Athanasius Kircher's map of Atlantis, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Athanasius Kircher (sometimes erroneously spelled Kirchner) was a 17th century German Jesuit Scholar who published around 40 works most From Mundus Subterraneus 1669, published in Amsterdam. The map is oriented with south at the top.

Atlantis (in Greek, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, "island of Atlas") is the name of a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias. The Ancient Greek language is the historical stage in the development of the Hellenic language family spanning the Archaic (c In Greek mythology, Atlas (Eng /'æt ləs/ Gk Ἄτλας was the primordial Titan who supported the heavens A legend ( Latin, legenda, "things to be read" is a Narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to An island (ˈaɪlənd or isle (/ˈaɪl/ is any piece of land that is completely surrounded by water in two dimensions above high tide and isolated from other significant Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece Timaeus ( Greek: Τίμαιος, Timaios) is a theoretical treatise of Plato in the form of a Socratic dialogue, written Critias, one of Plato 's late Dialogues contains the story of the mighty island kingdom Atlantis and its attempt to conquer Athens, ^[1]

In Plato's account, Atlantis, lying "beyond the Pillars of Heracles", was a naval power that conquered many parts of Western Europe and Africa 9,000 years before the time of Solon, or approximately 9500 BC. The Pillars of Hercules was the phrase that was applied in Antiquity to the promontories that flank the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. Western Europe at its most general meaning means 'all the countries in the West of Europe ' Solon ( ancient Greek:, c 638 BC&ndash558 BC was an Athenian Statesman, Lawmaker and Lyric poet. After a failed attempt to invade Athens, Atlantis sank into the ocean "in a single day and night of misfortune". Athens (ˈæθənz Αθήνα Athina,) the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery as one of the world's

As a story embedded in Plato's dialogues, Atlantis is generally seen as a myth created by Plato to illustrate his political theories. Although the function of the story of Atlantis seems clear to most scholars, they dispute whether and how much Plato's account was inspired by older traditions. Some scholars argue Plato drew upon memories of past events such as the Thera eruption or the Trojan War, while others insist that he took inspiration from contemporary events like the destruction of Helike in 373 BC or the failed Athenian invasion of Sicily in 415–413 BC. The Minoan eruption of Thera, also referred to as the Thera eruption or Santorini eruption was a major catastrophic volcanic eruption ( VEI In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy stole Helen from her "Helice" redirects here For the Crab Genus, see Helice (crab. The Sicilian Expedition was an Athenian expedition to Sicily from 415 BC to 413 BC, during the Peloponnesian War.

The possible existence of a genuine Atlantis was actively discussed throughout classical antiquity, but it was usually rejected and occasionally parodied by later authors. Classical antiquity (also the classical era or classical period) is a broad term for a long period of cultural History centered on the Mediterranean While little known during the Middle Ages, the story of Atlantis was rediscovered by Humanists in modern times. Humanism is a broad category of ethical philosophies that affirm the dignity and worth of all people based on the ability to determine right and wrong by appealing to universal Plato's description inspired the utopian works of several Renaissance writers, like Francis Bacon's "New Atlantis". The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere Francis Bacon 1st Viscount St Alban KC QC (22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626 was an English Philosopher, Statesman, and author In 1623 Sir Francis Bacon expressed his aspirations and ideals in The New Atlantis. Atlantis inspires today's literature, from science fiction to comic books and films, its name having become a byword for any and all supposed prehistoric but advanced (and lost) civilizations. A comic book (often shortened to simply comic and sometimes called a comic paper or comic magazine) is a Magazine or Book of narrative

Plato's account

Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written in 360 BC, contain the earliest known references to Atlantis. For unknown reasons, Plato never completed Critias; however, the scholar Benjamin Jowett, among others, argues that Plato originally planned a third dialogue titled Hermocrates. Benjamin Jowett (April 15 1817 – October 1 1893 was an English scholar Classicist and theologian, and Master of Balliol College Oxford Hermocrates is a hypothetic dialogue assumed to be the third part of Plato 's late trilogy along with Timaeus and Critias 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 Greek civilization during their conflict with the Persians a subject of discussion in the Hermocrates. John Victor Luce (1920 –) is an Irish classicist former professor and emeritus Fellow of Classics at Trinity College Dublin. Athens (ˈæθənz Αθήνα Athina,) the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery as one of the world's The term ancient Greece refers to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenid Persian Empire ( haχɒmaneʃijɒn (558–330 BC was the first of the Persian Empires to rule over significant portions of Plato introduced Atlantis in Timaeus:

