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

Vidal-Naquet, Pierre/ Lloyd, Geoffrey (FRW)/ Lloyd, Janet (TRN)

University of Exeter Press（2007/11発売）

• 製本 Hardcover:ハードカバー版／ページ数 216 p.
• 言語 ENG
• 商品コード 9780859898058
• DDC分類 001.94

Full Description

This is 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.

Contents

Foreword to the English Edition
Introduction
1: In the Beginning was Plato
2: The Atlantis Theme in Antiquity
3: The Return of the Atlantes, 1485-1710
4: The Atlantis of the Enlightenment, 1680-1786
5: The Great Turning-Point, 1786-1841
6: Societies that are Open and those that are Closed
7: Interlude: Notes without Music
8: Water, Earth and Dreams
Appendix: Two Articles from 'The Times' of 19 February 1909
Index of Names