Atlantis Destroyed

by Castleden; Rodney

• ISBN13: 9780415165396
• ISBN10: 0415165393
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-05-06
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Plato's legend of Atlantis has become notorious among scholars as the most absurd lie in literature. Partially dismissed because of the philosopher's eclipsing reputation in the twentieth century in conjunction with Nazi adoption of the Atlantis allegory,AtlantisDestroyedexplores how Plato's account can be perceived as historically true. Since its mention first inTimaeusand thenCritias,Atlantis has hovered between fable and folk tale, taken as history by some and acknowledged as allegory by others. In this fascinating book, Rodney Castleden theorizes how the tale of Atlantis is not one piece of identifiable proto-history, but several, and that Plato's story was really a parable told to comment on the state of the world in his own times. The author incorporates the latest findings on Knossos (in Crete) and Thera, the two islands long considered the "real" site of Atlantis. In examining Minoan civilization, Castleden discusses the material culture, trade empireand agricultural system, writing and wall paintings, art, religion and society, providing a comprehensive picture of the islands during the Bronze Age. His research demonstrates for the reader parallels between Plato's narrative and Aegean civilization which might indicate the geographical place of Atlantis. Just as Plato's story of a land swallowed up by the sea sought to entertain, improve and exalt,Atlantis Destroyedwill captivate readers the world over with the telling of how a myth was made.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	ix	(4)
Acknowledgements and preface	xiii
1 `All the island and many other islands also'	1	(13)
The Atlantis legend	1	(7)
Thera: a window onto Atlantis	8	(2)
Eruption after eruption	10	(4)
2 Preludes to discovery	14	(18)
The folklore tradition	14	(1)
Nineteenth-century glimpses of a Minoan past	15	(2)
The backdrop of the Cyclades	17	(6)
Bronze age Knossos	23	(5)
Bronze age Athens	28	(4)
3 Thera: the second rediscovery	32	(11)
The discovery of Ayia Irini	32	(2)
Mavor and Marinatos	34	(4)
The dig at Akrotiri begins	38	(5)
4 The bronze age city of Thera emerges	43	(15)
`I see with the eyes of my soul...'	43	(3)
Architecture of a Late Cycladic city	46	(9)
The island: bronze age Thera	55	(3)
5 Atlantean arts and crafts	58	(8)
Pottery	58	(1)
Stone	59	(1)
Metal-working	60	(1)
Textiles	60	(4)
Furniture	64	(2)
6 Theran food and trade	66	(14)
Agriculture and pastoralism	66	(1)
Trade	67	(8)
Ships	75	(5)
7 Writing and wall-painting	80	(10)
Writing	80	(2)
Wall-paintings	82	(2)
Frescoes of Building 6 (the House of the Ladies)	84	(2)
Frescoes of Building 11 (Block Beta)	86	(3)
Frescoes of Building 12 (Block Delta)	89	(1)
8 Art, religion and society	90	(24)
A panorama of Atlantis	90	(9)
Growing up	99	(15)
9 The last days of Akrotiri	114	(20)
After the eruption	126	(8)
10 Atlantis destroyed	134	(38)
The Minoan trading empire as Atlantis	134	(3)
The Knossos Labyrinth as the Atlantean Temple of Poseidon	137	(10)
Plato and truth	147	(7)
Plato and Sicily	154	(6)
Plato and Sparta	160	(4)
The source of the Atlantis story	164	(8)
11 Deconstruction of Atlantis	172	(19)
The Old Atlantis	172	(10)
The New Atlantis	182	(9)
Appendix Dating the Thera eruption: a major controversy	191	(2)
Notes	193	(12)
Bibliography	205	(14)
Index	219