etymology of "atlantis"
mark...@io.com
psmit...@aol.com (PSmith9626) wrote:
> What is all this? As far as I know the only reference to Atlantis in
> Greek times is a short discussion in Plato which is clearly a parable . Plato
> presents Atlantis as a legend.
diodorus' history of atlas post-dates plato's atlantis, so it could
conceivably be inspired by plato.
"atlas" is even rendered as "atlantis" in some translations.
however, are the names "atlas mountains," "pillars of hercules" and
"atlantic ocean" simply a homage to plato?
does anyone know the derivation of these names, in particular whether they
pre-date plato?
Chris Camfield
Of course they do. (I'm not sure about the use of the phrase Atlantic
Ocean, though.) Atlas was a Titan and appears in quite a few myths,
all of which have their origin in earlier times. The same is true of
Heracles/Hercules.
Chris
Alice Turner
Chris Camfield <ccam...@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:380f050...@news1.on.sympatico.ca...
From OED:
1. a. Of or pertaining to Mount Atlas in Libya, on which the heavens were
fabled to rest. Hence applied to the sea near the western shore of Africa,
and afterwards extended to the whole ocean lying between Europe and Africa
on the east and America on the west.
[big snip]
Also:
B. n. The Atlantic ocean; also fig.
[For the 14th c. athlante, cf. F. atlante, Atlas, also inhabitant of the
mythic Atlantis (an island placed by the Greeks in the far West).]
Alice
Richard Eney
<mark...@io.com> wrote:
>In article <19991019083242...@ng-fp1.aol.com>,
>psmit...@aol.com (PSmith9626) wrote:
>
>> What is all this? As far as I know the only reference to Atlantis in
>> Greek times is a short discussion in Plato which is clearly a parable . Plato
>> presents Atlantis as a legend.
>
>diodorus' history of atlas post-dates plato's atlantis, so it could
>conceivably be inspired by plato.
>"atlas" is even rendered as "atlantis" in some translations.
>
>however, are the names "atlas mountains," "pillars of hercules" and
>"atlantic ocean" simply a homage to plato?
>
>pre-date plato?
>
one of the Titans who resisted the takeover by the Olympian gods; his
punishment was to be sent to the ends of the Earth and hold up the sky
there. (Suggested etymology: from Greek "tla" (to bear, carry). The
ocean beside which he was placed was the Atlantic "pertaining to Atlas",
just as the women's figures which were used as pillars in some Greek
constructions were sometimes called Atlantides ("daughters of Atlas").
When the far west had been explored enough for the Greeks to be aware of
the mountains there, they were called the Atlas Mountains and a legend
invented that Perseus had taken pity on the old Titan and held up the
Gorgon's head before his eyes, turning him to stone.
I don't think the Pillars of Hercules are connected with the legend of
Atlas, unless you count the myth that Herakles created them on the same
quest in which Atlas asked him to bear the sky for a while and Herakles
had to trick him into letting him (H.) go.
-- Dick Eney
Doug Weller
mark...@io.com says...> > [quoted text muted]
> > What is all this? As far as I know the only reference to Atlantis in
> > Greek times is a short discussion in Plato which is clearly a parable . Plato
> > presents Atlantis as a legend.
>
>
wasn't. Hellanicus of Lesbos wrote a book called Atlantis a century
before Plato, but all but a fragment is lost. What still exists includes
the line 'Poseidon mated with Celaeno, and their son Lycus was settled by
his father in the Isles of the Blest and made immortal.' Plato says
Poseidon mated with Cleito and had a son Atlas who became ruler of that
marvelous island Atlantis!
Diodorus, btw, calls the Aegean islands the Isles of the Blest.
This is from the excellent book Atlantis Destroyed by Rodney Castleden.
He sees Plato as writing about contemporary issues but drawing on a
number of sources, with real information about Bronze Age Athens, Crete,
and Thera included.
Doug
--
Doug Weller Moderator, sci.archaeology.moderated
Submissions to: sci-archaeol...@medieval.org
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WebSlave
> I don't think the Pillars of Hercules are connected with the legend of
> Atlas, unless you count the myth that Herakles created them on the same
> quest in which Atlas asked him to bear the sky for a while and Herakles
> had to trick him into letting him (H.) go.
IIRC, Plato particularily tells that Atlantis lays beyond the Pillars of
Heralkes. Wheather he means Gibraltar or not is unclear. I think some
peninsula in Peloponnesos was also called 'Pillars of Herakles', or at
least I've heard such a claim.
WebSlave
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----------
In article <7uslig$qh5$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>, WebSlave <webs...@my-deja.com>
wrote:
WebSlave
> In which work does Plato refer to Atlantis?
In two of his dialogues, Timeaus and Critias (or alternatively, Timaios
and Kritias).