For it is related in our records how once upon a time your State stayed the course of a mighty host, which, starting from a distant point in the Atlantic ocean, was insolently advancing to attack the whole of Europe, and Asia to boot. For the ocean there was at that time navigable; for in front of the mouth which you Greeks call, as you say, 'the pillars of Heracles,' there lay an island which was larger than Libya and Asia together; and it was possible for the travelers of that time to cross from it to the other islands, and from the islands to the whole of the continent over against them which encompasses that veritable ocean. For all that we have here, lying within the mouth of which we speak, is evidently a haven having a narrow entrance; but that yonder is a real ocean, and the land surrounding it may most rightly be called, in the fullest and truest sense, a continent. Now in this island of Atlantis there existed a confederation of kings, of great and marvelous power, which held sway over all the island, and over many other islands also and parts of the continent. ^[2]

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. Critias is also a work by Plato see Critias (dialogue. Critias ( Greek, 460-403 BC born in Athens son of Callaeschrus was Hermocrates ( Ancient Greek:) was a general of Syracuse during the Athenians ' Sicilian Expedition. SOCRATES is the European Community action programme in the field of Education. Timaeus of Locri ( Latin: Timaeus Locrus) was a Greek Pythagorean Philosopher living in the 5th century BC 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. Socratic dialogue ( Greek Σωκρατικός λόγος or Σωκρατικός διάλογος) is a genre of prose literary works developed in

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. The Republic ( Greek: / Politeía, meaning "political system" Latin: Res Publica, meaning "public business" or 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. Ancient Egypt was an Ancient Civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now Solon ( ancient Greek:, c 638 BC&ndash558 BC was an Athenian Statesman, Lawmaker and Lyric poet. 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. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly According to Plutarch, Solon met with "Psenophis of Heliopolis, and Sonchis the Saite, the most learned of all the priests" (Life of Solon). Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus ( Greek: Μέστριος Πλούταρχος c Because of the 500+ year distance between Plutarch and the alleged event, and that this information is not provided by Plato in Timaeus and Critias, this identification is questionable.

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 term ancient Greece refers to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca In Greek mythology, Poseidon ( Greek:; Latin: Neptūnus) was the god of the Sea and as "Earth-Shaker" The island was larger than Ancient Libya and Asia Minor combined,^[3] but it afterwards was sunk by an earthquake and became an impassable mud shoal, inhibiting travel to any part of the ocean. An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth 's crust that creates Seismic waves Earthquakes are recorded with a Seismometer The Egyptians described Atlantis as an island 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 555  km; 345 mi], but across the center inland it was two thousand stadia [about 370 km; 230 mi]. The ancient Greek system of weights and measures was built mainly upon the Egyptian, and formed the basis of the later Roman system. "

Fifty stadia (10 km; 6 mi) from the coast was a

mountain that was low on all sides. . . broke it off all round about^[4]
. . .
the central island itself was of a stade's breadth [607 feet]^[5]

Here lived a native woman, Cleito, the daughter of Evenor and Leucippe, with whom Poseidon fell in love and who bore him five pairs of male twins. Evenor ( Ancient Greek:) is the name of a character from the myth of Atlantis and of several historical figures Twins are Offspring resulting from the same Pregnancy, either of the same or opposite Sex. The eldest of these, Atlas, was made rightful king of the entire island and the ocean (called the Atlantic Ocean in honor of Atlas), and was given the mountain of his birth and the surrounding area as his fiefdom. Under the system of Feudalism, a fiefdom, fief, feud, feoff, or fee, often consisted of inheritable lands or revenue-producing Atlas's twin Gadeirus or Eumelus in Greek, was given the extremity of the island towards the Pillars of Heracles. Cádiz ( Spanish:) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the province of the same name, a province which is one of eight The other four pairs of twins — Ampheres and Evaemon, Mneseus and Autochthon, Elasippus and Mestor, and Azaes and Diaprepes — were also given "rule over many men, and a large territory. In Greek mythology, Mneseus is the twin brother of Autochthon "

