Atlantis

Atlantis (ətlăntĭs, ăt–), in Greek legend, large island in the western sea (the Atlantic Ocean). Plato, in his dialogues the Timaeus and the Critias, tells of the high civilization that flourished there before the island was destroyed by an earthquake. The legend persists, and societies for the discovery of Atlantis remain active. Plato described Atlantis as an ideal state, and the name is considered synonymous with Utopia. Francis Bacon called his account of the ideal state The New Atlantis.

Bibliography

See Z. Kukan, Atlantis in the Light of Modern Research (1984); C. Pellegrino, Unearthing Atlantis (1991); E. Zangger, The Flood from Heaven (1992).

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Atlantis

Legendary sunken island in the Atlantic Ocean west of Gibraltar. The main sources for the legend are two of Plato's dialogues, Timaeus and Critias. According to Plato, Atlantis had a rich civilization, and its princes made many conquests in the Mediterranean before earthquakes destroyed the island and it was swallowed up by the sea. Plato also supplied a history of its ideal commonwealth, and Atlantis is sometimes imagined as a utopia. The legend may have originated with the eruption c. 1500 BC of a volcano on Thíra, which was so powerful that it gave rise to earthquakes and tidal waves.

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Atlantis

(in ancient legend) a continent said to have sunk beneath the Atlantic Ocean west of the Straits of Gibraltar

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Atlantis

submerged legendary island kingdom; never located. [Classical Folklore: Walsh Classical, 37]

See : Disappearance

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Atlantis

legendary island; inspired many Utopian myths. [Western Folklore: Misc.]

See : Utopia

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Atlantis

fabulous and prosperous island; legendarily in Atlantic Ocean. [Gk. Myth.: Leach, 89]

See : Wonderland