Now, when the gods divided among themselves different regions of the earth, the island of Atlantis was allotted to Poseidon, who settled there the children he had begotten of a mortal woman. This is why, the Egyptian said, the ocean at the spot where Atlantis once was, became impossible to sail across, being blocked up by the mud created by the large island when it sank. The Athenians of old, however, defeated this powerful army.ДЄt a later time, earthquakes and floods destroyed the two opponents, Athens being swallowed up by the earth, and the island of Atlantis by the sea, vanishing for ever. And having conquered those regions, they gathered a host to extend their dominion to both Egypt and Greece. The people of Atlantis had occupied Libya as far as Egypt and southwestern Europe, as far as Tuscany in Italy. The island Atlantis was ruled by a confederation of kings which held power also in surrounding islands. And in the same way they had lost the memory of that Athens which existed 8000 years before the Trojan War (which is in our own day said to have taken place about 1200 BC).ДЄccording to this Egyptian priest, that Athens of old resisted the invasion of the people from Atlantis, an island larger than Libya (name for the whole of northern Africa except Egypt) which lay in front of the mouth of the so called 'Pillars of Heracles' (today called 'straits of Gibraltar'). And while in other countries the periodical destruction caused irreparable losses, in Egypt it was possible to keep records of very ancient times.В This is the reason why, continued the priest, the Greeks could just remember the Flood of Deucalion 1, ignoring that many other floods had previously occurred. In this way, said the Egyptian priest, memories of ancient times could be preserved in this country while all records were destroyed elsewhere.

On the other hand, when the world is flooded, those living in mountains are saved, but those populating the cities near the sea are swept into it by the streams.В Things being of this nature, those living by the Nile were spared when the world was destroyed by fire, and when it was destroyed by water they were also spared because rain is scarce in Egypt, the water welling up always from below. When this happens those living in dry areas or dwelling in mountains suffer destruction more than those living near rivers or by the sea.

And behind the story of Phaethon 3, the Egyptian said, lies the shifting of the celestial bodies around the earth, which cause destruction by fire on its surface at long intervals. This Egyptian priest knew that humankind is periodically destroyed, either by fire or water, or by lesser means. The very old Egyptian priest who talked with Solon was not at all impressed by the ancient stories of the Greeks, such as the one referring to Phoroneus as 'the first man,' or the legend of the Flood of Deucalion 1, for these stories, according to his view, were not at all ancient. The legend of Atlantis is not connected to other myths except for the names of Atlas and Poseidon.ДЄccording to Plato's account it was Solon, the Athenian statesman and poet whom History says lived 600 years after the Trojan War, the one who brought from Egypt the story of Atlantis. The first born was Atlas, who was appointed to be king over the rest and after whom the island was called. The first ten kings of Atlantis (five pairs of twins) were all sons of Poseidon and Cleito 2. Later, when the gods perceived that Atlantis was inhabited by an evil race, they let the island be destroyed by the third of the floods which preceded the Flood in the age of Deucalion 1. About 8000 years before the Trojan War, Atlantis attempted to conquer the whole of the Mediterranean world but was defeated by the Athens of those remote times and its allies. Atlantis was ruled by a confederation of kings and its power extended over Libya as far as Egypt and over Europe as far as Tuscany. Their inhabitants became a spiritually ugly race and for that reason Zeus and the gods destroyed them by letting the island be swallowed up by the sea.

For as the Olympieium in the city of Athens, so the tale of the lost Atlantis in the wisdom of Plato is the only one among many beautiful works to remain unfinished.' (Plutarch, Parallel Lives Solon 32.1-2).ДЄtlantis was a large island in the Atlantic Ocean which lay in front of the mouth of the pillars of Heracles (straits of Gibraltar).

Therefore the greater our delight in what he actually wrote, the greater is our distress in view of what he left undone. But he was late in beginning, and ended his life before his work. 'Plato, ambitious to elaborate and adorn the subject of the lost Atlantis, as if it were the soil of a fair estate unoccupied, but appropriately his by virtue of some kinship with Solon, began the work by laying out great porches, enclosures, and courtyards, such as no story, tale, or poesy ever had before.

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