Critias | Page 4

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their lot the land of Attica, a land suited to the growth of virtue and wisdom; and there
they settled a brave race of children of the soil, and taught them how to order the state.
Some of their names, such as Cecrops, Erechtheus, Erichthonius, and Erysichthon, were
preserved and adopted in later times, but the memory of their deeds has passed away; for
there have since been many deluges, and the remnant who survived in the mountains
were ignorant of the art of writing, and during many generations were wholly devoted to
acquiring the means of life...And the armed image of the goddess which was dedicated by

the ancient Athenians is an evidence to other ages that men and women had in those days,
as they ought always to have, common virtues and pursuits. There were various classes of
citizens, including handicraftsmen and husbandmen and a superior class of warriors who
dwelt apart, and were educated, and had all things in common, like our guardians. Attica
in those days extended southwards to the Isthmus, and inland to the heights of Parnes and
Cithaeron, and between them and the sea included the district of Oropus. The country
was then, as what remains of it still is, the most fertile in the world, and abounded in rich
plains and pastures. But in the course of ages much of the soil was washed away and
disappeared in the deep sea. And the inhabitants of this fair land were endowed with
intelligence and the love of beauty.
The Acropolis of the ancient Athens extended to the Ilissus and Eridanus, and included
the Pnyx, and the Lycabettus on the opposite side to the Pnyx, having a level surface and
deep soil. The side of the hill was inhabited by craftsmen and husbandmen; and the
warriors dwelt by themselves on the summit, around the temples of Hephaestus and
Athene, in an enclosure which was like the garden of a single house. In winter they
retired into houses on the north of the hill, in which they held their syssitia. These were
modest dwellings, which they bequeathed unaltered to their children's children. In
summer time the south side was inhabited by them, and then they left their gardens and
dining-halls. In the midst of the Acropolis was a fountain, which gave an abundant supply
of cool water in summer and warm in winter; of this there are still some traces. They
were careful to preserve the number of fighting men and women at 20,000, which is
equal to that of the present military force. And so they passed their lives as guardians of
the citizens and leaders of the Hellenes. They were a just and famous race, celebrated for
their beauty and virtue all over Europe and Asia.
And now I will speak to you of their adversaries, but first I ought to explain that the
Greek names were given to Solon in an Egyptian form, and he enquired their meaning
and translated them. His manuscript was left with my grandfather Dropides, and is now in
my possession...In the division of the earth Poseidon obtained as his portion the island of
Atlantis, and there he begat children whose mother was a mortal. Towards the sea and in
the centre of the island there was a very fair and fertile plain, and near the centre, about
fifty stadia from the plain, there was a low mountain in which dwelt a man named Evenor
and his wife Leucippe, and their daughter Cleito, of whom Poseidon became enamoured.
He to secure his love enclosed the mountain with rings or zones varying in size, two of
land and three of sea, which his divine power readily enabled him to excavate and fashion,
and, as there was no shipping in those days, no man could get into the place. To the
interior island he conveyed under the earth springs of water hot and cold, and supplied
the land with all things needed for the life of man. Here he begat a family consisting of
five pairs of twin male children. The eldest was Atlas, and him he made king of the
centre island, while to his twin brother, Eumelus, or Gadeirus, he assigned that part of the
country which was nearest the Straits. The other brothers he made chiefs over the rest of
the island. And their kingdom extended as far as Egypt and Tyrrhenia. Now Atlas had a
fair posterity, and great treasures derived from mines--among them that precious metal
orichalcum; and there was abundance of wood, and herds of elephants, and pastures for
animals of all kinds, and fragrant herbs, and grasses, and trees bearing fruit. These they
used, and employed themselves in constructing their temples, and palaces, and harbours,
and docks, in the following manner:--First, they bridged over