SUMMARY OF TIMAEUS

Introduction

Summary of Republic 369b–456e

The Atlantis story

Cosmology: The Work of Reason

Fundamental axioms

Science as no more than a likely account

The body of the universe

The soul of the universe

Time

The astral gods and their task (with an aside on the traditional gods)

The human soul, its disorderly movements, and reincarnation

The human body as a vehicle for the soul

Sight and hearing (with a digression on intelligent and unintelligent causes)

Cosmology: The Work of Necessity

The receptacle and the tripartite ontology

The construction of earth, water, fire, and air out of triangles

The interactions of earth, water, fire, and air

Different kinds of earth, water, fire, and air

Sensible properties and sensations, including pleasure and pain

Cosmology: The Work of Reason and Necessity

Body and soul in human beings (with a digression on divination)

The formation of bodily parts

The formation of plants

The digestive and respiratory systems (with a digression on some other phenomena)

Growth, wasting, and death

Physical and psychological maladies, and how to avoid them

Women and other creatures as reincarnated men

Conclusion