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sennbat t1_ivmajzr wrote

Reply to comment by DevilsWelshAdvocate in TIL that the "Lost City of Atlantis" was invented by the philosopher Plato, as a fake enemy for Athens that lost favour of the gods and was sunk in to the sea. by PDRugby

Just pointing out that "thing is disputed" is not a good reason to stop treating it like a fact, by itself, and providing an example.

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hudson2_3 t1_ivmguap wrote

But which one is the fact in what has been posted here? That Plato invented Atlantis, or that he didn't? There is no conclusive proof either way.

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sennbat t1_ivmiari wrote

There's no conclusive proof of anything in history, only preponderance of evidence.

And the preponderance of evidence is that Plato invented Atlantis. It first historical appearance is in Timaeus, where it is explicitly allegorical, among other fictional accounts. His student, Aristotle, explicitly talks about it being a fictional account used to make a philosophical point. Even Athens, which is a real place, is pretty explicitly fictionalized for the story.

There is zero mention of Atlantis anywhere in history prior to Plato's description, despite him describing a place that absolutely would have been worthy of mention. The sources that talk about it after he died all point to him as the originator of the tale. The things that happen in the story are also, y'know, literally physically impossible.

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hudson2_3 t1_ivmjx7f wrote

We can say that the preponderance of evidence is that Plato came up with the story which uses Atlantis as an example of things not lasting. In a time when very little was written down we have no way of knowing where he got his ideas from.

Comparing that to an event that was filmed is bonkers.

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