[yarddog]

It is difficult to know how much of these legends are based on true events and how much are not.

For instance, Plato’s description of Atlantis could not possibly be completely accurate. On the other hand it seems like the more we find out about events of the Iliad and the Bible, the more accurate they become.

[jocon307]

“On the other hand it seems like the more we find out about events of the Iliad and the Bible, the more accurate they become.”

No expert here, and I don’t know about the Iliad, but it seems like the flood thing really happened. I don’t know if science supports that or not.

[SunkenCiv]

The fancy stuff in Plato's description -- exact details of a temple interior, for instance -- looks like an embellishment, not least because the purported event was 9000 years before Plato's own time. It appears that he used both Timaeaus and Critias to pontificate about his ideas of an ideal society, while perhaps basing it on folklore about a vanished, effectively prehistoric society. The story of Atlantis itself is attributed to someone else present in the dialogue, a purported grandchild (I think it was) of Solon, the legendary (perhaps mythical) lawgiver who had in his time traveled to Egypt and been told the tale.