Editing Atlantis (section)

====Recent times====
As [[continental drift]] became widely accepted during the 1960s, and the increased understanding of [[plate tectonics]] demonstrated the impossibility of a lost continent in the geologically recent past,<ref>{{cite book |title=Greece Before History: An Archaeological Companion and Guide |last=Runnels |first=Curtis |author2=Murray, Priscilla |year=2004 |publisher=Stanford UP |location=Stanford |isbn=978-0-8047-4036-4 |page=130 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rg4rTjo0OCQC&pg=PA130 |access-date=17 January 2010}}</ref> most "Lost Continent" theories of Atlantis began to wane in popularity.

Plato scholar [[Julia Annas]], [[Regents Professor]] of Philosophy at the [[University of Arizona]], had this to say on the matter:

{{blockquote|The continuing industry of discovering Atlantis illustrates the dangers of reading Plato. For he is clearly using what has become a standard device of fiction—stressing the historicity of an event (and the discovery of hitherto unknown authorities) as an indication that what follows is fiction. ''The idea is that we should use the story to examine our ideas of government and power''. We have missed the point if instead of thinking about these issues we go off exploring the sea bed. The continuing misunderstanding of Plato as historian here enables us to see why his distrust of imaginative writing is sometimes justified.<ref>J. Annas, ''Plato: A Very Short Introduction'' (OUP 2003), p. 42 ''(emphasis not in the original)''</ref>}}

One of the proposed explanations for the historical context of the Atlantis story is that it serves as Plato's warning to his fellow citizens against their striving for naval power.<ref name=Morgan />

[[Kenneth Feder]] points out that Critias's story in the ''Timaeus'' provides a major clue. In the dialogue, Critias says, referring to Socrates' hypothetical society:

{{blockquote|And when you were speaking yesterday about your city and citizens, the tale which I have just been repeating to you came into my mind, and I remarked with astonishment how, by some mysterious coincidence, you agreed in almost every particular with the narrative of Solon.&nbsp;...<ref>''Timaeus'' 25e, Jowett translation.</ref>}}

Feder quotes A. E. Taylor, who wrote, "We could not be told much more plainly that the whole narrative of Solon's conversation with the priests and his intention of writing the poem about Atlantis are an invention of Plato's fancy."<ref>[[Kenneth Feder|Feder, KL.]] ''Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology,'' Mountain View, Mayfield 1999, p. 164 {{ISBN|978-0-07-811697-1}}</ref>