| Author: |
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Plato
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| Title: |
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Timaeus and Critias (Penguin Classics) |
| Moochable copies: |
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No copies available |
| Amazon suggests: |
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| Recommended: |
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| Topics: |
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| Published in: |
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English |
| Binding: |
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Paperback |
| Pages: |
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176 |
| Date: |
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1972-02-28 |
| ISBN: |
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0140442618 |
| Publisher: |
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Penguin Classics |
| Weight: |
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0.31 pounds |
| Size: |
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0.44 x 5.12 x 7.76 inches |
| Edition: |
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Reprint |
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| Description: |
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Product Description
Taking the form of dialogues between Socrates, Timaeus, Critias and Hermocrates, these two works are among Plato's final writings. In Timaeus, he gives a thorough account of the world in which we live, describing a cosmos composed of four elements earth, air, fire and water which combine to give existence to all things. An exploration of the origins of the universe, life and humanity, which outlines not just physical laws but also metaphysical and religious principles, it remained a paradigm of science for two thousand years. The mysterious preamble to Timaeus contains the first account in literature of Atlantis, while the fragmentary Critias, unfinished by its author, provides a spellbinding description of the lost continent's ideal society, which Critias asserts was created by the god-like children of Poseidon himself.
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| Reviews: |
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tennantfamily (United Kingdom) (2009/03/26):
The Timaeus, in which Plato attempted a scientific explanation of the universe's origin, is the earliest Greek account of a divine creation: as such it has significantly influenced European thought, even down to the present day. Yet this this dialogue and, even more, its unfinished sequel; the Critias have latterly attracted equal attention as the sources of the Atlantis legend. Plato's exact descriptions of an antedeluvian world have fermented the imaginations of hundreds of writers in this century and the last, and the translator has now appended and intriguing survey of Atlantis and of theories (crazy and plausible) about the vanished continent.
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| URL: |
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http://bookmooch.com/0140442618 |
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