The controversy about the legendary island Atlantis, on which the Atlantean city was located, has not ceased for two millennia - since the great Plato told about it in his dialogues "Timaeus" and "Critias". Wherever they have not been looking for this mysterious country: in the Atlantic Ocean and South America, the Mediterranean Sea and Africa, in Asia Minor, the North Sea and in many other places. But where Atlantis was “found”, it did not correspond to Plato's descriptions. And in the place indicated by the philosopher (that is, behind the Pillars of Hercules), this mysterious land cannot be found until now …
Among scientists, there are two approaches to the term "Atlantis". As mentioned above, in the first Atlantis was called Atlantis by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. But Plato's predecessors also knew about it, although they called this country by other names. The ancient authors understood Atlantis as a certain state that was at the same stage of development with Greece, fought with it and during one of the wars perished in a grand catastrophe.
However, in the occult sciences there is an idea of Atlantis as a kind of proto-civilization that preceded ours and died as a result of a series of catastrophes. The myths and legends of the peoples of the most different countries living on different continents speak about this. But many of them have an idea of some people that preceded modern mankind and died as a result of some kind of powerful cataclysm.
“Plato is my friend, but the truth is dearer,” the great Aristotle said in his time. This is how the problem was posed: where, when and how did the Atlantean state exist? Someone recognizes the existence of Atlantis without any doubt, someone rejects without any doubt, proceeding from the formula: "This cannot be, because this can never be." But most researchers believe the existence of Atlantis is quite probable, but requires proof. The Greek philosopher Krantor says that in 3010 BC. I saw in Egypt a column on which the whole history of the island disappeared into the deep sea was carved.
What did Plato know about Atlantis? In his dialogues, he reports that Atlantis disappeared in one day and one tragic night - "in one terrible day."
Starting to describe Atlantis, Plato warns that both the name of the island itself and all the other names in his story are not fake, but a translation into Greek. The Egyptians, who were the first to write the history of Atlantis, twisted the Atlantean names in their own way. Solon, who told Plato about this island, saw no need to preserve the Egyptian names and translated them into Greek.
Russian poet - symbolist V. Ya. Bryusov in his work "Atlantis" notes that "Plato describes Atlantis already in the state that it reached after several millennia of cultural life, when there were already many separate kingdoms on the island, many rich cities and a huge population numbering in the millions." And the history of the island itself began with the division of the land between three gods-brothers: Zeus, Ai-dom and Poseidon. Poseidon, by lot, got the island of Atlantis and, in addition, he became the ruler of the seas. When Poseidon received Atlantis, only three people lived on the island - "one of the husbands, at the very beginning, was brought into the world by the Earth, named Eunor with his wife Livkippa and the beautiful daughter Kleito." Poseidon fell in love with Kleito, she became his wife and gave birth to five pairs of twins - the first ten kings of Atlantis.
Poseidon was the first to strengthen the island in order to make it inaccessible to enemies. Around a low hill, gradually turning into a plain, three water and two earthen rings were dug in a circle alternately one after the other. In the very center of the hill (acropolis), on a dais, Poseidon built a small temple for Kleito and himself, surrounding it with a wall of pure gold.
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A palace was built on the acropolis, which was expanded and decorated by each king, and the new one was striving to surpass his predecessor. "So it was impossible to see this building without being amazed at the size and beauty of the works."
The kings - children of Poseidon, of course, could not do without bathing, and therefore they built numerous baths on the acropolis. “There were open reservoirs for swimming, and closed for the winter; there were special ones - for the royal family and for individuals; still others - separately for women, and also for horses and pack animals; each of them was located and decorated according to its purpose. The water coming out of these reservoirs was directed to irrigate the Poseidon forest, where the fertility of the soil produced trees of amazing height and beauty."
The largest and most majestic structure of the acropolis was a temple dedicated to one god Poseidon. It was truly gigantic in size: 185 meters long, 96 meters wide and "appropriate" height. Outside, the large temple was entirely clad in silver, except for the "extremities" made of pure gold. There were many gold statues inside the temple. The largest of them depicted the god Poseidon, who, standing on a chariot, ruled six winged horses. The statue of Poseidon was so high that its head almost touched the ceiling, which was trimmed with ivory and all decorated with gold, silver and orichalcum. The walls, pillars and floors inside the temple were completely lined with orichalcum. Everything literally sparkled and "lit up", as soon as the sunbeam penetrated the interior of the sanctuary.
Many wonderful things are reported by Plato about the capital of the Atlanteans, and then he goes on to describe the whole country. “The island of Atlantis was very high above sea level, and the coast rose in an inaccessible cliff. Around the capital was a plain surrounded by mountains that reached the sea. Everyone said about this plain that it was the most beautiful on earth and very fertile. It was densely dotted with flourishing villages, separated by lakes, rivers, meadows, where many wild domestic animals grazed.
