The Lost Dialogue of Critias

Important

This document was translated from a palimpest discovered in year 2083 at the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum. It was made available to the general public in 2095 by the Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute, and has since been archived in libraries and institutes across the world. According to the current academic consensus, it was written in the year 366 BCE.

socrates:

You have spoken at length about the Kings of the Atlantic and their works, Critias, but you have not told us the source of their power. How were these men able to harness the power to produce such wonders? Was their power born of the elements? Was it of fire or water?

critias:

It was of neither, Socrates. They drew upon the firmament itself. Their first and greatest king, Asterion, as a boy, sailed to the edge of the world and found the veil that separates the mortal sphere from the higher spheres. There he found where Cronos had been imprisoned in ice and forced by the upstart gods to measure the seconds of man. Asterion lit for this fallen Titan a torch to melt his prison and free him. As thanks, the Titan drew from his stomach a metallic stone of immense power and bestowed it upon Asterion, as proof to show his people he had been to realms forbidden to man.

socrates:

This stone, what was its nature?

critias:

I have heard tell from the priestesses of Sais this orichalum was used an anchor, to be placed upon the Pivot around which their vast city had been constructed, and when the kings spun this metal, it stored the motion of the day for use at night. It was said Atlantis blazed at night with the flame of the sun, but never burned. For this reason, its people never went to sleep, as the city never darkened.

socrates:

And how did they spin this metal, Critias?

critias:

In this matter lay the most impressive accomplishment of the ancient Kings of the Atlantic, for their whole city had been built around a Pivot that held the stone. During the day, the ritual bulls bred in temples were hitched to long lever arms at four points in the city corresponding to the compass and driven around in circles. These lever arms, being attached to the Pivot through a series of concentric gears, spun it with great speed.

socrates:

But, Critias, this Spindle would, by Necessity, be immense. Something so large could not disappear so easily. Where has it gone?

critias:

The kings grew greedy, Socrates. Long after the time of Asterion, they sought to exploit the power of the Titans for the purposes of petty empire. They spun the stone ever faster, using it to build ever larger armies. Their war-making awoke Cronos and angered him, for he saw the Atlanteans had twisted his gift to their depraved ends. It is said by the priestesses Cronos then yanked the threads of Time and Fate, and caused the city to decay and crumble into the sea.