The Atlantis Story: A Short History of Plato's Myth

by Pierre Vidal-Naquet, Janet Lloyd

Overview

The history of the development through the ages of Plato's Atlantis story-the imperialist island state that disappeared in a cataclysm, leaving Athens to survive it . . .

Instead of simply focusing on the various attempts to 'find' Atlantis - all of which are futile for the very good reason that Plato made the island up - the author re-examines the very different uses made of the myth in different contexts and periods. He shows how Plato's myth was reinterpreted in the medieval period and after through conflation with the search for the lost tribes of Israel; how it became involved with the debate about whether Europe should look back to its origins in the Classical or Biblical worlds; how the myth was reinterpreted with a more geographical emphasis following
Columbus' discovery of America; and how it was used in the Enlightenment to add colour to nationalist attempts to claim antiquity by finding unrecognised origins.

Written in a clear and interesting way, Pierre Vidal-Naquet's original ideas rest on deep knowledge supported by primary references and illustrations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780859898058
Publisher:	Liverpool University Press
Publication date:	01/28/2007
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Pierre Vidal-Naquet was Director of Graduate Studies at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris until his death in 2006. He was one of the most famous French Classical scholars in the post-war period. His earlier books in the field of Classics translated into English include: Myth and Tragedy in Ancient Greece, The Black Hunter: Thought and Society in the Greek World; Economic and Social History of Ancient Greece. Janet Lloyd is one of the best known translators into English of French studies of the Classics; her many translations include for University of Exeter Press 'Plato and the City', by Jean-Francois Pradeau. Geoffrey Lloyd is Emeritus Professor of Ancient Philosophy and Science at the University of Cambridge.

Table of Contents

Foreword to the English edition; Introduction; Chapter 1: In the beginning was Plato; Chapter 2: The Atlantis theme in Antiquity; Chapter 3: The return of the Atlantes, 1485-1710; Chapter 4: The Atlantis of the Enlightenment, 1680-1786; Chapter 5: The great turning-point, 1786-1841; Chapter 6: Societies that are open and those that are closed; Chapter 7: Interlude: Notes without music; Chapter 8: Water, earth and dreams; Appendix: Two articles from The Times of 19 February, 1909; Index of names.

Editorial Reviews

"Janet Lloyd have performed an invaluable service to students of Plato's Atlantis myth by making Pierre Vidal-Naquet's short but wide-ranging study of its reception available in English. EL admirably concise and an essential addition to scholarship on the myth."—Scholia Reviews

"It certainly deserves the wider market that the English translation ensures."—POLIS

From the Publisher