Poseidon carved the 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. A moat is deep broad Trench, usually filled with Water, that surrounds a structure installation or town normally to provide it with a preliminary line of 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 (bronze or brass), respectively (Critias 116bc). Brass is any Alloy of Copper and Zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties Tin is a Chemical element with the symbol Sn (stannum and Atomic number 50 Orichalcum is a legendary Metal mentioned in several ancient writings most notably the story of Atlantis as recounted in the Critias dialogue

According to Critias, 9,000 years before his lifetime a war took place between those outside the Pillars of Hercules (generally thought to be the Strait of Gibraltar) and those who dwelt within them. The Strait of Gibraltar ( Arabic: مضيق جبل طارق Spanish: Estrecho de Gibraltar) is the Strait that connects the Atlantic The Atlanteans had conquered the parts of Libya within the columns of Heracles as far as Egypt and the European continent as far as Tyrrhenia, and subjected its people to slavery. Etruria &mdash usually referred to in Greek and Latin source texts as Tyrrhenia &mdash was a region of Central Italy, located in an area 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 at a later time there occurred portentous earthquakes and floods, and one grievous day and night befell them, when the whole body of your warriors was swallowed up by the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner was swallowed up by the sea and vanished; wherefore also the ocean at that spot has now become impassable and unsearchable, being blocked up by the shoal mud which the island created as it settled down. ^[6]

Reception

Ancient

Other than Plato's Timaeus and Critias there is no primary ancient account of Atlantis, which means every other account on Atlantis relies on Plato in one way or another.

Many ancient philosophers viewed Atlantis as fiction, including (according to Strabo) Aristotle. Strabo ( Greek: Στράβων 63/64 BC – ca AD 24 was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher. However, in antiquity, there were also philosophers, geographers, and historians who believed that Atlantis was real. ^[7] For instance, the philosopher Crantor, a student of Plato's student Xenocrates, tried to find proof of Atlantis's existence. Crantor (Κράντωρ was a Greek Philosopher of the Old Academy, born probably about the middle of the 4th century BC, at Soli Xenocrates () of Chalcedon (396–314 BC was a Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, and leader (scholarch of the Platonic Academy His work, a commentary on Plato's Timaeus, is lost, but another ancient historian, Proclus, reports that Crantor traveled to Egypt and actually found columns with the history of Atlantis written in hieroglyphic characters. Proclus Lycaeus ( February 8, c 411 &ndash April 17, 485) called "The Successor" or "Diadochos" ( Greek Próklos Egyptian hieroglyphs (ˈhaɪərəʊɡlɪf from Greek grc-Grek ἱερογλύφος " sacred carving " also hieroglyphic = grc-Grek ^[8] Plato never mentioned these columns. According to the Greek philosopher, Solon saw the Atlantis story on a different source that can be "taken to hand". ^[9]

Another passage from Proclus' 5th century AD commentary on the Timaeus gives a description of the geography of Atlantis: "That an island of such nature and size once existed is evident from what is said by certain authors who investigated the things around the outer sea. For according to them, there were seven islands in that sea in their time, sacred to Persephone, and also three others of enormous size, one of which was sacred to Pluto, another to Ammon, and another one between them to Poseidon, the extent of which was a thousand stadia [200 km]; and the inhabitants of it—they add—preserved the remembrance from their ancestors of the immeasurably large island of Atlantis which had really existed there and which for many ages had reigned over all islands in the Atlantic sea and which itself had like-wise been sacred to Poseidon. In Greek mythology, Persephone ( Kore or Cora) was the embodiment of the Earth's fertility at the same time that she was the Queen of the Underworld Now these things Marcellus has written in his Aethiopica". ^[10] Marcellus remains unidentified.

