Atlantis myth or reality?
The first to mention Atlantis was the Greek philosopher Plato, one of the most influential thinkers of all time. In the famous collected works "Dialogues" in a work called "Timaeus" it is said about an island named Atlantis. In another of his works, "Critias" (the name of one of Plato's disciples), he told a fantastic story on which this myth is based. It was told to Plato by Critias himself, who heard it from the mouth of his grandfather Solon, a famous Athenian poet and politician who learned this story when he traveled to Egypt.
The inhabitants of Atlantis existed, but, taking into account that the retellings are not very trustworthy and the myth arises after passing through numerous sources, it was probably distorted by each of the narrators.
Plato immortalized Atlantis as a highly developed civilization for its era, living on an amazingly fertile island with rich natural resources. It was an idyllic society ruled by a firm, but fair hand to all Atlanteans. And although the inhabitants of the island neglected "everything that is not a virtue and did not put their prosperity in a penny," they lived in luxury. Cities and towns were ideally located, communications were unthinkable for those times, and all buildings - from the most modest to the palace of Poseidon - were a miracle of architecture. The island was located in concentric rings. The central part of it was surrounded by a channel, where there was a powerful fleet, numbering more than a thousand ships. Then there was another strip of land and another similar channel. All these rings were crossed by a waterway that empties into the sea.
Philosopher's version
As Solon said, Atlantis was in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and consisted of a large mainland and many neighboring islands. She was as great as North Africa and Asia Minor put together, but no trace of her miracles remained.
Atlanteans were a warlike people, and in 9600 BC. e. there was a great battle between them and the Hellenes, as a result of which the Atlanteans hoped to expand their empire and reach Europe, but in the fight against Athens they did not succeed - the Greeks ousted them behind the Columns of Hercules - that is how the Strait of Gibraltar was called at that time. The gods, seeing the unworthy defeat of the Atlanteans, decided to punish them. The last thing we know is that there was a big disaster on the island. In "Kritiya" it is said that Zeus "gathered in his most honorable dwelling all the gods, including those who were on Earth and could observe what was happening there, and when they all gathered, he told them …" At these words the story ends, because as Plato never finished Critias.
Promotional video:
Story or Chronicle?
We are talking about a fantastic story or even a fable, with the help of which Plato tried to draw attention to the danger posed by ambition, to the risk of losing the paradise provided by the gods. Solon and Critias invented everything, and who else invented it before them? In fact, no earlier text relating to Greek culture mentions Atlantis. In other cultures, there are vague indications that Atlantis might have existed. Some ancient Egyptian texts implicitly say that the first-born children of the pharaohs were Atlanteans: Horus, Osiris and Isis could have avoided the disaster that razed the island to the ground.
These legends Plato considered indicative, in order to convey through them his ideas about the danger of the arrogance of those in power. Is this a fable about the risk of insulting the gods in an attempt to equal them?
The rise of the continent
In the 16th-19th centuries, the myth of Atlantis reappears in various sources: classical literature, archeology, and even in the Bible. The Turkish admiral Piri Reis in 1531 drew up a map of the world, famous for the fact that it depicted in detail the Western coasts of Africa and South America, as well as Antarctica, which were discovered centuries later. The primary source for the admiral was an ancient map compiled in time immemorial by unknown cartographers who possessed incredibly accurate instruments and amazing knowledge. Maybe Atlanteans?
On the eve of the 20th century, this myth is being revived with unprecedented strength thanks to the book, which broke sales records in the countries where it was published. Atlantis: World in the Antediluvian Period was published in 1882 and to this day is a fascinating reading about the lost mainland. The book's author, American Ignatius Donnelly, a politician and eminent speaker, was possessed by this legend.
From the author's point of view, the Atlanteans belonged to three different races: first, they were the Egyptians, American Indians, and Berbers; the second group consisted of the yellow race; the third race was white - tall fair-haired and white-skinned people. Donnelly argues that the mainland was midway between America and Europe and served as a bridge between them. Hence the similarity in geographically separated cultures. The author notes that Atlantis was the source and synthesis of the origin of various ancient myths and their pantheons. It was Indian, Greek, Finnish and biblical paradise.
Atlantean crown jewel
On a hill in the center of the amazing island was the fantastic palace of its rulers. According to legend, it was built by Atlas, the son of Poseidon and the first great king of this lost continent. According to Plato, the building was “trimmed with silver, except for the tops, which were trimmed with gold. The ceiling inside was of marble inlaid with gold, silver and copper, and the walls, columns and floor were covered with copper. At the center of this miracle was the impressive statue of Poseidon on a chariot with six winged horses surrounded by sea nymphs.
But his successors did not remain in debt either - each of them added some new elements of architecture and decor. Plato wrote that "every king who lived in the palace added more and more decorative motives, surpassing his predecessors, the kings, until the palace turned into a place amazing in its grandeur and beauty of art."
An incredible disaster
Although Donnelly's theory was quite curious, it was based on erroneous data. For example, Donnelly claims that the catastrophe that destroyed the island was caused by a fatal confluence of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Modern geophysics has proven that a catastrophe of this size over such a vast territory would have left any traces in the Atlantic Ocean, and there were also great doubts that it could last only 24 hours, as Plato points out.
But even so, Atlantis has already come to life in the minds and hearts of many researchers. In the 1930s, the Greek archaeologist Spyridos noted that the island of Thira, located near Crete, was destroyed by the eruption of the Santorini volcano. This catastrophe corresponds to that era and could provoke the finale of the island's empire. If such a legend is true, we must admit that Plato was either not well versed in geography, or was deceived from the beginning. Either neither one nor the other …
One thing that can be reliably asserted about Atlantis is that there is no evidence of its existence. Atlantis arouses strong interest, new theories appear. The location of the mainland has already been attributed to India, Sweden, Argentina, Australia, etc., which confirms: Atlantis is everywhere and nowhere. Therefore, this topic will interest us.
Atlantis in Spain? The last hour of the continent
A group of Spanish scientists conducted new research in search of Atlantis in 2003. If you trust their theory, Atlantis could be located near the coast of Andalusia. In fact, Spanish scientists discovered in the depths of the waters of the Atlantic Gulf, between Cadiz and Gibraltar, a number of formations in the form of channels, which very much resemble the channels that Plato described to researchers. Scientists discussed the existence of well-defined channels of great length and curved shape, which were oriented in different directions. At the same time, they discovered a number of valleys and ravines around these canals.
While research continues, the most opposing theories emerge. On the one hand, supporters of the existence of Atlantis believe that the hypothesis that it was located near Cadiz is correct; geologists, on the other hand, believe that it is not really a flooded city, but natural formations created by underwater currents over many centuries.