Countless books, articles, and lectures have given theories about the mysterious lost continent of Atlantis. It seems that in “New Age” literature  everything originated in Atlantis. Where does this come from? The source of the Atlantis story goes back centuries to a handful of pages in “Plato’s  Dialogues.” Plato, who was born somewhere around 423 BCE, was a Greek philosopher, poet, and mathematician. He wrote a story called “Critias,” where he describes the Island of Atlantis. 

In the story, Critias is talking with Socrates, Timaeus, and Hermocrates. He tells them a story, told to him by his grandfather, also named Critias, who heard the story from his grandfather, Dropides (young Critias' great grandfather) who heard the story from his friend and distant cousin, Solon. Solon heard the story from an Egyptian priest while he was traveling through Egypt. The Egyptian priest heard the story from another priest who said that it had been passed down through 9,000 years of previous priests who had been told by survivors of the great deluge.