Comment on We lost Keanu
Andonyx@lemmy.world 6 days agoPlato did not suggest ancient Atlantis existed. He was very clear that he was illustrating a hypothetical “great society” to discuss his views on effective and beneficent government.
When he discussed it sinking it was a divine punishment from the gods of Olympus because they had strayed from a righteous path. All of it is meant to be a parable.
burgersc12@mander.xyz 6 days ago
I mean that’s our interpretation of a translation of something said thousands of years ago. But if they want to they can choose to believe what they want. IMO an ancient island sinking due to gods is no different than saying “high tech civ nuked itself out of existense” but with less context. I’m not saying this really happened, but its not like its impossible, just extraordinarily unlikely to be true.
Andonyx@lemmy.world 6 days ago
I’m not sure if you’re arguing that it being fictional is an interpretation or that it’s demise from the ire of the Gods is an interpretation.
If it’s the former, you are incorrect. The single best primary source being his own protege and student Aristotle who also makes it clear the whole thing is didactic invention. (There are debates that some individual events within the story are inspired by actual events in Egypt and Athens, but it’s existence is never presented as fact. The entire idea that this was some historical account came mostly from a judges writing his own history books in the 19th century.)
This is also not debatable due to translation. It’s Plato. The best scholars of all time in both language and history have studied this, literally for centuries. There is not any serious or scholarly debate about his intentions with this story. And multiple, equally capable translations of Aristotle corroborate that.
If you’re talking about the destruction of Atlantis, it’s been too long for me to argue that specifically, but the idea that it was divine punishment is the prevailing view of that story.
burgersc12@mander.xyz 6 days ago
But we have little context for how the words they used were meant. Even if all the scholars think it wasn’t literal doesn’t mean he didn’t mean it literally
Confused_Emus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 days ago
Plato wasn’t writing in some long-dead obscure language that we only have vague translations of, it was Greek. It’s not a matter of interpretation.
100_kg_90_de_belin@feddit.it 5 days ago
My brother in Saint Jerome, the best minds in history have been nitpicking Plato’s works for centuries. There are libraries filled with commentaries of his works. Of course, they may be all wrong /s
PS: Saint Jerome is the patron of translator.
burgersc12@mander.xyz 5 days ago
And for centuries we thought Troy was a myth made up by Homer until we found that shit. The fact that people act like we can make no mistakes and know everything already pisses me off. Way to kill the intrigue of ancient life.
100_kg_90_de_belin@feddit.it 5 days ago
We make lots of mistakes. But shit like this about super races is a tier below “Aliens made this”.