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In the Timaeus dialogue, Plato did not mention any precise date when Atlantis was supposed to exist. Dating of the events in the Critias dialogue is in line with the data given in the Timaeus dialogue, with the exception of the precise dating of the war between Atlantis and Athens. Only the paragraph inserted within the introduction to the text on Atlantis in the Critias dialogue contains a precise numerical datum on when did the war between Athens and Atlantis take place (9000 years before the Socrates' dialogue with Critias), related to a fictional talk between Critias and Socrates and not to the Solon's talk with the Egyptian priests. This is, however, in contradiction with the general genesis of the story. The fictional dialogue between Socrates and his guests in the Athenian port of Piraeus took place before 411 B.C. (for details see p. 131-132 A)). Solon obtained the information on Atlantis in the town of Sais around 590 B.C. This would date the war to around 8820 years before the Solon's talk with the Egyptian priests. Nevertheless, Egypt did not exist yet at that time according to Plato, so it could not get liberated from the Atlantean yoke by the Athenians. The paragraph emphasizing the hegemony of Athens among other population within the Pillars of Heracles was probably implemented to the Solon's text by Plato or some of his disciples. After summarizing time information contained in the two dialogues, omitting the dubious information on the was between Atlantis and Athens 9000 years before the Socrates' talk with Critias, the following chronology of events can be presented, as given by Plato in his dialogues:
Chronology of events
According to Plato, the war between Atlantis and Athens burst out in the times before Theseus. Theseus, mythological Athenian king, representant of Ionians, son of the Athenian king Aigeus or the god of the sea Poseidon, became known especially by uniting possibly twelve rural city-states within a single Athenian state. This act was then commemorated with the feast of synoikismos (merge). In one story, Theseus and his friend Peirithoos decided to marry the daughters of Zeus. The two of them then abducted beautiful Helen from Sparta, the Helen for the sake of whose the famous Trojan War was later started and Troy defeated. At this time, Helen was only twelve years old or even younger, no matter whether she was delivered to Zeus by Leda in Laconia or the goddess Nemesis in Attica.31) On the other hand, it has been later calculated that Theseus was at least fifty years old when he became the first kidnapper and the husband of the beautiful daughter of Zeus. 32)
Only later did Helen marry Meneláos, goddesses Hera, Athena and Afrodite commenced their dispute on which of the goddesses was the most beautiful one, Helen got abducted for the second time by Paris son of the Trojan king, and the Trojan War started. The story of the first abduction of beautiful Helen from Sparta clearly indicates that Theseus was living at least sixty years before the Trojan War burst out. Although I got enthusiastic over the book by Eberhard Zangger "Ein neuer Kampf um Troia", I cannot but disagree with his later deductions presented in the book "The Flood from Heaven: Deciphering the Atlantis Legend". In the opinion of Zangger, the reflection of the destruction of Troy is the original essence of the Plato's story about Atlantis. According to Plato, however, the war between Atlantis and Athens occurred in the times before Theseus, which is safely before the Trojan War burst out. Plato also specifies the time of the war conflict between Atlantis and the population within the Pillars of Heracles by giving other names of those who took part in the conflict: Cecrops, Erechtheus, Erichthonius, Erysichthon.
According to the legends, Cecrops united the former population of Attica into one nation when he ordered them to come to the Acropolis for a large assembly. Each of the pre-Athenians was supposed to bring a stone to the assembly for Cecrops. This was how he counted the former inhabitants of Attica, reaching the number of twenty thousand.34) This myth is remarkable especially by the fact that Cecrops considered himself a "son of the land", i.e., an original inhabitant of Attica who did not come from anywhere, "for that matter he had no legs", which is explained by the scholars in general consent by the pre-Greek origin of Cecrops.35) The same number of living pre-Athenians as counted by Cecrops was mentioned also in the Critias dialogue by Plato: "And they took care to preserve the same number of men and women through all time, being so many as were required for warlike purposes, then as now-that is to say, about twenty thousand."C)
Aglauros, the mother of the three daughters of Cecrops, delivered him also a son named Erysichthon, "Protector of land".36) The further fate of Erysichthon is only poorly known but he died without having children.
Erichthonius, a contemporary to Cecrops and another Athenian king, a son of god Hephaestus and the goddess of land Geia, was sponsored by goddess Athene. According to the legends, Erichthonius was the first to plough the field (see farming culture of Pelasgians below) and founded the tradition of the Panathenaia festival in honour of goddess Athene.
Erechtheus, the son and successor of king Erichthonius, perished by the strike of the trident of Poseidon after concluding his victorious fight with the Poseidon's sons Thracians in defence of Athens. Cecrops II, the son of Erechtheus, was traditionally believed to be the great-grandfather of Theseus.
