Table of Contents
Dami Lee claims Plato left a concrete plan for Atlantis, with sizes and materials, and that the familiar nested rings hide the building trouble. The sea link and the water circles would, she argues, mean vast trenches in a low coastal plain, and the farm land in the account would cover an area comparable to Colorado. Heavier seawater in the deep circles would shove inward on the fresh supply whenever people drew from springs. Set beside other round cities, the circle looks orderly from above but comes apart in use, because a closed ring is hard to enlarge and may have little reason to hold a population. Baghdad, she says, did have commerce as a motive, yet people spilled past the perimeter, and later writers described that capital without seeing its prime. Earthen buildings elsewhere have lasted, so a very thick ring should have left a trace if this were an ordinary job. She frames the myth question as a choice between a literal report and a metaphor neater than any real shore.
Key points
- She claims Plato recorded sizes and materials for Atlantis rather than only a vague legend.
- She argues the canals and water circles would require enormous digging beside the sea.
- She says heavier seawater would press in on the city’s fresh supply.
- She claims round plans fail because they are hard to expand and easy to outgrow.
- She treats Baghdad’s round capital as a case where life moved outside the walls.
- She says the myth debate is whether Plato meant a literal place or a tidy symbol.
Topics on this site
Short quotes
Now, imagine excavating all of this at water level with 30 m of ocean pressing on both sides.
Dami Lee, Plato's Atlantis Has a Structural Problem
She uses this picture to claim the ditches would be dug with the sea pressing in from both sides. Watch at 3:36
When we start looking at other circular cities, real and fictional, there's something about the shape that makes them fail.
Dami Lee, Plato's Atlantis Has a Structural Problem
She claims the round form itself, in real and invented cities, is what starts to fail. Watch at 6:51
Unlike Palmanova, this one had a very good reason to exist, trade.
Dami Lee, Plato's Atlantis Has a Structural Problem
She claims Baghdad’s round capital, unlike a mere fortress diagram, was founded for commerce. Watch at 10:33
So, Atlantis, is it a myth, or was it real?
Dami Lee, Plato's Atlantis Has a Structural Problem
She closes by putting the myth question in the form of a direct choice. Watch at 13:59
Video by DamiLee. Watch on YouTube.