasus, the Black Sea, and the waterway of the Bosporus Strait.
Gades : an ancient city located on the island of Erytheia, northwest of Gibraltar at the tip of the Iberian Peninsula and is believed to be one of the most ancient cities still standing in Western Europe. Although some sources place its founding by the Phoenicians of Tyre in the eighth century BCE, other historical records claim that the city was established earlier, around 1100 BCE, as a seasonal trading post, providing the Phoenicians with access to the vast mineral wealth of the area. While historians accept the Phoenician settlement as fact, the ancient Greeks and Romans consider another possibility, believing the site to have been founded as a result of one of the twelve labours of the mythological son of Zeus, Heracles.
Gymnasia (γυμνάσιον) : in Ancient Greece functioned as a training facility for competitors in public games. It was also a place for socializing and engaging in intellectual pursuits. The name comes from the Ancient Greek term gymnós, meaning "naked" or "nude". Only adult male citizens were allowed to use the gymnasia. Athletes competed nude, a practice which was said to encourage aesthetic appreciation of the male body, and to be a tribute to the gods. Gymnasia and palaestrae (wrestling schools) were under the protection and patronage of Heracles, Hermes and, in Athens, Theseus.
Hellas (Ἑλλάς) : an ancient Greek toponym used to refer to all lands inhabited by Hellenes, i.e. all of ancient Greece, including the Greek colonies.
Ilissus (Ιλισός) : a river in Athens, Greece. During antiquity, the river flowed outside the city walls of Athens: Plato wrote in Critias that the river was one of the borders of the ancient walls.
Libya : a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad to the south, Niger to the southwest, Algeria to the west, and Tunisia to the northwest, as well as maritime borders with Greece, Italy and Malta to the north.
Lycabettus (Λυκαβηττός) : a Cretaceous limestone hill in the Greek capital Athens. At 277 meters (908 feet) above sea level, its summit is the highest point in Central Athens and pine trees cover its base. The name also refers to the residential neighbourhood immediately below the east of the hill.
Oropus (Ὠρωπός) : a town on the borders of ancient Attica and Boeotia, and the capital of a district. This district is a maritime plain, through which the Asopus flows into the sea.
Parnes (Πάρνης) : a lightly forested mountain range north of Athens, the highest on the peninsula of Attica.
Phelleus (Φέλλος) : an ancient Lycian city ocated in Pamphylia.
Pillars of Heracles : also known as Columns of Heracles, the promontories that flank the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. According to Greek mythology, when Heracles had to perform twelve labours, one of them (the tenth) was to fetch the Cattle of Geryon of the far West and bring them to Eurystheus; this marked the westward extent of his travels. A lost passage of Pindar quoted by Strabo was the earliest traceable reference in this context: "the pillars which Pindar calls the 'gates of Gades' when he asserts that they are the farthermost limits reached by Heracles". Plato placed the legendary island of Atlantis beyond the "Pillars of Heracles".
Pnyx (Πνύξ) : a hill or hillside in central Athens, the capital of Greece. The Athenians gathered on the Pnyx to host their popular assemblies, thus making the hill one of the earliest and most important sites in the creation of democracy. The Pnyx is located less than 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) west of the Acropolis and about 2 km south-west of the Syntagma Square in the centre of Athens. The "mainly natural hollow" was first used from before 500 BCE to perhaps 404 BCE, when the arrangement was changed by adding a retaining wall below the speakers' platform, with the space between filled with earth. The Pnyx was probably the prototype for the Greek theatre auditorium, with the late form perhaps reflecting changes in theatre design.
Tyrrhenia : the name used by the ancient Greeks authors to refer, in a generic sense, to non-Greek land.

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Term mentioned in Critias dialogue :

Athenian : citizen of Athens.
Egyptians : an ethnic group native to the Nile Valley in Egypt.
Hellenes : another name of the Greeks.
Hellenic : pertaining to Hellenes.
Orichalcum (ὀρείχαλκος) : a metal mentioned in several ancient writings, including the story of Atlantis in the Critias of Plato.
Stadia or Stadium (στάδιον) : an ancient Greek unit of length, consisting of 600 Ancient Greek feet (podes). Its exact length is unknown today; historians estimate it at between 150 m and 210 m. As feet are of variable length the exact length of a stadion depends on the exact length adopted for 1 foot at a given place and time.

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