Plato's Critias dialogue ends mid-sentence, third dialogue lost

Plato's Critias dialogue ends mid-sentence, third dialogue lost. 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)

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 📜

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

Source: 5 Times We Had Proof of Atlantis... Then Lost It by Dark5 Ancient Mysteries