Magnesia

Magnesia is the name of a prefecture in modern Greece and was also the name of an ancient Lydian city near Sipylus. The Turkish Magnesia is today known as Manisa and is in the region that Peter James has chosen as the location of Atlantis.

Plato also names his ideal city, Magnesia, in Laws, which was one of his last dialogues. For those that consider Atlantis to be just a concoction, I think that there is an obligation for them to explain why Plato would have found it necessary to invent two ideal cities. Furthermore, while no one has suggested that Magnesia was ever a real city, the acceptance of a factual historical basis for the Atlantis story has persisted since Plato’s time. On the other hand, while Plato never claimed any historical basis for Magnesia, he repeatedly claimed that his Atlantis story was founded on fact.

>Although Plato discusses urban planning in broad terms for his hypothetical Magnesia, by way of complete contrast, he offers incredible details regarding the layout and dimensions of Atlantis that are more compatible with an eyewitness description of a real city.<