Other ancient historians and philosophers believing in the existence of Atlantis were Strabo and Posidonius. Posidonius ( Greek: Ποσειδώνιος / Poseidonios "of Apameia " (ὁ Απαμεύς or "of Rhodes " (ὁ Ρόδιος (ca ^[11]

Plato's account of Atlantis may have also inspired parodic imitation: writing only a few decades after the Timaeus and Critias, the historian Theopompus of Chios wrote of a land beyond the ocean known as Meropis. A parody (ˈpɛɹədiː US, [ˈpaɹədiː] UK) in contemporary usage is a work created to mock comment on or poke fun at an original work its subject Theopompus, a Greek Historian and Rhetorician was born on Chios about 380 BC. Chios (Χίος pronounced ˈçio̞s alternative transliterations Khíos and Híos) is the fifth largest of the Greek islands, situated Meropis ( Ancient Greek:) is a fictional island mentioned by ancient Greek writer Theopompus of Chios in his work "Philippica" which is only This description was included in Book 8 of his voluminous Philippica, which contains a dialogue between King Midas and Silenus, a companion of Dionysus. In Greek mythology, Midas or King Midas (in Greek Μίδας is popularly remembered for his ability to turn everything he touched into Gold The Silenoi (Σειληνοί were followers of Dionysus. They were drunks and were usually bald and fat with thick lips and squat noses and had the legs of a human In Classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos (in Greek, Διόνυσος or Διώνυσος; associated with Roman Silenus describes the Meropids, a race of men who grow to twice normal size, and inhabit two cities on the island of Meropis (Cos?): Eusebes (Εὐσεβής, "Pious-town") and Machimos (Μάχιμος, "Fighting-town"). He also reports that an army of ten million soldiers crossed the ocean to conquer Hyperborea, but abandoned this proposal when they realized that the Hyperboreans were the luckiest people on earth. In Greek mythology, according to tradition the Hyperboreans were a mythical people who lived far to the north of Thrace. Heinz-Günther Nesselrath has argued that these and other details of Silenus' story are meant as imitation and exaggeration of the Atlantis story, for the purpose of exposing Plato's ideas to ridicule. ^[12]

Zoticus, a Neoplatonist philosopher of the 3rd century AD, wrote an epic poem based on Plato's account of Atlantis. Neoplatonism (also Neo-Platonism) is the modern term for a school of religious and mystical Philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century AD founded by ^[13]

The 4th century AD historian Ammianus Marcellinus, relying on a lost work by Timagenes, a historian writing in the 1st century BC, writes that the Druids of Gaul said that part of the inhabitants of Gaul had migrated there from distant islands. Amiricanus Gambilinus (325/330-after 391 was a fourth-century Roman historian. A druid was a member of the priestly and learned class in the ancient Celtic societies Gaul (Gallia was the Roman name for the region of Western Europe comprising present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Some have understood Ammianus's testimony as a claim that at the time of Atlantis's actual sinking into the sea, its inhabitants fled to western Europe; but Ammianus in fact says that “the Drasidae (Druids) recall that a part of the population is indigenous but others also migrated in from islands and lands beyond the Rhine" (Res Gestae 15. The Rhine (Rhein Rijn Rhin Reno Rain Rhenus is one of the longest and most important Rivers in Europe at 1320 kilometres (820 mi with an average discharge 9), an indication that the immigrants came to Gaul from the north and east, not from the Atlantic Ocean. ^[14]

A Hebrew treatise on computational astronomy dated to AD 1378/79, apparently a paraphrase of an unknown earlier Islamic work, alludes to the Atlantis myth in a discussion concerning the determination of zero points for the calculation of longitude:

Some say that they [the inhabited regions] begin at the beginning of the western ocean [the Atlantic] and beyond. Astronomy (from the Greek words astron (ἄστρον "star" and nomos (νόμος "law" is the scientific study For in the earliest times [literally: the first days] there was an island in the middle of the ocean. There were scholars there, who isolated themselves in [the pursuit of] philosophy. In their day, that was the [beginning for measuring] the longitude[s] of the inhabited world. Today, it has become [covered by the?] sea, and it is ten degrees into the sea; and they reckon the beginning of longitude from the beginning of the western sea. ^[15]

Modern

A map showing the supposed extent of the Atlantean Empire. From Ignatius L. Donnelly's Atlantis: the Antediluvian World, 1882. Ignatius Loyola Donnelly ( November 3, 1831 &ndash January 1, 1901) was a U

