Atlantis Pyramids Floods by Dennis Brooks Page B

directed their attention to the supply of
their wants, and of them they conversed, to the neglect of events
that had happened in times long past; for mythology and the enquiry
into antiquity are first introduced into cities when they begin to
have leisure, and when they see that the necessaries of life have
already been provided, but not before. And this is reason why the
names of the ancients have been preserved to us and not their
actions.
    This I infer because Solon said that
the priests in their narrative of that war mentioned most of the
names which are recorded prior to the time of Theseus, such as
Cecrops, and Erechtheus, and Erichthonius, and Erysichthon, and the
names of the women in like manner. Moreover, since military
pursuits were then common to men and women, the men of those days
in accordance with the custom of the time set up a figure and image
of the goddess in full armor, to be a testimony that all animals
which associate together, male as well as female, may, if they
please, practice in common the virtue which belongs to them without
distinction of sex.
    Now the country was inhabited in those
days by various classes of citizens;—there were artisans, and there
were husbandmen, and there was also a warrior class originally set
apart by divine men.
    The latter dwelt by themselves, and
had all things suitable for nurture and education; neither had any
of them anything of their own, but they regarded all that they had
as common property; nor did they claim to receive of the other
citizens anything more than their necessary food. And they
practiced all the pursuits which we yesterday described as those of
our imaginary guardians.
    Concerning the country the Egyptian
priests said what is not only probable but manifestly true, that
the boundaries were in those days fixed by the Isthmus, and that in
the direction of the continent they extended as far as the heights
of Cithaeron and Parnes; the boundary line came down in the
direction of the sea, having the district of Oropus on the right,
and with the river Asopus as the limit on the left.
    The land was the best in the world,
and was therefore able in those days to support a vast army, raised
from the surrounding people. Even the remnant of Attica which now
exists may compare with any region in the world for the variety and
excellence of its fruits and the suitableness of its pastures to
every sort of animal, which proves what I am saying; but in those
days the country was fair as now and yielded far more abundant
produce.
    How shall I establish my words? And
what part of it can be truly called a remnant of the land that then
was? The whole country is only a long promontory extending far into
the sea away from the rest of the continent, while the surrounding
basin of the sea is everywhere deep in the neighborhood of the
shore.
    Many great deluges have taken place
during the nine thousand years, for that is the number of years
which have elapsed since the time of which I am speaking; and
during all this time and through so many changes, there has never
been any considerable accumulation of the soil coming down from the
mountains, as in other places, but the earth has fallen away all
round and sunk out of sight.
    The consequence is, that in comparison
of what then was, there are remaining only the bones of the wasted
body, as they may be called, as in the case of small islands, all
the richer and softer parts of the soil having fallen away, and the
mere skeleton of the land being left. But in the primitive state of
the country, its mountains were high hills covered with soil, and
the plains, as they are termed by us, of Phelleus were full of rich
earth, and there was abundance of wood in the mountains.
    Note: notice
that Plato used the terms “mountain” and “hills” nearly
interchangeably. This caused confusion when he used the terms the
same way to describe the small hill on the small island of
Atlantis.
    Of this last the traces still remain,
for although