The greatest mystery in history. Archaeologists began to study the Sea of Azov not so long ago, but it has already brought sensational finds
Near the Taman Peninsula, where the ancient city of Phanagoria stood in the 6th century BC, an expedition of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences discovered an antique library in marble at the bottom of the sea: gravestones and fragments of columns with ancient Greek texts carved on them.
When the lines of one of the plates, half-erased by time and water, were compared with the text of Plutarch, where the historian talks about King Mithridates and his concubine Hypsycratia, scientists were amazed: it turns out that Plutarch did not come up with anything, Mithridates really was in these parts and Hypsicracy died. But the main thing is that this find became a previously unknown chronicle of the Bosporus kingdom, one of the two capitals of which was Phanagoria. The found marble columns and gravestones were once located within the city limits, and then, like Atlantis, they were swallowed up by water and ended up on the seabed …
There are many versions …
Some scientists believe that the mythical Atlantis was also not an invention of the ancients, but they cannot find it, because they are looking for it in the wrong place. Wherever they have not looked for Atlantis: in Sicily, Crete, in the English Channel, Greenland, in the Azores and Canary Islands, in Mexico, Colombia, Bolivia and even in Antarctica! However, historical facts indicate otherwise: Atlantis existed in the Azov region. In their assumptions, the researchers are based on the description of the war between the Atlanteans and the Amazons, given in the works of the Roman historian Diodorus of Siculus, who lived in the 1st century BC. Everyone knows that the legendary Amazons lived in our area, on the shores of the Azov Sea. And if Atlantis really was in the Atlantic Ocean or the Mediterranean, then why would the warlike Amazons attack the Atlanteans who live thousands of kilometers from their homeland? The answer is simple:Atlantis bordered on the kingdom of the Amazons.
This version is also confirmed by the works of the writer of the 2nd century A. D. Elian, who quotes the story of a 4th century BC Greek geographer. Theopomp on the Atlantean campaign against the Hyperboreans. In the beliefs of the ancient, the Hyperboreans lived north of the Scythians and Cimmerians inhabiting the Azov and Black Sea regions.
According to scientists, most of the Sea of Azov was occupied by the Don delta with numerous islands. The legendary Atlantis existed on one of these islands. But why did she die? There is also an explanation for this. 12-11 thousand years ago the Ice Age ended. Warming began, causing the glaciers to melt. The sea level began to rise. The water in the Black and Azov Seas rose by 30-50 meters. This caused the catastrophe: part of the Don delta, together with the islands, was swallowed up by the Sea of Azov.
What was the mythical country like?
According to Plato's descriptions, Atlantis was a large island and died in the tenth millennium BC. The mythic country was surrounded by mountains from almost all sides. Researchers believe that they could well have been the Azov Upland and the Donetsk Ridge, which 12 - 10 thousand years ago were incomparably higher. Plato also says that "there were a great many elephants on the island." However, there is an assumption that these were not elephants at all, but mammoths, which really roamed in whole herds in the Azov Sea at the end of the Ice Age (their remains are still found).
Further Plato says: “Atlantis disappeared, plunging into the abyss. After that, the sea in those places until this day became unnavigable and inaccessible due to the shallowing caused by the huge amount of silt that left behind the settled island …”And here there is an indisputable similarity with the Meotian swamp, as the ancient Azov Sea was called: such a silted and shallow sea on the planet no longer.
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Perhaps even today, under a multi-meter layer of silt, clay and sand at the bottom of the Sea of Azov, the greatest of the mysteries of history, Atlantis, is hidden. If it is ever found, it will be a worldwide sensation. In the meantime, it remains only to hope that over many millennia, the destructive properties of sea water have not completely erased all the remnants of the material culture of the ancient civilization, which rests its secrets in the depths of the sea.
Galina TIMOFEEVA
A COMMENT
A large island died in Lake Meotia
- I think that because of the geological conditions, namely the soft soil, in relation to which the Sea of Azov behaves very aggressively, it is unlikely that such ancient structures could have survived at its bottom, except perhaps to the west, closer to Ukraine, where the soil is more hard and not so susceptible to destruction, - says the head of the archaeological expedition at the Rostov regional branch of the All-Russian Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments Pavel Larenok. - As for the large islands in the Sea of Azov, their existence in antiquity has been documented. Ancient geography was known for the large island of Alopekia, inhabited by various peoples. The ancient Greek historian and geographer Strabo in his "Geography" indicates a fairly accurate location of this island: near the mouths of the Tanais River (now the Don River),100 stadia from the ancient city of Tanais. Strabo also writes that nearby on the lake (the ancient Greeks called the Sea of Azov the Meotian lake or swamp) there are other smaller islands. Even ancient maps with the image of the mysterious Alopekia have survived. And yet, despite the precise geographical indications, this island was never found. Probably, he disappeared without a trace, washed out by the waters of the Azov Sea.