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TIMAEUS AND CRITIAS
Plato (c.427 – 347bce), Athenian philosopher-dramatist, has had a
profound and lasting influence upon Western intellectual tradition.
Born into a wealthy and prominent family, he grew up during the
conflict between Athens and the Peloponnesian states which engulfed
the Greek world from 431 to 404bce. Following its turbulent after-
math, he was deeply affected by the condemnation and execution
of his revered master Socrates (469 – 399) on charges of irreligion
and corrupting the young. In revulsion from political activity, Plato
devoted his life to the pursuit of philosophy and to composing mem-
oirs of Socratic enquiry cast in dialogue form. He was strongly in-
fluenced by the Pythagorean thinkers of southern Italy and Sicily,
which he is said to have visited when he was about 40. Some time
after returning to Athens, he founded the Academy, an early ancestor
of the modern university, devoted to philosophical and mathematical
enquiry, and to the education of future rulers or ‘philosopher-
kings’. The Academy’s most celebrated member was the young
Aristotle (384 – 322), who studied there for the last twenty years of
Plato’s life. Their works mark the highest peak of philosophical
achievement in antiquity, and both continue to rank among the
greatest philosophers of all time.
Plato is the earliest Western philosopher from whose output
complete works have been preserved. At least twenty-five of his
dialogues are extant, ranging from fewer than twenty to more than
three hundred pages in length. For their combination of dramatic
realism, poetic beauty, intellectual vitality, and emotional power
they are unique in Western literature.
Robin Waterfield is a writer, living in Greece. He has previ-
ously translated, for Oxford World’s Classics, Plato’s Republic,
Symposium, Gorgias,and Phaedrus,and Meno and Other Dialogues,
Aristotle’sPhysics,Herodotus’Histories,Plutarch’sGreek Lives and
Roman Lives, Euripides’ Orestes and Other Plays and Heracles and
Other Plays, Xenophon’s The Expedition of Cyrus, and The First
Philosophers: The Presocratics and the Sophists.
Andrew Gregory is Reader in History of Science in the
Department of Science and Technology Studies, University College
London. His books include Plato’s Philosophy of Science, Eureka!
The Birth of Science, and Ancient Greek Cosmogony.
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OXFORD WORLD’S CLASSICS
PLATO
Timaeus and Critias
Translated by
ROBIN WATERFIELD
With an Introduction and Notes by
ANDREW GREGORY
1
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Plato.
[Timaeus. English]
Timaeus and Critias / Plato; translated by Robin Waterfield;
with an introduction and notes by Andrew Gregory.
p.cm.—(Oxford world's classics)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978–0–19–280735–9
1. Cosmology—Early works to 1800. 2. Atlantis. I. Waterfi eld, Robin.
II. Gregory, Andrew. III. Plato. Critias. English. IV. Title.
B387.A5W37 2008
113—dc22
2008027751
Typeset by Cepha Imaging Private Ltd., Bangalore, India
Printed in Great Britain
on acid-free paper by
Clays Ltd., St Ives plc
ISBN 978–0–19–280735–9
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
For Keith Critchlow, contemporary Platonist,
and in memory of W.G.D.
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CONTENTS
Introduction ix
Note on the Texts lviii
Select Bibliography lx
Summary of Timaeus lxix
TIMAEUS 1
CRITIAS 101
Explanatory Notes 122
Textual Notes 162
vii
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INTRODUCTION
Plato’s Timaeus and Critias are works of perennial philosophical
and historical interest. Timaeus gives us an account of how the cos-
mos and everything in it — stars, earth, and living creatures — came
into existence. It also gives an account of the origin of human
beings, their place in the cosmos, and what they should aspire to.
It is a complex and multifaceted work, offering important ideas in
philosophy, theology, and the study of the natural world. The
unfinishedCritias gives us the beginnings of a fascinating account
of the supposed ancient city of Atlantis.
Timaeus offers a pattern of explanation for all natural phenom-
ena: they are to be explained teleologically, in terms of why it is best
that they occur in the way that they do. Teleological explan ation
itself was not original to Timaeus, nor indeed to Plato. Anaxagoras
(c.500 – c.428 bc) had previously proposed that a cosmic intelli-
gence brought order to the universe. In his earlier work, Phaedo,
Plato had criticized Anaxagoras for not employing this type of
explanation fully enough. What Timaeus offers, then, is the first
thoroughgoing, exhaustive teleological analysis of all natural phe-
nomena. If we take the account literally, a craftsman god, the demi-
urge (the word literally means ‘craftsman’), imposes order on a
pre-existing chaos because order is in all ways better than chaos. So
the elements, the cosmos, and all living things are given a teleo-
logical ordering by a single god who acts only for the best. This
makes Timaeus the first manifesto of teleology, and ever since,
whenever explanations of natural phenomena based on matter,
mechanism, and chance have been perceived to be implausible, the
idea of a designer god has been an alternative. Another aspect of this
design is that the craftsman god employs mathematics and geometry
in the construction of the cosmos. Stars, sun, moon, and planets
move with regular circular motions, the elements earth, water, air,
and fire are conceived of as having specific, ideal shapes, and the
ultimate building-blocks for the elements are two types of triangle.
ix
