Divine Judgment
[The Deluge, 19th c.]
Plato's dialogue Critias concludes with the rulers
of Atlantis, having for many generations governed as enlightened
despots with wisdom and moderation, becoming prey to unrighteous ambition
and power-hunger. This invites retribution at the hands of Zeus,
who responds accordingly: "Summoning the rest of the gods he began
to speak..." At this point the narrative abruptly breaks off,
but though unfinished, it is clear that Plato is treating Atlantis'
destruction as a divine judgment for its misdeeds-- a recurrent
theme of ancient mythology, in which the punishment visited on an errant
people is inundation by water.
In the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh, the hero visits
Utnapishtim, who survived the disaster and is now immortal. Utnapishtim
tells how he was warned of the gods' intention to wipe out a troublesome
humanity. He built an ark, and stayed afloat with his wife and other
companions. When the waters subsided the ark came to rest on a mountain-top.
The biblical story is related to this, but has an added moral dimension.
God sends the Flood as a judgment on human wickedness, and preserves Noah
and his family because they are righteous. Here likewise the ark comes
to rest on a mountain, Ararat.
Accounting for the similar moral tone as well as mode of punishment, theories
have been put forth claiming that the Flood stories themselves derive
from the sinking of a real Atlantis. While Plato does mention the legend
of a great Flood in the Timaeus, he does not associate it with the
fall of Atlantis. In the Flood stories, the waters eventually recede and
the land reappears; it does not remain permanently submerged as in Atlantis.
