Ancient sources on Atlantis. See Ovid Four Ages for a timeline/framework
| Ancient Greek (Relation to Plato) | Short description | Source | Atlantis existed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Proclus (Neoplatonist commentator) | Believed the story true; recorded opinions of Crantor and Syrianus in his commentary. | Timaeus commentary: “As for the whole of this account of the Atlanteans, some say that it is unadorned history, as Crantor, the first commentator on Plato. Crantor adds that this is testified to by prophets of the Egyptians, who assert that these particulars [which are narrated by Plato] are written on pillars which are still preserved.” | Yes |
| Crantor (Early commentator on Plato) | Viewed Atlantis as historical fact; claimed Plato drew from Egyptians; story confirmed on Egyptian columns. | Recorded by Proclus: “Crantor came to Sais and saw there in the temple of Neith the column, completely covered with hieroglyphs, on which the history of Atlantis was recorded.” | Yes |
| Syrianus (Head of Plato’s Academy) | Considered Atlantis a historical fact. | Lost Timaeus commentary, recorded by Proclus: Syrianus considered the story of Atlantis to be a historical fact, as noted in Proclus’ commentary. | Yes |
| Strabo (Later geographer and historian) | Agreed with Plato that Atlantis story was true, not fiction. | His geographical writings: “He did well, too, in citing the opinion of Plato, ‘that the tradition concerning the Island of Atlantis might be received as something more than a mere fiction…'” | Yes |
| Plutarch (Later historian) | Recounted Solon’s Egyptian journey; named priest Sonchis; implied belief in Atlantis; mentioned transatlantic continent. | Life of Solon; The Face on the Moon: “He also spent some time in studies with Psenophis of Heliopolis and Sonchis the Saite, the most erudite of all the priests; from whom, as Plato says, hearing the story of the Atlantic Island, he attempted to introduce it in a poetical form into our notice.” | Yes |
| Claudius Aelianus (Later author) | Described Atlantean kings’ attire based on “ramfish”; implied memory preserved on Ocean coasts. | His writings on animals: “Those who live on the banks of Okeanos tell a story of how the ancient kings of Atlantis, sprung from the seed of Poseidon, wore upon their head the bands from the male Ram-fish, as an emblem of their authority, while their wives, the queens, wore the curls of the females as a proof of theirs.” | Yes |
| Ammianus Marcellinus (Later historian) | Accepted Atlantis as real fact; possibly noted acceptance by Alexandrian elite (unverified). | His historical works: “For whoever has attended to the annals which record the movements of earthquakes will understand that divers cities have been thus swallowed up.” (Implying events like the sinking of Atlantis) | Yes |
| Theophrastus (Student of Aristotle) | Referred to colonies of Atlantis in the sea. | Cited in various sources: Referred to “colonies of Atlantis in the sea.” | Yes |
| Philo of Alexandria (Philosopher) | Confirmed Theophrastus’s belief; believed Atlantis story himself. | His writings: In De Aeternitate Mundi: “The island of Atalantes which was greater than Africa and Asia, as Plato says in the Timaeus, in one day and night was overwhelmed beneath the sea in consequence of a mighty earthquake and became an impassable mass of mud.” | Yes |
| Poseidonius (Philosopher, teacher of Cicero) | Described large area beyond Pillars of Heracles as Poseidonis or Atlanta. | His writings: “Legend has it that beyond the Pillars of Heracles there was once an enormous area called Poseidonis or Atlanta.” | Yes |
| Statius Sebosus (Geographer) | Placed Atlantis 40 days’ sail from Gorgades to Hesperides, in mid-Atlantic. | His geographical works: “Atlantis was located 40 days’ sail from the Gorgades islands to the Hesperides.” | Yes |
| Aristotle (Student of Plato) | Allegedly criticized as invention, but claim debunked; no actual mention in surviving works. | Misattributed quote from later sources: Alleged: “The man who invented it also destroyed it” (debunked as not from Aristotle). | No (alleged, false) |
| Amelius (Neoplatonist) | Interpreted war as opposition between fixed stars (Athens) and planets (Atlantis). | Recorded by Proclus: “Amelius, among others, was convinced that the war referred to the opposition between the fixed stars (Athens) and the planets (Atlantis) and that Athens won ‘due to the only revolution of the cosmos’.” | No |
| Origen (Neoplatonist) | Saw clash as between certain Daimones. | Recorded by Proclus: “Origen’s thesis was that the clash was to be referred to ‘certain Daimones’, some better and in smaller numbers against others worse and in greater numbers, the first winners and the second losers.” | No |
| Numenius (Neoplatonist) | Viewed as dispute between souls linked to Athena and Poseidon. | Recorded by Proclus: “Numenius, on the other hand, stated that the struggle indicated a sort of dispute between the noblest souls belonging to Athena and those linked to the world of Genesis and belonging to the God who presides over it, namely Poseidon.” | No |
| Porphyry (Neoplatonist) | Interpreted as struggle between souls and material Daimones. | Recorded by Proclus: “Porphyry saw in it a struggle between souls and the hylic/material Daimones (harmful to souls, who ‘wage war’ on the latter when they descend into becoming); thus all the myths relating to Osiris and Seth, or to Dionysus and the Titans, were handed down symbolically by Plato…” | No |
| Iamblichus (Neoplatonist) | Rejected allegorical views; accepted as true story with symbolic analysis. | His positions: “Iamblichus and Syrian rejected all these positions: on one hand, one must accept the fact that it is a true story that actually happened, on the other one must proceed as in the analysis of the dialogues, following the analogies and trying to reveal the correct meaning of the symbols present in the ‘true story’.” | Yes |
| Marcellus (Geographer, circa 1st century BC) | Described traditions from Atlantic islands where inhabitants recalled a vast island called Atlantis that governed others. | From Proclus’ Commentary on Timaeus, quoting Aethiopica: “The inhabitants of this island preserved a tradition, handed down from their ancestors, concerning the existence of the Atlantic island, of prodigious magnitude, which had really existed in those seas, and which during a long period of time, governed all the islands in the Atlantic Ocean.” | Yes |
| Timagenes (Historian) | Cited Druid accounts of migrations to Gaul from remote islands due to wars and inundations; no direct mention of Atlantis. | From Ammianus Marcellinus, FGrHist 88 F2: “a part of the people was in fact indigenous, but that others also poured in from the remote islands and the regions across the Rhine, driven from their homes by continual wars and by the inundation of the stormy sea.” | Unclear |
