The dictionary defines 'Atlantis' as:
At•lan•tis (at•lan'tis), n.
"a legendary island, first mentioned by Plato, said to have existed in the Atlantic Ocean, west of Gibraltar and to have sunk beneath the sea."
If we go a bit deeper and look up 'Atlantis' in an encyclopedia, we get the following definition:
"in Greek legend, a large island in the western sea (the Atlantic Ocean). Plato, in his dialogues the Timaeus and the Critias, tells of the high civilization that flourished there before the island was destroyed by an earthquake. The legend persists, and societies for the discovery of Atlantis remain active. Plato described Atlantis as an ideal state, and the name is considered synonymous with Utopia. Francis Bacon called his account of the ideal state The New Atlantis."
Mythology, or fact about the existence of Atlantis notwithstanding, we use Atlantis as a metaphor for a corporate ideal. An ideal we all know exists, but at times is as alusive as the mythic Atlantis!
|