Scientists from France and Greece have explained in a new way the cause of the death of the mysterious Minoan civilization and the origin of the legend of Atlantis.
With this, they refer to a study carried out on the Santorini archipelago, which in ancient times was a single island, but was destroyed by the eruption of a supervolcano.
According to some scholars, the island of Santorini was the very Atlantis, the death of which was told by Plato in 360 BC.
The famous philosopher spoke about a prosperous island, which, for unknown reasons, suddenly plunged into the depths of the sea and disappeared without a trace.
According to scientists, they managed to find an explanation for the birth of the legend. According to them, the myth is based on a real story that tells about the explosion of a volcano on the island of Santorini in 1628 BC.
The eruption destroyed the middle of the island and caused a powerful tsunami, and the territory of Santorini was covered with debris. As a result of this cataclysm, the island of Crete suffered, which was inhabited by the Minoan civilization of a high level of development.
French geologists in their new study were able to establish that the eruption occurred very quickly. In one century, magma filled the voids under the island of Santorini. The molten rock was able to expand to such an extent that it literally ripped the island apart.
According to the analysis of rocks, magma first burst to the surface in a lagoon located in the central part of Santorini, where it mixed with seawater. After that, it exploded, due to which the island was instantly flooded with water. As a result, a wave up to 35 meters high was formed, which reached Crete, decreasing to 10 meters, but its strength turned out to be catastrophically destructive.
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I must say that not everyone in the scientific world accepted this explanation. So, critics of this hypothesis recall that Plato indicated the time of the death of Atlantis as 9000 years ago, that is, it happened around 9400 BC.