I am composing this comment on the Myth of Atlantis to give context to the myth in its contemporary incarnation. It is my opinion, and my intent to demonstrate, that the Myth of Atlantis as found in Plato's Timaeus is in reality a moral allegory, and that this is explicit from a reading of the text.
I have edited the story down to what I take to be its bare essentials, so that the story and moral are preserved. I have removed, for instance, the description of Atlantis' location as superfluous to the purpose, as well as much of the Egyptian's high-flown praise of the Athenian people.
The text, as it stands, is very short. So too is my commentary.
There have been, and will be again, many destructions of mankind arising out of many causes; the greatest have been brought about by the agencies of fire and water, and other lesser ones by innumerable other causes. ...
In the first place you remember a single deluge only, but there were many previous ones; in the next place, you do not know that there formerly dwelt in your land the fairest and noblest race of men which ever lived, and that you and your whole city are descended from a small seed or remnant of them which survived.
When ... the gods purge the earth with a deluge of water, the survivors in your country are herdsmen and shepherds who dwell on the mountains, but those who, like you, live in cities are carried by the rivers into the sea. ...
The moral of the story of Atlantis is given at the beginning, rather than the end: no matter how advanced a civilization, the gods can still destroy it utterly by water or fire — and have done so many times before.
Now in this island of Atlantis there was a great and wonderful empire which had rule over the whole island and several others, and over parts of the continent, and, furthermore, the men of Atlantis had subjected the parts of Libya within the columns of Heracles as far as Egypt, and of Europe as far as Tyrrhenia.
This vast power, gathered into one, endeavoured to subdue at a blow our country and yours and the whole of the region within the straits; and then, Solon, your country shone forth, in the excellence of her virtue and strength, among all mankind. She was pre-eminent in courage and military skill, and was the leader of the Hellenes. And when the rest fell off from her, being compelled to stand alone, after having undergone the very extremity of danger, she defeated and triumphed over the invaders, and preserved from slavery those who were not yet subjugated, and generously liberated all the rest of us who dwell within the pillars.
The reason that this story was chosen by the Egyptian priest to illustrate his point, is that Solon was the lawgiver of Athens. Although many civilizations have been destroyed, according to the Egyptian, in the manner described above, this story was chosen for the edification of Solon by highlighting a particularly notable victory in the history of Athens, in addition to illustrating the moral point.
If he had been talking to a Corinthian, he probably would have used another example — he probably had a store of them — to edify the Corinthian disposition, while still conferring the moral of the story.
But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods; and in a single day and night of misfortune all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the depths of the sea.
This is the payoff. It is interesting to note that not only did Atlantis sink into the sea, but so did all of Athens' warlike men
. This is intended to show that it was not the hubris of the Atlanteans that was the moral cause of the catastrophe, as is commonly believed, but the implacable will of the gods and nature.
The story is intended to help men realize their place in the scheme of nature; and a part of the nature of man's place in nature is his subjection to the forces of water and fire, which are, at the whim of the gods, capable of destroying his whole race without remorse.