Timaeus, Essay Example

Timaeus was originally written by the Greek philosopher Plato in ancient Greek in 360 B.C.E. This particular version of the play was acquired from MIT’s online database entitled “The Internet Classics Archive” and was translated to modern English by a man named Benjamin Jowett. Benjamin Jowett was a Master of Balliol College in Oxford, where he spent his time as a theologian and translator of Plato. Due to his expertise in languages, we can assume that his interpretation of Timaeus is somewhat reliable. However, we should also consider that his unique interests and position of power may have contributed to a translation of Timaeus that reflected either his own ideals or his want to spread the message of the Church of England. Since his family had been highly involved with the Evangelical movement, we can expect that Jowett’s translation in somewhat religious in nature. In fact, during the height of Jowett’s power at Oxford, he required individuals to pass a theological examination in order for them to obtain their Master’s degrees. At this point in life, he also wished to become a preacher, although his university didn’t allow him to have the dual appointment. To satiate his want to spread the word of Christ however, he would occasionally preach at Westminster Abbey and his sermons were very popular among the people of London.

Since Timaeuswas originally written in an ancient language that few people know, it is easy for translators to alter the message of the original author. Even though Timaeus was written before the time of Christ and its content cannot possibly contain Christian values and messages, Jowett phrases the literary piece in a way that forces the characters to reflect more modern religious values. It is important to emphasize that during the time in which Timaeus was written, the dominant religions were polytheistic and people would worship many gods and goddesses. The interactions of these gods and goddesses with each other and the Earth were used to explain forces of nature. One of the major religious conflictions during this time period was that some educated individuals began to believe that the gods and goddesses were not the driving forces of nature. Socrates is one of the men who chose to oppose the belief in the gods. Plato however, supported the existence of the gods. As a consequence, the dialogue in Timaeusdeals with religion. Many modern Christian’s believe that this play is directly related to the New Testament. Many words overlap, and a lot of the information in Timaeusserves as background for the bible. It is important to note however, that Christian beliefs essentially evolved from ancient Greek and Roman values. Therefore, this is not surprising. However, since Jowett was a pious man who wished to spread the word of god, he took advantage of the similarities between Timaeus and Christianity and used these similarities to support the Christian religion. Rather than evaluating this work for its true meaning for the time period in which it was written, Jowett took advantage of the similarities to suit his own needs. Since Jowett was very influential in academia, many scholars still read his version of Timaeus today and as a consequence, may miss Plato’s true meaning and become distracted by Jowett’s opinion instead.

Works Cited

Plato. “Timaeus”. 360 BCE. Web. 4 January 2014. <http://classics.mit.edu//Plato/timaeus.html>