Timaeus

Timaeus, dialogue by Plato, usually thought to be a late work, in form a sequel to one of the themes of the Republic, in which the author places in the mouth of Timaeus, a Pythagorean philosopher, an exposition of the origin and system of the universe. The creator god or demiurge (see DEMIURGUS), being good, created the material universe from the elements earth, air, fire, and water as a unique copy of the ideal universe which exists only in the realm of (Platonic) Ideas or Forms (see PLATO 4). From these elements in various proportions the demiurge also created the soul of the world, the lower gods, and the stars. The lower gods created men's mortal bodies, though the demiurge created their immortal souls. Men who lived a wicked life would suffer reincarnation first as women, and then if unreformed as animals. The origin of sensations and diseases is then traced; the three-fold division of the soul into reason, emotion, and appetite, and the fate of the individual after death are briefly indicated.

In a preliminary myth Critias recounts the conquest of the empire of Atlantis (a continent west of the Pillars of Hercules, now sunk beneath the sea) by the ancient Athenians, a legend which is continued in the unfinished dialogue Critias.

Cicero translated or adapted Timaeus but most of his work is lost. Timaeus was an influential dialogue in late antiquity, influencing Neoplatonism with its anticipation of the latter's elaborate spiritual hierarchy; the demiurge was also easily seen by Christians as the Creator God of Genesis. The idea that the demiurge created the stars and other heavenly bodies with souls gave authority to astrology, which regarded them as divine.