Abstract
In the Timaeus, the issue of planets is revelatory of the twofold subject of the plausible account of how our universe acquired its present shape. If Timaeus speaks about the nature of the Whole and about human nature, the creation of the planets is where these two parts of his account meet and intersect.
To clarify this suggestion, the chapter starts with the creation of time and with its role in Timaeus' account (some more metaphysical remarks on the nature of time are relegated to the Postscript). The second part of the chapter turns to the planets as a pivotal moment where Timaeus passes from the immortal to the mortal species.
This passage will play an important role in explaining why Timaeus uses various temporal idioms without offering a unified theory of time.