Critias (dialogue) in the context of "Hermocrates"

Timaeus (/taɪˈmiːəs/; Ancient Greek: Τίμαιος, romanized: Timaios, pronounced [tǐːmai̯os]) is one of Plato's dialogues, mostly in the form of long monologues given by Critias and Timaeus, written c. 360 BC. The work puts forward reasoning on the possible nature of the physical world and human beings and is followed by the dialogue Critias.

Participants in the dialogue include Socrates, Timaeus, Hermocrates, and Critias. Some scholars believe that it is not the Critias of the Thirty Tyrants who appears in this dialogue, but his grandfather, also named Critias. At the beginning of the dialogue, the absence of another, unknown dialogue participant, present on the day before, is bemoaned. It has been suggested from some traditions—Diogenes Laertius (VIII 85) from Hermippus of Smyrna (3rd century BC) and Timon of Phlius (c. 320 – c. 235 BC)—that Timaeus was influenced by a book about Pythagoras, written by Philolaus, although this assertion is generally considered false.

Atlantis (Ancient Greek: Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, romanized: Atlantìs nêsos, lit. 'island of Atlas') is a fictional island mentioned in Plato's works Timaeus and Critias as part of an allegory on the hubris of nations. Purposely creating a literary contrast with the Achaemenid Empire, the great land-based power that ruled the east (what the Greeks called Asia), Plato describes Atlantis as a naval empire from the west that had conquered most of Europe and Libya, but then loses divine favor after an ill-fated campaign against a fictionalized Athens and subsequently submerges into the Atlantic Ocean. By portraying the victorious Athens in the image of his ideal state from the Republic, Plato intended the Atlantis story to bear witness to the superiority of his concept of a state.

Despite its minor importance in Plato's work, the Atlantis story has had a considerable impact on literature. The allegorical aspect of Atlantis was taken up in utopian works of several Renaissance writers, such as Francis Bacon's New Atlantis and Thomas More's Utopia. On the other hand, nineteenth-century amateur scholars misinterpreted Plato's narrative as historical tradition, most famously Ignatius L. Donnelly in his Atlantis: The Antediluvian World. Plato's vague indications of the time of the events (more than 9,000 years before his time) and the alleged location of Atlantis ("beyond the Pillars of Hercules") gave rise to much pseudoscientific speculation. As a consequence, Atlantis has become a byword for any and all supposed advanced prehistoric lost civilizations and continues to inspire contemporary fiction, from comic books to films.

Timaeus of Locri (pronunciation in modern English /taɪˈmiːəs/; Ancient Greek: Τίμαιος ὁ Λοκρός, romanized: Tímaios ho Lokrós; Latin: Timaeus Locrus) is a character in two of Plato's dialogues, Timaeus and Critias. In both, he appears as a philosopher of the Pythagorean school. If there ever existed a historical Timaeus of Locri, he would have lived in the fifth century BC, but his historicity is dubious since he only appears as a literary figure in Plato's works; all other ancient sources are either based on Plato or are fictional accounts.

Orichalcum (or aurichalcum) /ˌɔːrɪˈkælkəm/ or orichalc /ˌɔːrɪˈkælk/ is a metal mentioned in several ancient writings, including the story of Atlantis in the Critias of Plato. Within the dialogue, Critias (460–403 BC) says that orichalcum had been considered second only to gold in value and had been found and mined in many parts of Atlantis in ancient times, but that by Critias's own time, orichalcum was known only by name.

Orichalcum may have been the name for some noble metal, such as platinum, as it was supposed to be mined, but has been identified as pure copper or certain alloys of bronze, and especially brass alloys in the case of antique Roman coins, the latter being of "similar appearance to modern brass" according to scientific research.

Hermocrates (/hɜːrˈmɒkrəˌtiːz/; Greek: Ἑρμοκράτης, romanized: Hermokrátēs) is a hypothetical dialogue, assumed to be the third part of Plato's late trilogy along with Timaeus and Critias. It is not known exactly how Critias ended, as the ending to the book is currently lost, so historians have not been able to say exactly how Hermocrates would begin. In any case, the people that would have appeared are very likely to be the same as in the former dialogues – Timaeus, Critias, Hermocrates, and Socrates – and the unnamed companion mentioned at the beginning of the Timaeus might have unveiled his identity. The intention of Plato to write this third dialogue becomes evident among others, from the following passage of Critias:

Hermocrates had only a small share of the conversation in the previous dialogues. Since the Critias recounted the story of the ideal state in ancient Athens of nine thousand years ago – and why it was able to repel the invasion by the imperialist naval power Atlantis – by referring to prehistoric accounts via Solon and the Egyptians, it might have been Hermocrates' task to tell how the imperialist naval power, into which Athens of Plato's lifetime had turned, had suffered a bitter defeat in the Sicilian expedition against Syracuse and eventually in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta – since he was a Syracusan strategos during the time of the Sicilian expedition. The sequence of names of the three participants in these dialogues could also have a significance. The name of Timaeus is derived from the Greek word τιμάω, timaō meaning to pay honor to; the name of Critias is derived from the word κρίσις, krisis meaning judgment; and the name of Hermocrates, means gifted by Hermes, messenger of the gods.