Economic, City Planning, and Environmental Proposals by Plato in the City of Atlantis and of the Laws

In Plato’s unfinished dialogue Critias, we are told of the fertile coastal plain, 2.000 stadia by 3.000 stadia (approximately 250 by 375 miles), surrounded by a large irrigation canal. The city-polis of Atlantis is circular in shape, delineated by a round capital, or aoter, wall which sets it apart from both the fertile irrigated plain and the rest of the country. The concentric design is focused upon three artificially created islands in the center of the polis. The center-most island, shaped like a sphere, is surrounded by a canal, which in turn is encircled by another island, also encircled by a canal. A third island ring completes the interior of the polis and is set off from the main body of the capital by a final water ring. Thus, we have a series of seven concentric bodies, one within another. The circular pattern is further strengthened by a series of four internal walls, one around each of the three islands and the fourth surrounding the inner sanctum on the middle island, the Akropolis, where one finds the Temple of Poseidon, its great altar, and a stele. The islands are linked by a bridge, and have been furnished with gardens, trees, sanctuaries, and a hippodrome. An elaborate system of aqueducts irrigates the groves and provides both warm and cold water for bathhouses. Bodyguards are housed on all the islands.