Sybaris and Atlantis : Discourses of Decadence and Athenian Politics from the Fifth and Fourth Centuries BC

Abstract

This paper discusses ancient sources about the fall of the city of Sybaris. Sybaris’ downfall is commonly attributed to luxury and transgression against the divine order, and the representation of the sybaritic past has some similarities to the platonic myth of Atlantis. The paper shows that the discourses of decadence and luxury had its origins in Athens in the fifth and fourth centuries BC.