Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis [113]
While there is no evidence that he actually wrote the texts attributed to him, which probably derive from a variety of hands over time, Hippocrates is still credited with teaching his followers, the first physicians, to view the patient as a whole; accept that much healing takes place naturally; follow a simple diet to achieve good health; and regard the first duty of the doctor as to his patients rather than to himself. The profound maxim that permeates medicine today, “First do no harm,” is attributed to his Epidemics, but is not actually part of the Hippocratic Oath, a modern version of which is still recited by many new doctors.
MYTHIC VOICES
At a later time, there occurred portentous earthquakes and floods, and one grievous day and night befell them, when the whole body of your warriors was swallowed up by the Earth and the island of Atlantis in like manner was swallowed up by the sea and vanished; wherefore also the ocean at that spot has now become impassable and unsearchable, being blocked up by the shoal mud which the island created as it settled down.
—PLATO
Was Atlantis ever discussed in Greek myth?
As fantastical places go, the so-called Lost Continent of Atlantis has had a long and intriguing history, peppered by inspiring stories, theories, bad science-fiction movies, a recent Disney animated feature, and even a sixties rock song by the pop singer Donovan (“Way down below the ocean/Where I want to be”). In the seventeenth century, a Jesuit writer published Underwater World, placing Atlantis in the Atlantic Ocean. Jules Verne included a description of Atlantis in his nineteenth-century adventure classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. But contrary to popular belief, the story of this ancient but highly advanced civilization that disappeared beneath the ocean is nowhere to be found in ancient myth—either in Hesiod or Homer. What we know of Atlantis—“the island of Atlas”—actually comes from a rather unlikely source—Timaeus and Critias. These two “dialogues” were composed by the philosopher Plato (428–348 BCE), the pupil of Socrates, who founded the Academy—later called the School of Athens—which flourished for more than nine hundred years.*
Plato readily acknowledged that what he knew of Atlantis had been handed down through a long series of storytellers and was possibly first spoken of by Egyptian priests—giving the impression of a long round of the game of “telephone,” played out in ancient times. According to Plato’s version, a brilliant and highly superior, wealthy and powerful civilization once existed on the isle of Atlantis, supposedly located beyond the Pillars of Heracles. This would have been the Strait of Gibraltar, which would place Atlantis in the ocean named after the legendary island, the Atlantic. But recently, others have argued that these pillars are actually the Bosporus Strait, which separates the Black Sea from the Mediterranean Sea, and that Atlantis truly existed in the Mediterranean.
In this legendary civilization, which supposedly flourished more than ten thousand years ago, “the most civilized men,” as Plato described them, were descended from the sea god Poseidon and had created an earthly paradise. Food was plentiful, and the buildings and temples were magnificent. One of these temples, according to Plato’s description, was “coated with silver save only the pinnacles and these were coated with gold. As to the exterior, they made the roof all of ivory in appearance, variegated with gold and silver….”
As Plato described it, Atlantis was a great military power that could muster an army of more than a million men. But its people turned corrupt and greedy, so the gods punished them. During one day and night, great explosions shook Atlantis, and the continent sank into the sea. Plato’s apocalyptic