Cost and Registration Information
Early Registration Price (by February 10): $190
Regular Price (after February 10): $209
Seminar Description
The only descriptions of Atlantis appeared in Plato’s dialogues Critias and Timaeus, and ever since, the vanished island has inspired relentless quests for its discovery. Was Atlantis a mythical creation, real terra firma, or perhaps something in between? This condensed seminar will examine what Plato wrote about Atlantis, the place of his dialogues in Greek philosophy, possible earlier references to the island, and select contributions by historians, archaeologists, and others to the extensive Atlantean literature. Three sessions.
Lee Minnerly, MA in anthropology, teaches classes at the Newberry on both Old and New World cultural astronomy, early science fiction, and the extraterrestrial life debate. He also volunteers at the Webster Institute for the History of Astronomy at Adler Planetarium.
Materials List
Required:
- Plato. Timaeus and Critias, transl. by Robin Waterfield, Oxford World’s Classic ed. (New York: Oxford University Press), 2009. ISBN 978-0-19-280735-9.
- Richard Ellis. Imagining Atlantis (New York: Vintage Books), 1999. ISBN 978-0375705823.
First Readings:
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Please read the following excerpts from Timaeus and Critias for the first class: Introduction, pp. ix-xiv and pp. liv-lvii; Note on the Texts, pp. lviii-lix; Timaeus, pp. 7-15; and Critias, pp. 103-121.
This class is part of the Newberry’s Adult Education Seminars Program. Learn more about our registration procedures.