Atlantis---Myth?

Question

For those of you who are versed in this subject, please appeal to my ears and do tell me what you know. I am SLOWLY reading Chariots of the Gods and it says there was a such thing, at least in land mass? Good Luck and May the Force be With You All Boom:)

Answer 1

Atlantis was the Minoan Civilization of the Mediteranean.

Settlements have been found on Crete and the island of Santorini in the Aegean Sea. The city on Santorini was destroyed in one of the largest volcanic eruptions in human history. The resulting tidal waves destroyed the settlements on Crete. The Egyptians tried to help rebuild the cities on Crete (they were close trading partners), but within 50 years the Greeks from the mainland invaded and conquered the island, thereby putting the final nail in the coffin of the Atlantean/Minoan civilization.

The Minoans were very advanced for their time. They had indoor plumbing like the Romans used centuries later and the Egyptians considered them to be the only other civilized nation in the world.

The city on Santorini was located on a small dome of the volcano that rose above the sea. That island was surrounded by the volcano's crater which was filled with water. Beyond that was the outer rim of the volcano which rose above sealevel as a second island in the shape of a 'C.' The opening in the outer island had similar dimensions to those described for the canal of the Atlantis legend.

Also, some of the traditional ideas about Atlantis are the results of mistranslations from the ancient Egyptian. Atlantis was not "as large as" Northern Africa and Asia Minor, it was "between" the two. Atlantis was not destroyed roughly "9,000" years before Plato, it was roughly "900" years before Plato.

The Greeks who described Atlantis as located beyond the "Pillars of Hercules" had never traveled to the Strait of Gibraltar. They were instead referring to the Hellespont. Atlantis was not located in the Atlantic. It was located in the Mediterranean.

Atlantis was also said to have contained exotic animals such as elephants. The skeletons of dwarf mammoths have been found on Crete.

I could add a lot more, but I think that's enough to get the point across. Atlantis was the Minoan civilization of the Mediterranean.

Answer 2

There are several historic reports from Pliny the Elder and vague references in the Bible to Atlantis. Edgar Casey, the psychic foretold the discovery of Atlantis and in that time frame, massive structures resembling roads were discovered around Bermuda and the Bahamas. Apparently, Atlantis was a very developed culture with sophisticated canals and buildings but it was an island that seemingly sank beneath the seas. Several expeditions including a few by Jacques Cousteau attempted to locate such a site but found nothing. Geologists say that the roads are natural rock formations...but there are trenches in the oceans that are very deep and perhaps the land mass slipped sideways into one of these depths and beyond our present ability to locate such ruins. Sonar wouldn't work, as the buildings were likely made of stone and it would not register as something different...think of a landslide with a jumble of rocks that used to be buildings. Magnetometers are useful on metals...some metals! Submersible exploration vessels are useful but we need to locate a suspected area to begin such a costly exploration. It is possible...certainly....islands have appeared and disappeared...so why not. The least explored areas in the world are the seas and oceans. We assume from those old records that Atlantis was located off the coast of Africa...somewhere between there and the islands of the Caribbean. Like Churchill said about Camelot and King Arthur..."if it is not true, it should be!"

Answer 3

There is evidence all over the world pointing to an ancient advanced civilization. If you can get your hands on a book by Charles Berlitz entitled' Atlantis',it's an excellent read.I think it's out of print now,but you might be able to find it somewhere online,or at your local library.

Answer 4

I saw the Imax movie Greece the other day, and they said that they had found an island that fit the description of the city. They excavated on this island and found that there had once been a city located there. The position of the island fits the description of the lost city.

Answer 5

Well...probably not. But there's not been proof enough one way or the other.

If you don't mind stuff with a spiritualist bent, I'd suggest reading some Edgar Cayce. Here's a page from his society's website about their current work on Atlantis: http://edgarcayce.org/ancient_mysteries/atlantis.asp

Answer 6

Was there an Atlantis, we may never know.

There were many great cities, that were destroyed including Sodom and Gomorrah, so Atlantis although is implausible, it is possible.

Answer 7

I would have to say that it existed, but it is quite possible that we have found it, we just have named it something else. Scientists believe they have found the cities of Soddom and Gromorrah in the Middle East, but these cities are known by other names. Furthermore, they have found evidence that it did end in "brimstone (what the ancients called sulfur) and fire."

