Atlantis Research Paper

Atlantis: Legend or Truth? Atlantis, the city swallowed whole by the sea. The Lost City of Atlantis, no doubt this is an interesting topic with many different views and opinions. The existence of the Lost City of Atlantis has been debated for centuries, but this can be proven a myth by examining Plato's writing, the story's evolution, and archeologists' failure to find the city. Plato’s writings are where the topic of Atlantis first appeared, Timaeus and Critias. No other accounts on Atlantis before Plato were written down, this could simply be Plato’s imagination reflected onto paper. Benjamin Radford said, “It's clear that Plato made up Atlantis as a plot device for his stories because there are no other records of it anywhere else in the

The story really didn’t originate from Plato, even though he was first to write it down. Critias says the story was first heard from his grandfather, who before heard it from an Athenian statesman, who learned it from an Egyptian priest, who said it happened almost 9,000 years before him. (History.com, “Atlantis”) The first written account of Atlantis could’ve been changed because it was passed on so much and everyone has a different imagination for the interpretation. Meaning that each person passed on could’ve changed up the story, even just little changes are a big deal. Other writers have also made accounts about Atlantis. The author Ignatius L. Donnelly wrote a book on the subject of Atlantis. Donnelly's story Atlantis: The Antediluvian World says, “It will be more and more evident as we proceed in the consideration. of the Flood legends of other nations, that the Antediluvian World was none other than Atlantis,” (Donnelly 32). Plato’s first accounts told the readers that the island that Atlantis previously was on was cursed to a terrible night of fire and earthquakes which in return sunk the island. Donnelly tells the readers that a great flood washed the island into the sea. This proves the fact that the story has developed depending on the view of the author and reader. The reader’s and author’s imaginations are really what keep the story of Atlantis alive, not real events or facts. Although, the first written account with Plato’s writings was passed down, the story has also been retold in different ways than first