Plato's Critias—which tells of Atlantis—stops mid-sentence mid-story as Critias himself falls silent. He lived roughly 10-12 more years after and never finished it, writing The Laws (12 books) instead. No ancient writer called it unfinished until Plutarch nearly 400 years later. A planned third dialogue called Hermocrates was never written 📜
Plato's Critias dialogue ends mid-sentence, third dialogue lost
Key facts
- Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias are the oldest sources about Atlantis
- Critias stops mid-sentence as Zeus calls the gods to judge the Atlanteans
- Plato lived at least 10 more years after finishing Critias and wrote The Laws (12 books)
- Critias was copied onto papyrus, suggesting a complete version may have existed
- No ancient writer called Critias unfinished until Plutarch complained about the missing ending almost 500 years later
- Critias promised details about a war between Athens and Atlantis based on records from Solon in Egypt, but the war never appears in the text
- A third dialogue called Hermocrates was planned but never written or has been lost
Sources
Critias (dialogue) - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
Critias one of Plato's late dialogues, recounts the story of the mighty island kingdom Atlantis and its attempt to conquer Athens, which failed due to the ...
How Unfinished is Critias? - Atlantis FYIatlantis.fyi
Critias is both complete and incomplete. Critias is a dialogue about the duality of Athens and Atlantis, and Plato mirrors that duality in the ...
Plato: Critias - Atlantis, philosophers and aliens?diggingupancientaliens.com
Critias is a Socratic dialogue by Plato describing the ultimate state and its fall. It's also the origin of the Atlantis myth, so let's read ...
Plato: The Timaeus | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophyiep.utm.edu
The identity of Critias is disputed. The name brings to mind the notorious oligarch Critias: student of Socrates, uncle of Plato, and leader of the Thirty ...
Critias, by Platogutenberg.org
The Critias is a fragment which breaks off in the middle of a sentence. It was designed to be the second part of a trilogy, which, like the other great Platonic ...
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