Greg Jenner is joined by Dr Stephen Kershaw and comedian Sophie Duker to dive into the myth of Atlantis. The Atlantean story has its origins in the writings of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. And literally nowhere else. Yet the enduring appeal of this mythical city and a sophisticated civilisation lost beneath the waves has lasted for thousands of years. It has inspired a huge number of stories and some very ropey documentaries. The myth also has a darker side, as the allegory of Atlantis has been used to try and justify racist philosophies and policies during some of the darkest events in history.
My name's Joe Wilkinson and I've managed to force Patrick Bamford to come on a podcast with me and he's gonna slowly fall in love with me.
Do you go to the tip?
Believe it or not, yeah, I do.
Do you go to the supermarket?
No.
You know when all the shirts started getting tight on the players and they started selling them like that to the general public?
Yeah, yeah.
And everyone looked like sausages.
My mate's a footballer with me, Patrick Bamford and Joe Wilkinson.
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Hello and welcome to youre dead to me, the radio four comedy podcast that takes history seriously.
My name is Greg Jenner.
Im a public historian, author and broadcaster.
And today we are jumping in our submarines, supercharging our crystals and boldly going where no one has gone before, literally, because it never existed its Atlantis.
And to help us trace the history of one of the world's most enduring myths, I am joined by two very special guests in history corner.
He's a lecturer at Oxford university's department for Continuing Education.
His research includes classical mythology and greek and roman history.
He's the author of several books, including a fantastic illustrated children's Encyclopedia of greek myths called Mythologica.
And lucky for us, he's also written a brief history of Atlantis, Plato's ideal state.