# Critias — Dialogues character guide

> Critias in Dialogues by Plato.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** 297 Critias

**First appearance:** 0078-critias

## Snapshot

An Athenian statesman and storyteller who unfolds the tale of Atlantis as a political and cosmic parable for his assembled listeners.

## Who they are

Critias is the narrator of the Atlantis myth, a figure whose political experience and family prestige lend weight to his account of an ancient war between Athens and a vanished island empire. He presents the story as both history and moral exemplar, but his own entanglement in Athenian politics casts a shadow over his authority. His tale sets up the dialogue's exploration of ideal states and their decline, making him the bridge between philosophy and political reality.

## In the story

### [Charmides](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/charmides)

Charmides' guardian and cousin; takes over the argument, proposing that temperance is self-knowledge.

### [Charmides](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/charmides)

Charmides' guardian and cousin; he asserts Charmides' temperance and commands him to follow Socrates.

### [Timaeus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/timaeus)

Present; introduces the Atlantis story as a prelude to Timaeus's cosmology.

### [Timaeus I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/i)

Relays the story of Solon and the Egyptian priests about Atlantis, as told by his grandfather.

### [Timaeus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/timaeus)

Tells the ancient tradition of Solon and the story of Atlantis, as heard from his grandfather.

### [Critias](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/critias)

The primary narrator, recounting the story of Atlantis and ancient Athens as told by Solon.

### [Introduction and Analysis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/introduction-and-analysis)

Critias is the narrator of the Atlantis story, claiming to repeat what Solon was told by Egyptian priests.

### [Critias](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/critias)

Critias accepts the argument from Timaeus and begins his discourse on Atlantis, requesting indulgence for the difficulty of speaking about human affairs.

### [Appendix II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/appendix-ii)

Discusses with Socrates the utility of wealth, hearing, and medicine for virtue, and reluctantly considers whether bad means can serve good ends.

### [Eryxias](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/eryxias)

Argues that wealth can be bad for some men, and engages in a dialectical exchange with Eryxias and Socrates.

### [Eryxias](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/eryxias)

Engages in the discussion with Socrates, reluctantly accepting arguments about the uselessness of certain antecedents and the condition of the wealthy.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/characters/critias
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/characters