Timaeus (dialogue)

Timaeus (; Ancient Greek: Τίμαιος, romanized: Timaios, pronounced [tǐːmai̯os]), written c. 360 BC, is one of Plato's dialogues, mostly in the form of long speeches by Timaeus and Critias. It is perhaps most noteworthy for its argument for the existence of a "craftsman" (Demiurge, Gk. demiourgos) by Timaeus. The speech goes on to present cosmological speculations about a World Soul, the creation of the earth and the heavenly spheres, the created gods, man, and finally animals. The dialogue begins with a shorter speech by Critias, unrelated to the later cosmological themes, about the myth of Atlantis and an earlier golden age of Athens. The dramatic setting of the Timaeus is unusual for Plato's dialogues. Participants in the dialogue include Socrates, Timaeus, Hermocrates, and Critias. Socrates praises his three interlocutors as distinguished intellectuals. At the beginning of the dialogue, the absence of another, unnamed participant, who was present on the day before, is bemoaned. Timaeus gives the first long speech of the day, and occupies most of the eponymous work. The dialogue Critias follows it, as in a series, recounting the second long speech of the day. Scholars frequently speculate that Plato planned a third work, a Hermocrates. Since we have the Critias only in an unfinished form, it is thought that Plato never finished such a three-part work.