"People sometimes dream of blue cities: to whom - Moscow, to whom - Paris …" is sung in a popular Soviet song. But, somewhere on Earth, mysterious places shrouded in myths and legends may be hidden from us.
Nobody was there, but they talk a lot about them. Nobody saw them, but a lot is known about how they look … In someone's mind, these mysterious parallel worlds appear through a haze of inexplicable dreams …
But, in world archeology, real sensations sometimes happen. So, a little over 10 years ago, in the early 2000s, the mythical cities of Heraklion, Canopus and Menutis, known only from ancient Greek tragedies and legends, were discovered at the bottom of the Mediterranean by an international group of archaeologists. By that time, scientists had been exploring the coastal region of Alexandria for three years. Who knows, perhaps very soon there will be a solution to the mystery of ancient Shangrila, the sunken Atlantis and Kitezh, underground Agharti will be discovered …
Shambhala - a mythical country in Tibet
Shambhala in Tibet (or in other neighboring regions of Asia) is mentioned in several ancient treatises. According to some of them, the Hindu messiah Kalka was born here. The first mention of Shambhala is found in the Kalachakra Tantra (10th century). The text states that the city has been preserved since the time of the king of Shambhala Suchandra. According to another legend, Shambhala was a kingdom in Central Asia. After the Muslim invasion of Central Asia in the 9th century, the kingdom of Shambhala became invisible to human eyes, and only the pure in heart can find their way to it.
Tibetologist Bronislav Kuznetsov (1931-1985) and orientalist Lev Gumilyov (1912-1992), working on the issue, came to the conclusion that Shambhala is a real place. Moreover, it is depicted on an ancient Tibetan map published in the Tibetan-Shanshung dictionary. According to their interpretation, the author of the map reflected on it the era of the rule of Syria, led by the Macedonian conquerors. Syria in Persian is called Sham, and the word "bolo" means "top", "surface". Consequently, Shambhala is translated as "the rule of Syria", which was true in the period III-II centuries BC. e.
In the works of Nicholas and Helena Roerich, the idea of Shambhala is of great importance. Nicholas Roerich, who traveled around Central Asia in the years 24-28 of the last century, stated that he personally heard countless stories about this place. On the basis of the Roerichs' religious and philosophical teachings, a new movement "Agni Yoga" (Living Ethics) emerged, which has veneration of Shambhala as one of its most important foundations. In the novel by science fiction writer James Hilton "The Lost Horizon", the land of Shangri-La became the literary allegory of Shambhala.
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Kitezh - Russian Atlantis
At one time, writer Pavel Melnikov-Pechersky, inspired by Lake Svetloyar, told his legend in the novel "In the Woods", as well as in the story "Grisha". The lake was visited by Maxim Gorky (essay "Bugrov"), Vladimir Korolenko (essay cycle "In desert places"), Mikhail Prishvin (essay "Bright Lake"). Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov wrote the opera "The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh" about the mysterious city. The lake was painted by artists Nikolai Romadin, Ilya Glazunov and many others. Poets Akhmatova and Tsvetaeva also mention the city in their work.
Today, more and more science fiction writers are interested in the legend of Kitezh. Among the works of this kind, one can name, for example, the story "Hammers of Kitezh" by Nick Perumov and "Red Shift" by Yevgeny Gulyakovsky. In the Soviet film The Sorcerers, which was based on the Strugatskys' novel Monday Starts on Saturday, an employee of a musical instrument factory travels to fabulous Kitezh.
Remember Atlantis, the mainland plunged into the ocean: this is how the gods punished the local population for their sins. So, there is a similar story in Russia - the legend of Kitezh … It has nothing to do with sins, on the contrary, the reasons for the flooding of the city should be sought in the spiritual purity of its inhabitants. And only the righteous and saints can see this city. Many Orthodox Christians are going on a pilgrimage to the lake, where they believe Kitezh is laid to rest.
The only hints of its real existence are in the book "Kitezhsky Chronicler". According to scientists, this book was written at the end of the seventeenth century. According to her, the castle was built by the great Russian Prince Yuri Vsevolodovich of Vladimir at the end of the 12th century. Returning from a trip to Novgorod, on the way I stopped to rest near the Svetloyar lake. He was captivated by the beauty of those places and later ordered to build the city of Great Kitezh on the coast.
The built city was 200 fathoms long (a straight fathom is the distance between the ends of the fingers stretched out in different directions of the hands, approximately 1.6 meters), width - 100. Several churches were also built, and on the occasion the best masters began to "paint images." During the Mongol-Tarar invasion, so as not to be defeated, the island miraculously sank into the waters of the lake.