Plato placed the war conflict between Atlantis and Athens to the time when the area of the later Athens was inhabited by the original Pelasgians. He even adopted the number of the then living pre-Athenians, as once counted by Cecrops according to the legends, from the Greek mythology. Cecrops and other heroes named by Plato lived at the same time within the range of one or two generations, according to Geek myths. These heroes were considered the original inhabitants of Attica by Ancient Greeks. They were believed to have lived in this area yet before the first Indo-European tribes of Ionians and Achaeans came to Greece in the Middle Helladic times (1850-1600 B.C.) and assimilated with the pre-Greek population of Pelasgians. Based on the narration of Plato, the war between Atlantis and Athens could not take place earlier than the Ionians and Achaeans came to Greece. The latest date of the war between Atlantis and the population within the Pillars of Heracles must be therefore shifted before the year 1850 B.C.
In ancient Egypt, time was counted by different methods than today. "The oldest Egyptian calendar was probably based, besides observations of lunar phases, on changing seasons of the year and the related agricultural works. Beginning of this calendar can be traced back to the times when, by coincidence of factors, a conjunction of the Sun and Sirius occurred at dawn at the onset of the annual flooding of the River Nile. Partly taking advantage of this coincidence, a year amounting 12 months of 30 days each was established probably in the early 3rd millennium B.C. Five more days, so-called epagomenal days, were added to this year later. Designation of three seasons of the year comprising four months each were adopted from the original agricultural calendar (flooding period, blossom period, crop period)." 43) The oldest calendar for the Egyptians was represented by the River Nile with its annual floodings. The regular cycles of flooding also controlled all economic and cultural activities in ancient Egypt. The oldest agriculture-based calendar did not count time in years (one year = 360 days) but distinguished three cycles: the period of flooding (achet), the period of blossom (peret) and the crop period (shemu). According to Plato, Atlantis was located in the monsoon region of the world (see Location of Atlantis, p. 9 herein). In monsoon regions, years are not divided into four seasons as is common in the temperate climatic zone. In practical use, years are divided into three seasons: summer season, rain season and winter season.45) As obvious from different remarks in Indian Vedas, counting time by three seasons of the year instead of counting by years was common in India also in the times of the Indus Valley Civilisation. If any of the high priests of the Egyptian temples ever tried to take a record of the events in Atlantis, the simplest thing for him to do about time measuring was to refer to the same periods of three cycles of the year, which existed not only in the monsoon Atlantis but also in Egypt. At the same time, it was very easy for Solon or Plato to make a mistake in taking notes of an old Egyptian legend: numerical data told to Solon in cycles (three seasons of the year) by the priests could have been confused with years.
Solon's meeting with the priests in Egypt dates to the period of 593-584 B.C. For an easier calculation, the date of 590 B.C. will be used here. Consequently, the values given in the table above must be divided by three. This provides time data given not in seasons of the year but in calendar years. Such recalculation results in the following numerical data (Table 6, p. 43 A) ):
Chronology after recalculation, in years.
Complete unification of the lands of Upper and Lower Egypt is usually dated to around 3100 B.C. Nevertheless, even this latest explanation of the unification of Egypt by conquering Lower Egypt by the Upper Egyptian monarch Narmer is disputed at present. New written sources from the archaic kings' burial site at Abydos, for example, indicate that at least dozen other kings were buried here, older than those who were known to belong to the first dynasty yet. A tentative "zero dynasty" was formulated, now attributed the length of rule of two to two and a half centuries.47) If we consider the monarchs of the zero dynasty real founders of the Egyptian state, which we probably should based on the latest archaeological investigations, the origin of the Egyptian establishment must be shifted to the period between 3350 and 3200 B.C. The same period was mentioned by Plato on condition that his intention was to date the origin of the Egyptian state not by calendar years but by three Egyptian seasons of the year (cycles).
Plato reported precise dimensions of the capital of Atlantis, encircled by a network of water ditches, as well as of the whole surrounding landscape in Greek stadia and feet. Greek measures were, however, not unified (see p. 44-45 A)). The difference in metres between the smallest Delphic stadium and the largest Ionic stadium was 45 m (27 %). Moreover, Solon or Plato also had to make a recalculation of Egyptian length measures for Greek ones. It need not be stressed that the Egyptian length and surface measures were considerably different (see Table 7 Comparison of Egyptian and Greek measures A)). Figures in Egyptian units of measure were also probably recalculated from units used by the unknown Atlantean civilisation. Hence, it is highly probable that the figures given by Plato were highly imprecise.
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