The legendary island once glorified by the Greek Plato - did Atlantis really exist? Why was it so suddenly, in just one day, swallowed up by the waters of the ocean? And how does anyone know about this country? Let's try to figure it out.
Atlantis became famous thanks to the dialogues of the philosopher Plato "Critias" and "Timaeus", which were supposedly written in the 4th century BC. And for the first time this became known to the sage Solon, who for some time was a priest in Ancient Egypt. Returning to his homeland in Greece, Solon told the legend to his relative, Dropidas, from whom his son, Critias, had already learned about Atlantis. So Plato himself tells about it. What is true in this story and what is not is difficult to understand today. But there is no exact scientific data about this.
Plato himself, wanting to distinguish fiction from the true facts of history, writes that some myths are symbolic in nature, but in his book he also claims that Atlantis was real, not mythical.
This is what the Greek philosopher tells us about the death of Atlantis: “But then there were strong earthquakes and floods; and in one day and one night of misfortune, all men capable of fighting went underground, and the island of Atlantis went into the depths of the sea in the same way. Because of this, Plato argues, impenetrable deposits of mud appeared near the Strait of Gibraltar.
Where could Atlantis be located?
The exact place where Atlantis disappeared by water has not yet been named, although many sources believe that Santorini is the missing Atlantis. However, others are convinced that the lost city is hidden under the waters of Bimini.
What does Plato say about this? If you carefully read the dialogues, it turns out that "Atlantis came out of the Atlantic Ocean" and this island was "in front of the Pillars of Hercules", which were in ancient times on the site of the Strait of Gibraltar between Spain and Africa.
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A team of archaeologist Riphard Freund of the University of Hartford discovered in 2011 around this area, north of Spanish Cadiz, "memorial cities" built in the image of Atlantis. And Cadiz is located just in front of the place where the pillars are.
Freunda suggested that the real Atlantis was hiding in the mud swamps of the Atlantic. The text of Plato also speaks about this: “the sea in these parts is impassable and impenetrable, because there is fine mud on the way; and it happened because of the subsidence of the island."
It is important to mention one detail here: Spanish Cadiz is one of the oldest cities in Western Europe, built, according to scientists, by the Phoenicians in 700 BC. It is possible that this happened even earlier - around 1100 BC. e. Then the city was called Hades.
The name of the legendary island was given in honor of the Greek demigod
The Far Eastern part of the legendary Atlantis, which was supposed to be located just opposite modern Cadiz, belonged at that time to the Atlantean Prince Gadeir - as the inhabitants of ancient Hades called him. And the city itself was named after this prince. However, it is difficult to vouch for the accuracy of the names - Plato wrote his texts three hundred years after the discovery of the city.
According to legend, the Greek god of the seas, Poseidon, had five pairs of twins, whom the mortal woman Clito gave birth to. Poseidon's eldest son, Atlas, took possession of the entire island and named it after himself, like the surrounding ocean. This is how the names "Atlantis" and "Atlantic Ocean" appeared.
Today we are fully aware of the text of only one of the two books about Atlantis - "Timaeus", but in "Critias" many pages are missing. The narrative in "Kritiya" ends with the fact that Zeus "gathered all the gods into their most sacred dwelling, which, being placed in the center of the world, contemplates all created things." Most likely, the rest of the text was lost, like the third book - Hermocrates, which, according to contemporaries, Plato was going to write. So, we will not learn anything more about Atlantis from the Greek philosopher.
What is known about the age of Atlantis?
Plato tells how Solon, being among the Egyptian priests, tried to learn the most ancient legends, including about Atlantis. To do this, he shared with the Egyptians a story about ancient Greek stories, as well as about the Great Flood and the first man.
One of the priests said to Solon in response: “There are no old people among you … Consciously you are all young; there is no old opinion among you carried over by traditions. And then he said that Solon's hometown of Athens is much older than it is commonly believed.
In the records of the Egyptians at Sais, where Solon conducted conversations, it was said that this city was founded 8000 years earlier. And it was also recorded that Athens was founded 1000 years before Sais and that the Athenians of that time were at war with the Atlanteans.
Solon lived from 630 BC. e. until 560 BC e … That is, it turns out that the fall of Atlantis happened around 9500 BC. e. This makes her the same age as Gobekli Tepe, which appeared 10,000 years BC. e. and is considered the oldest temple in the world.
Atlantis: an island or an entire empire?
Many of us imagine Atlantis as a beautiful green island, around which the ocean stretches its emerald waters. However, Plato says that all of Atlantis was an empire that was ruled from this green island.
Here is what he writes: “On this island of Atlantis there was a great and beautiful empire that ruled over the entire island and several others, as well as over parts of the continent, and, in addition, the people of Atlantis conquered Libya to the Pillars of Hercules, to Egypt, and Europe to Tyrrenia.
Tyrrhenian was once called Etruria, which we know today as central Italy. It turns out that the ancient empire of Atlantis stretched from Egypt to the most modern Tuscany. However, the Athenians managed to crush this great empire. How did this happen? Plato does not write about this. It is possible that he simply did not know anything about it.
Could the inhabitants of Atlantis have discovered America?
From the texts of Plato, we learn the story of an Egyptian priest. “This island opened the way to other islands, and from them you could go to the opposite continent, which surrounded the real ocean. The adjacent land can be called a truly endless continent,”the priest told Plato.
What kind of land, so large that it was "surrounded by the whole ocean" the priest spoke about? It turns out that the ancient Greeks, like the ancient Egyptians, not only could know about the existence of America, but even have been there?
In 1970, the famous seafarer Thor Heyerdahl sailed with a crew of six in a reed ship called Ra II. They sailed from Safi to Morocco, across the Atlantic, to Barbados in 57 days. So it was proved that reed boats are quite suitable for long-distance ocean voyages. This means that ancient people could cross the Atlantic. True, they could - this does not mean that they have done this way.
Why is so little known about Atlantis?
In talks in Solon, according to Plato, the Egyptian priest said that none of his stories were "truly ancient" compared to his own. According to the priest, the reason that Solon lacked "truly ancient" knowledge is that humanity was destroyed again and again, and the entire history of civilizations was simply lost over time.