Much came to the Atlanteans from outside, in view of the vastness of their power; but the island itself produced almost everything necessary for life. “Firstly, all metals are hard and fusible, suitable for processing, including the one that we now know only by name: orichalcum …… it was found in many places on the island; after gold, it was the most precious of metals.
The island provided all the necessary materials for crafts. A large number of domestic animals and wild animals lived on the island, by the way, many elephants … … The island gave abundant food to all kinds of animals, both those living in swamps, lakes and rivers or on mountains and in plains, and these (elephants), although they are huge and gluttonous.
The island produced and delivered all the aromas that now grow in different countries, roots, herbs, juice flowing from fruits and flowers. There was also a fruit that gives wine (wine-hail), and one that serves as food (cereals), along with those that we also eat, calling by a common word - vegetables; there were also fruits giving at the same time drink, food and incense (coconuts?) … … Such were the divine and amazing riches, such, in innumerable quantities, this island produced."
Further, Plato describes the political structure of the capital and itself, because "with such bounties of the soil, the inhabitants built temples, palaces, ports and harbors for ships and tried to decorate their island … …".
On the happy island, each of the ten brothers - kings had absolute power in his kingdom, but the general rule of the state of Atlantis was ruled by the kings by the Council, to which they gathered in 5-6 years, alternating even and odd numbers. The supreme power always remained with the direct heir of the Atlantean, but even the main king could not sentence to death any of his relatives without the consent of the majority of the kings "while the Atlanteans followed the principles of virtue during the reign and while the divine principle reigned in them, they succeeded in everything." … But when the "human disposition" triumphed - a base beginning, when they lost all decency and unrestrained greed began to boil in them, when people began to show themselves a "shameful sight", then the God of the Gods - Zeus, seeing the depravity of the Atlanteans, once so virtuous, I decided to punish them.“He gathered all the gods in the heavenly sanctuary and addressed them with these words ……”.
At this, Plato's dialogue "Critias" abruptly ends. And the story of Atlantis and its two thousand year quest begins. The clergy mourned the spiritual wisdom of Atlantis, which had defiled itself. Philosophers talked about the divine rulers of this island, poets sang the fabulous perfection of its structure. However, some researchers believe that Plato needed dialogues about Atlantis in order to express his thoughts about the ideal state structure.
But the story of Atlantis, as Valery Bryusov notes, “is not something exceptional in Plato's works. He has other descriptions of fantastic countries, denounced in the form of myths. But none of these stories is furnished, like the description of Atlantis, with references to sources. Plato, as if anticipating future doubts and objections, takes care to indicate the origin of his information with the greatest precision, which only the ancient authors knew."
At the beginning of the 20th century, three expeditions were equipped and sent in search of Atlantis, one of which (the second) was led by Pavel Schliemann, the grandson of the famous discoverer of Troy, Heinrich Schliemann. “According to Pavel Schliemann, his famous grandfather left a sealed envelope so that it would be opened by one of the family members who would make a solemn promise to devote their whole life to research, the indications of which will be found in this envelope. Pavel Schliemann took such an oath, opened the envelope and read the letter that was there. In the letter, Heinrich Schliemann reported that he had undertaken research on the remnants of Atlantis, the existence of which he does not doubt and which he considers the cradle of our entire civilization. In the summer of 1873, Heinrich Schliemann allegedly found (during excavations in Troy), a bronze vessel of a large size, inside which there were smaller clay vessels,small figurines of a special metal, money from the same metal, and objects "made from fossil bones." On some of these objects and on a bronze vessel was written in "Phoenician hieroglyphs": "From the king of Atlantis Chronos."
But for many researchers, Russian and foreign, this story causes distrust.
The search for Atlantis was and is being carried out everywhere - around the globe. The Soviet hydrogeographer Ya. Ya. Gakkel presented his "Atlantis" as a narrow strip that stretches along the underwater Lomonosov Ridge and connects the Canadian Arctic Archipelago with the New Siberian Islands. A full member of the Geographical Society, a member of the Scientific Council on Cybernetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexander Kondratov devoted many works to the links between the history of mankind and the history of the oceans. He wrote many books about the legendary Platonic Atlantis and about the numerous "Atlantis" - the so-called hypothetical lands that have now gone under water.
Foreign researchers Renata and Yaroslav Malina, in their works on natural disasters and aliens from space, write that the Atlanteans-seafarers explored the Earth … … They say that “they traveled through the air and under water, photographed objects at a great distance, used X-rays, recorded images and the sounds on the video tape, they used a crystal laser, they invented a terrible weapon using cosmic rays, they also used the energy of antimatter. However, the use of the dark forces of nature for selfish purposes by ambitious priests and the frequent earthquakes led to the disintegration of the mainland into many islands, which later also disappeared into the sea. And ten thousand years before our era, an underground explosion destroyed the island of Poseidonis. But the radiation emitted by a large crystal lying in the place of the death of Atlantis,leads to the sudden disappearance of ships and aircraft in the famous Bermuda Triangle."
As can be seen from the above, the geography of the search for Atlantis is very wide and varied.