Atlantic Ocean
It is absolutely clear from the text of Plato's dialogues that Atlantis was in the Atlantic Ocean. According to the priest, the Atlantean army "kept its way from the Atlantic Sea." The priest says that opposite the Pillars of Hercules lay a large island, larger than Libya and Asia combined, from which one could easily cross over to other islands “to the entire opposite continent,” in which America is easily guessed.
Therefore, many of Atlantologists, especially those who believe the date of 9500 BC, believe that Atlantis was once in the Atlantic Ocean, and traces of it should be sought either at the bottom of the ocean, or near the existing islands, which were 11,500 years ago. high mountain peaks. Below we will consider in more detail the main hypotheses related to the Atlantic Ocean.
Mediterranean Sea
About two and a half thousand years ago, the worst catastrophe in the history of mankind occurred in the Mediterranean Sea. The Strongile volcano explosion was three times stronger than the Krakatoa eruption. This explosion generated a tsunami wave several tens, or even a hundred meters high, which hit the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Scientists believe that this catastrophe caused the death of the Cretan-Mycenaean culture, which existed 3000 years ago. It is not surprising that such a grandiose natural cataclysm attracted many researchers, some of whom came to the strange at first glance idea that, when describing Atlantis, Plato was describing Thira (where the Strongile volcano was located) or Crete.
This second version, one of the two most popular, I will also consider in more detail.
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The Iberian Peninsula
The name of one of the ten first kings of Atlantis - Gadir - has come down to our time in the name of the Gadir region. Gadir is a Phoenician village, present-day Kadiks. This name gave rise to some atlantologists to believe that all of Atlantis was located on the Iberian Peninsula near the mouth of the Quadalquivir River.
Another famous city, Tartess, lay near Gadir. Its inhabitants were Etruscans and claimed that their state was 5000 years old. The German H. Schulten (1922) believed that Tartess was Atlantis. In 1973, near Cadiz, at a depth of 30 meters, the remains of an ancient city were discovered.
About a million Basques now live in northern Spain. Their language is unlike any other known language in the world. There is a certain similarity between it and the languages of the American Indians. This suggests that the Basques are direct descendants of the Atlanteans.
Brazil
In 1638, the English scientist and politician Francis Bacon Verulamskiy in the book "Nova Atlantis" identified Brazil with Atlantis. Soon a new atlas with a map of America was published, compiled by the French geographer Sanson, which even indicated the provinces of the sons of Poseidon in Brazil. The same atlas was published in 1762 by Robert Vogudy. They say that Voltaire shook with laughter at the sight of these cards.
Scandinavia
In 1675, the Swedish atlantologist Olaus Rudbeck argued that Atlantis was in Sweden and Uppsala was its capital. According to him, this was evident from the Bible.
Africa
Herodotus, Pomponius Mela, Pliny the Elder and some other ancient historians write about the Atlantean tribe living in North Africa near the Atlas Mountains. Atlanteans, they say, do not dream, do not use names, do not eat anything living and curse the rising and setting sun.
Based on these reports, P. Borchardt argues that Atlantis was located on the territory of modern Tunisia, deep in the Sahara Desert. In its southern part there are two lakes, which, according to modern data, are the remains of an ancient sea. The island of Atlantis was supposed to be in this sea.
At the end of the 19th century, the French geographer Etienne Berlu placed Atlantis in Morocco, in the region of the Atlas Mountains.
In 1930 A. Hermann stated that Atlantis was located in the Shatt-el-Jerid lowland, between the city of Nefta and the Gulf of Gabes. True, this territory does not descend, but rises …
German ethnographer Leo Frobenius found Atlantis in the Kingdom of Benin.
Other options
In 1952, German pastor Jürgen Spanut discovered Atlantis on the island of Helgoland in the Baltic Sea.
In general, Atlantis was found in all parts of the Earth. We will not dwell on these theories, but it was found in Central America, in the English Channel (F. Gidon), in the Pacific Ocean, in Cuba, in Peru, in Great Britain, in the Great Lakes region in the USA, in Greenland, in Iceland, Spitsbergen, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Persia (Pierre-André Latreuil, France, XIX century), Bermuda, Bahamas, Canary Islands, Antilles (John McCuloch, Scotland), Azores, Azov, Black, Caspian Seas, Palestine and in many other places.
Evidence for the existence of Atlantis in the Atlantic
An advanced civilization once existed on an island in the Atlantic Ocean. The inhabitants of this country taught the ancient Egyptians and Mayans how to measure time, build pyramids, and much more. It was the Atlanteans who laid many different numbers in the Egyptian pyramids, as if addressing this message to descendants.
