29/02/2024 By Kane Khanh
Atlantis was part of a mighty empire with a fleet of 1,200 ships and a vast army which it sent against Athens. Could these have sailed from a continent the size of Asia and Libya combined which existed in the Atlantic Ocean?They didn’t need to. Herodotus tells us the army of Xerxes and the Persian Empire tallied 1,200 ships and was routed by the Greeks with Athens at their head at the Battle of Salamis.The cause of the war; the Greek invasion of the Asian mainland and capture of Troy centuries earlier.Plato wasn’t writing history, he didn’t like democracy and was writing a philosophical story to illustrate the ideal form of government with philosopher kings.So Plato took the geographical description of the “Atlantic Island” brought from Egypt and grafted onto it details of the Persian war against Athens, added a few embellishments of his own and polishing up the work which became the basis of his lost Atlantis.