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A Brief History of Atlantis
- Plato's Ideal State
- Narrated by: Peter Silverleaf
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
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A Brief History of Atlantis
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Summary
The Atlantis story remains one of the most haunting and enigmatic tales from antiquity and one that still resonates very deeply with the modern imagination. But where did Atlantis come from, what was it like, and where did it go to?
Atlantis was first introduced by the Greek philosopher Plato in two dialogues, the Timaios and Kritias, written in the fourth century BC. As he philosophises about the origins of life, the universe and humanity, the great thinker puts forward a stunning description of Atlantis, an island paradise with an ideal society. But the Atlanteans degenerate and become imperialist aggressors: they fight against antediluvian Athens, which heroically repels their mighty forces, before a cataclysmic natural disaster destroys the warring states.
His tale of a great empire that sank beneath the waves has sparked thousands of years of debate over whether Atlantis really existed. But did Plato mean his tale as history or just as a parable to help illustrate his philosophy?
The audiobook is broken down into two main sections plus a coda - firstly the translations/commentaries, which discuss the specifics of the actual texts; secondly a look at the reception of the myth from then to now; and thirdly a brief round-off bringing it all together.
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What listeners say about A Brief History of Atlantis
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Raphael O-Z
- 07-12-20
Very Poor Outdated Commentary on Plato’s Atlantis
The commentary is very poor. The narrator is great. It is well written and well delivered but its material is simply a repetition of old so-called scientific theories attacking what is referred to as “pseudo history” (which are different theories as much or as little scientific as what is called “mainstream academic science”). I believe that more and more people today have become increasingly aware that the academic establishments are very dogmatically behind more recent facts. I shall not go into detail why this is but rather remain focus on the experiential description of my reading of the text “A Brief History of Atlantis, Plato’s Ideal State”.
The writer of the commentary on Plato’s history of Atlantis writes in an unattractive apologetic perspective (starting from an assumption that what Plato writes is just a fairytale-mythology, which needs to be viciously and systematically rejected). One can recognise the same style of St Augustine’s of Hippo and others contemporary to him who dedicated their lives creating an illusion of their version of Christianity being the only way attacking any other perspectives. This attitude has not changed since then. I would rather read purely what Plato wrote throughout his writings about Atlantis without this type of angry apologetic Medieval Christendom style. There is no mentioning of modern archeological discoveries that disprove most of so-called science based history. There is a complete ignorance of the global narrative of the Great Flood and civilisations described before that time. Everything is dogmatically thrown in a bag named “myths, poetry, tales and vivid imagination”. This is not science. It is a dogmatic and blind indoctrination. Hence, I can recommend this book to those who prefer dogmatic history rather then curious open minded seekers of facts. The time is coming when our history books are to be rewritten. Thankfully, they are written of paper and not chiselled in stone.
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