Answer 8

mmm No
Atlantis, Atlas, Atalanta
Ancient Greek word from At-means far ( apart from the word tele) and landa that means Land ( Apart from the word Ge)
Speculation that there has been a war between the Greeks and the people of the far land

Answer 9

Plato's account of Atlantis is written in the dialogues Timaeus and Critias, dated circa 360 BC. These works contain the earliest known references to Atlantis. The dialogue Critias was never completed by Plato for an unknown reason, however scholar B. Jowett among others, argues that Plato originally planned a third dialogue titled Hermocrates. John V. Luce assumes that Plato — after describing the origin of the world and mankind in Timaeus as well as the allegorical perfect society of ancient Athens and its successful defense against an antagonistic Atlantis in Critias — would have made the strategy of the Hellenic civilisation during their conflict with the barbarians a subject of discussion in the phantom dialog.

The four persons appearing in those two dialogues are the politicians Critias and Hermocrates as well as the philosophers Socrates and Timaeus, although only Critias speaks of Atlantis. While most likely all of these people actually lived, these dialogues as recorded may have been the invention of Plato. In his written works, Plato makes extensive use of the Socratic dialogues in order to discuss contrary positions within the context of a supposition.

The Timaeus begins with an introduction, followed by an account of the creations and structure of the universe and ancient civilizations. In the introduction, Socrates muses about the perfect society, described in Plato's Republic, and wonders if he and his guests might recollect a story which exemplifies such a society. Critias mentions an allegedly historical tale that would make the perfect example, and follows by describing Atlantis as is recorded in the Critias. In his account, ancient Athens seems to represent the "perfect society" and Atlantis its opponent, representing the very antithesis of the "perfect" traits described in the Republic. Critias claims that his accounts of ancient Athens and Atlantis stem from a visit to Egypt by the Athenian lawgiver Solon in the 6th century BC. In Egypt, Solon met a priest of Sais, who translated the history of ancient Athens and Atlantis, recorded on papyri in Egyptian hieroglyphs, into Greek. According to Plutarch the priest was named Sonchis, but because of the temporal distance between Plutarch and the alleged event, this identification is unverified.

According to Critias, the Hellenic gods of old divided the land so that each god might own a lot; Poseidon was appropriately, and to his liking, bequeathed the island of Atlantis. The island was larger than Libya and Asia Minor combined, but has since been sunk by an earthquake and became an impassable mud shoal, inhibiting travel between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The Egyptians described Atlantis as an island approximately 700 kilometres (435 mi) across, comprising mostly mountains in the northern portions and along the shore, and encompassing a great plain of an oblong shape in the south "extending in one direction three thousand stadia [about 600 km; 375 mi], but across the center inland it was two thousand stadia [about 400 km; 250 mi]."

Fifty stadia inland from the middle of the southern coast was a "mountain not very high on any side." Here lived a native woman with whom Poseidon fell in love and who bore him five pairs of male twins. The eldest of these, Atlas, was made rightful king of the entire island and the ocean (now the Atlantic Ocean), and was given the mountain of his birth and the surrounding area as his fiefdom. Atlas's twin Gadeirus or Eumelus in Greek, was given the easternmost portion of the island. The other four pairs of twins — Ampheres and Evaemon, Mneseus and Autochthon, Elasippus and Mestor, and Azaes and Diaprepes — "were the inhabitants and rulers of divers islands in the open sea."

Poseidon carved the inland mountain where his love dwelt into a palace and enclosed it with three circular moats of increasing width, varying from one to three stadia and separated by rings of land proportional in size. The Atlanteans then built bridges northward from the mountain, making a route to the rest of the island. They dug a great canal to the sea, and alongside the bridges carved tunnels into the rings of rock so that ships could pass into the city around the mountain; they carved docks from the rock walls of the moats. Every passage to the city was guarded by gates and towers, and a wall surrounded each of the city's rings. The walls were constructed of red, white and black rock quarried from the moats, and were covered with brass, tin and orichalcum, respectively.

According to Critias, 9,000 years before his lifetime a war took place between those outside the Pillars of Hercules- commonly considered to be the Strait of Gibraltar- and those who dwelt within them. The Atlanteans had conquered the Mediterranean as far east as Egypt and the continent into Tyrrhenia, and subjected its people to slavery. The Athenians led an alliance of resistors against the Atlantean empire and as the alliance disintegrated, prevailed alone against the empire, liberating the occupied lands. "But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods; and in a single day and night of misfortune all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the depths of the sea."

Answer 10

Isn't Atlantis a Utopia society inspired by our dreams and aspirations ? I'd sure love to live there.