Critias

Critias may refer to multiple figures in ancient Greek history and literature.

Critias (c. 460–403 BCE) was an Athenian aristocrat and statesman, a relative of Solon, who became one of the leaders of the Thirty Tyrants who administered Athens after its defeat in the Peloponnesian War. As a prominent oligarch, he supported strict control of political opponents and the restriction of democratic rights. The Thirty Tyrants ruled briefly, and their regime was overthrown in 403 BCE; Critias is believed to have been killed during or soon after the collapse of that regime.

In Platonic literature, Critias is a character in the dialogue titled Critias, often paired with Timaeus. The work is part of Plato’s early, largely fragmentary corpus and is generally considered incomplete, with only the opening portions surviving. In the dialogue, Critias recounts an ancient Atlantean civilization tale, claiming that Solon learned the story from Egyptian priests and transmitted it to his successors. The dialogue uses this account to explore ideas about ancient governance, virtue, and decline, but it ends without a complete conclusion, and the full text is lost.