Editing Timaeus (dialogue) (section)

==Introduction==
[[File:Atlantis_Kircher_Mundus_subterraneus_1678.jpg|thumb|upright=1|left|[[Athanasius Kircher]]'s map of [[Atlantis]] from ''[[Mundus Subterraneus (book)|Mundus Subterraneus]]'' ("The Subterranean World") (1669), drawn with south at the top.]]
The dialogue takes place the day after Socrates described his ideal state. In Plato's works, such a discussion occurs in the ''[[Republic (Plato)|Republic]]''. Socrates feels that his description of the ideal state was not sufficient for the purposes of entertainment and that "I would be glad to hear some account of it engaging in transactions with other states" (19b).

Hermocrates wishes to oblige Socrates and mentions that Critias knows just the account (20b) to do so. Critias proceeds to tell the story of [[Solon]]'s journey to Egypt where he hears the story of [[Atlantis]], and how Athens used to be an ideal state that subsequently waged war against Atlantis (25a). Critias believes that he is getting ahead of himself, and mentions that Timaeus will tell part of the account from the origin of the [[universe]] to man.

Critias also cites the [[Ancient Egyptian religion|Egyptian priest]] in [[Sais, Egypt|Sais]] about long-term factors on the fate of mankind:<blockquote>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. There is a story that even you [Greeks] have preserved, that once upon a time, [[Phaethon]], the son of [[Helios]], having yoked the steeds in his father's [[chariot]], because he was not able to drive them in the path of his father, burnt up all that was upon the earth, and was himself destroyed by a thunderbolt. Now this has the form of a myth, but really signifies a [[declination]] of the bodies moving in the heavens around the earth, and a great conflagration of things upon the earth, which recurs after long intervals.<ref>Translation by [[Benjamin Jowett]] (1817-1893) reproduced in, for example, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wTNctKDjxaMC&dq=Jowett+Timaeus+Phaethon&pg=PA4 John Michael Greer, ''Atlantis'' (Llewelyn Worldwide 2007] {{ISBN|978-0-73870978-9}}), p. 9</ref></blockquote>

The history of Atlantis is postponed to ''Critias''. The main content of the dialogue, the exposition by Timaeus, follows.