But 11,500 years ago, a meteorite (or comet) fell on Earth, causing the death of Atlantis. The falling meteorite has awakened dormant volcanoes. Eruptions and earthquakes began. The fall of the meteorite and the sinking of Atlantis caused a giant wave that temporarily flooded Europe, Egypt, Asia Minor, America, South and East Asia. This wave killed mammoths in distant Siberia, placing them in “cemeteries”. Due to the fall of the meteorite, the earth's axis shifted, which caused strong climatic changes. The surviving Atlanteans scattered throughout the world, spreading the story of the death of Atlantis.
This is the version of the death of Atlantis, which can be considered canonical for the supporters of Atlantis in the Atlantic.
In 1665, in his book "Mundus subterraneus" ("Underworld"), the German Jesuit Athanasius Kircher showed that Atlantis existed in the Atlantic Ocean and gave a map with its outlines. It is very interesting that these outlines exactly correspond to the lines of the depths of the ocean, unknown at the time.
In the 19th century I. Donnelly wrote the book "Atlantis, the antediluvian world", which was considered the "bible" of atlantologists. He places his Atlantis in the same place as Kircher, but reduced in size. For him, Atlantis was a biblical paradise, the seat of the Greek gods and the land of the cult of the Sun!
Donnelly considers mythology to be one of the main pillars of the Atlantis version. Quite objectively, the mythological aspect of Atlantis is described in the book by L. Stegeni.
Mythological evidence for the existence of Atlantis
Flood Legends
They are found in almost all of humanity, with the exception of Africa, except for Egypt, Australia and northern Eurasia. In almost all these myths, the gods (God) once poured water (beer) all over the earth (usually for sins), a fire starts (the sky falls, the earth cracks, a mountain appears, spewing out fire) and all people drowned (turned into fish, turned into stones), except for one (two) people whom the gods (God) usually warned about the flood, because they led a righteous life. These people (or one person), usually husband and wife (or brother and sister, or Noah and family), get into a boat (box, ark) and swim. Then they (not always) swim to the mountain, release the birds for exploration (in many cases, this is a skillful introduction of biblical motives by Christian missionaries into pagan myths).
Legends of Western Aliens (Old World)
Found among some peoples of the Old World, in particular, among the Egyptians and Babylonians.
An unknown person arrives from the West, speaking an incomprehensible language. He taught people to make tools (build cities, calendars, make wine, brew beer).
Legends about the coming from the East (New World)
Found among some peoples of America.
They say that this people once came from the East (from the island), perhaps at that time there were some cataclysms (the gods punished humanity), but someone from humanity escaped and came to the West, where he founded this country (the city, people).
Legends of space disasters
Found among some peoples.
A stone fell from the sky (Moon, Sun, Serpent, Dragon, something else), after which a fire began (flood, the earth shook, something else). Then it all ended and people dispersed around the world.
Meeting with such a legend, Atlantologists begin to look for (and find) in it evidence of the existence of Atlantis. For example, having learned that the Kalevala mentions an earthquake and high tides (usually the height of tides in the Baltic is several centimeters), atlantologists concluded that a long time ago the Earth captured the Moon, which caused high tides, which people remembered. Myths often give Atlantologists the opportunity to "prove" any, even the most insane assertions, adjusting ancient myths to fit them.
Similarity of cultures on both sides of the Atlantic
Atlantologists pay attention to the fact that in Egypt and Mexico they build pyramids, make stone sarcophagi, mummify the dead, use a similar hieroglyphic writing, in Egypt and Mexico there is a separate caste of priests, the cult of the Sun, a similar reckoning system and quite developed astronomy.
Some Atlantologists have decided that the Aztecs, Incas, Mayans, and Egyptians were disciples of the Atlanteans who flew (or sailed) to them after the disaster. (Osiris in Egypt, Quetzalcoatl in America)
The puzzle of eels
Even Aristotle drew attention to the fact that only female eels can be found in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. There have been many theories about the origin of eels, "fish without fathers". Even at the end of the 19th century, it was believed that eels are born alive, and females of one of the fish species produce them. (!?) Only in 1904 the Danish ichthyologist I. Schmidt solved the riddle of eels. Eels hatch from eggs in the Sargasso Sea. In the second year of life, they set off on a voyage to the shores of Europe. There, the females rise upstream of the rivers, spend about two years in the rivers, return to the sea and swim in the Sargasso Sea. There the mating season takes place and the females lay eggs. This behavior of eels can be easily explained if we assume that thousands of years ago on the site of the Sargasso Sea were the shores of Atlantis, where their childhood passed. The warm current of the Gulf Stream carried them to the shores of Europe, and then the countercurrent brought them back.