Lake Svetloyar is located in the Nizhny Novgorod region near the village of Vladimirsky Voskresensky district, in the basin of the Lyunda, a tributary of the Vetluga river. Its length is 210 meters, width is 175 meters, and the total area is about 12 hectares. There is still no consensus on how the lake came into being. Someone insists on the glacial theory of origin, someone defends the karst hypothesis. There is a version that the lake appeared after a meteorite fell.
The underground country of Agartha or Agartha
The mystical center of the sacred tradition located in the East. The literal translation from Sanskrit is "invulnerable", "inaccessible." For the first time the French mystic Alexander Saint-Yves d'Alveidre wrote about her in the book "India's Mission in Europe".
The second mention belongs to Ferdinand Ossendowski, who in the book "Beasts, People, and Gods", from the words of Mongolian lamas, tells a legend about an underground country that controls the fate of all mankind. In Ossendowski's story, some researchers find borrowings from Saint-Yves d'Alveidre. A comparative analysis of both versions of the legend was made by the French scientist Rene Guénon in his work "King of the World", in which he came to the conclusion that they have a common source.
The traditional location of Agartha is considered to be Tibet or the Himalayas. The highest initiates, guardians of tradition, true teachers and rulers of the world live in Agartha. It is impossible for the uninitiated to reach Agartha - it becomes available only to the elect.
According to the Puranic literature, Agartha is an island in the middle of a sea of nectar. Travelers are carried there by a mystical golden bird. Chinese literature reported about a tree and a fountain of immortality in Agartha. Tibetan lamas depicted Agartha in the center of an oasis surrounded by rivers and high mountains.
There are legends about underground passages connecting Agartha with the outside world. F. Ossendovsky and N. K. Roerich reported about special underground and air vehicles that served its inhabitants for fast movement.
Ancient Greek cities discovered at the bottom of the sea
At the beginning of the article, we talked about a sensational find by archaeologists at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea - the cities of Heraklion, Canopus and Menutis, previously known only from ancient Greek legends. A basalt bust of a certain pharaoh, a bust of a deity according to Serapis, coins that made it possible to date the destruction of an ancient settlement of the 7th-8th centuries were raised from the bottom. BC. But, most importantly, three cities were discovered with preserved houses, towers, piers …
Canopus got its name in honor of the helmsman during the reign of Menelaus, who died from a snakebite (and was immediately deified), and Menutis - in honor of his wife. Heraklion, according to legend, was founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC. It was in this city that Tsar Menelaus and Elena the Beautiful stopped on their way from the defeated Troy.
So, in any case, wrote the historian Herodotus, who visited Egypt in 450 BC. He also described the landmark of the city - the Tower of Hercules. It was a rich city, however, lost its influence after the construction of Alexandria. As scientists assume, Heraklion was flooded as a result of a strong earthquake. However, at the same time, apparently, he hardly suffered, but only forever froze in time at the bottom of the abyss.
Why did scientists (geophysicists at Stanford University who mapped the seabed using magnetic waves) make a guess about an earthquake? It's all about the nature of the arrangement of the columns and walls of the city, which lay in one direction. It is not known whether a visit to the "maritime museums" will ever be available. Nevertheless, it would be very profitable for the state and interesting for tourists.
Chichaburg: an underground city in Siberia
In the late 90s of the last century, during aerial photography of the Novosibirsk region, researchers 5 km from the regional center of Zdvinsk, on the shore of Lake Chicha, discovered an unusual anomaly: clear outlines of buildings appeared in the picture, although there is a circle of steppe and lakes.
Houses underground ?! Scientists from Novosibirsk, using special geophysical equipment provided by their German colleagues, "enlightened" the mysterious place. The result surpassed all expectations: the map showed clear outlines of streets, lanes, neighborhoods, powerful defensive structures. A real city is located on an area of 12-15 hectares.
During research on Earth, on the outskirts of Chichaburg, something resembling a slag dump was found, which usually remains from the developed metallurgical production. The class stratification of the ancient Siberian city also turned out to be "transparent": "elite" stone palaces coexisted with the stone houses of commoners. A fragment of some ancient - hitherto unknown - civilization rose from the ground …
According to the data of preliminary excavations, the age of the settlement is VII-VIII centuries BC. It turns out that the town on the banks of Chichi is the same age as the Trojan War? It is not easy for scientists to believe in this - after all, such a discovery overturns many well-established concepts in history, archeology, and ethnography.