Crantor’s Reading of the Prologue of the Timaeus: Fr. 8 Mette Between Deconstruction and Hermeneutics
Crantor’s Reading of the Prologue of the Timaeus: Fr. 8 Mette Between Deconstruction and Hermeneutics
Abstract
This paper analyses in-depth Proclus’ testimonium to Crantor on Plato’s Atlantis (fr. 8 Mette). The expression ἱστορία ψιλή we read in the evidence should be interpreted in light of Proclus’ effort to classify the various readings of the Atlantis story (and of Platonic myths in general). From the elements at our disposal, we may tentatively infer that Crantor upheld a metaphorical (i. e. didactic) reading not only of the creation account of the Timaeus, but of the Atlantis myth as well. This metaphorical reading did not deny the ‘truth’ of the fiction (in some way confirmed by the phrase λόγος ἀληθής in the Platonic lemma commented by Proclus), but we may guess it surely ruled out any plausibility of the ‘historicity’ of the Atlantis story.
Keywords
Atlantis | Crantor | Myth | Old Academy | Platonism
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