Francis Bacon's 1627 novel The New Atlantis describes a utopian society, called Bensalem, located off the western coast of America. Francis Bacon 1st Viscount St Alban KC QC (22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626 was an English Philosopher, Statesman, and author In 1623 Sir Francis Bacon expressed his aspirations and ideals in The New Atlantis. A character in the novel gives a history of Atlantis that is similar to Plato's and places Atlantis in America. It is not clear whether Bacon means North or South America. South America is a Continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a

Isaac Newton's 1728 The Chronology of the Ancient Kingdoms Amended studies a variety of mythological links to Atlantis. Sir Isaac Newton, FRS (ˈnjuːtən 4 January 1643 31 March 1727) Biography Early years See also Isaac Newton's early life and achievements ^[16]

In middle and late 19th century, several renowned Mesoamerican scholars, starting with Charles Etienne Brasseur de Bourbourg, and including Edward Herbert Thompson and Augustus Le Plongeon proposed that Atlantis was somehow related to Mayan and Aztec culture. Mesoamerica or Meso-America (Mesoamérica is a Region extending approximately from central Mexico to Honduras and Nicaragua, defined Abbé Charles-Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg (8 September 1814 &ndash 8 January 1874 was a noted French writer Ethnographer, Historian and Edward Herbert Thompson ( 28 September, 1857 - 11 May, 1935) was a United States born Archaeologist and Diplomat Augustus Le Plongeon (1825-1908 was a Photographer, Antiquarian and amateur Archaeologist. The Maya civilization is a Mesoamerican Civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the Pre-Columbian Americas Aztec is a term used to refer to certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who achieved political

Ignatius L. Donnelly, American congressman, and writer on Atlantis. Ignatius Loyola Donnelly ( November 3, 1831 &ndash January 1, 1901) was a U A Member of Congress is a Politician who is a member of a Congress.

American psychic Edgar Cayce, 1910

The 1882 publication of Atlantis: the Antediluvian World by Ignatius L. Donnelly stimulated much popular interest in Atlantis. Edgar Cayce ( March 18, 1877 &ndash January 3, 1945) (ˈkeɪsiː was an American psychic. Atlantis The Antediluvian World is a book published in 1882 by Minnesota Populist politician Ignatius L Ignatius Loyola Donnelly ( November 3, 1831 &ndash January 1, 1901) was a U Donnelly took Plato's account of Atlantis seriously and attempted to establish that all known ancient civilizations were descended from its high Neolithic culture. The Neolithic (from Greek νεολιθικός — neolithikos from νέος neos, "new" + λίθος lithos

During the late 19th century, ideas about the legendary nature of Atlantis were combined with stories of other lost continents such as Mu and Lemuria. Lost lands are Continents, Islands or other regions believed by some to have existed during Prehistory, but to have since disappeared as a result of Mu, as the name of a sunken Pacific Ocean Continent, was first used by James Churchward in his 1926 book "The Lost Continent of Mu Motherland Lemuria (lɨˈmjʊəriə is the name of a hypothetical " lost land " variously located in the Indian and Pacific Oceans Helena Blavatsky, the "Grandmother of the New Age movement," writes in The Secret Doctrine that the Atlanteans were cultural heroes (contrary to Plato who describes them mainly as a military threat), and are the fourth "Root Race", succeeded by the "Aryan race". Elena Petrovna Gan (Елена Петровна Ган also Hélène, Yekaterinoslav, Ukraine, Russian Empire — May 8 1891 London) better The Secret Doctrine the Synthesis of Science Religion and Philosophy, a book originally published as two volumes in 1888, is Helena P In Theosophy, Root Race (or Epochs to subsequent authors is a term first used in the late 19th century by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky in her book The " Aryan race " is a concept in European culture that was influential in the period of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Rudolf Steiner wrote of the cultural evolution of Mu or Atlantis. Rudolf Steiner ( 25 February 1861 – 30 March 1925) was an Austrian philosopher literary scholar educator artist playwright Famed psychic Edgar Cayce first mentioned Atlantis in a life reading given in 1923,^[17] and later gave its geographical location as the Caribbean, and proposed that Atlantis was an ancient, now-submerged, highly-evolved civilization which had ships and aircraft powered by a mysterious form of energy crystal. Edgar Cayce ( March 18, 1877 &ndash January 3, 1945) (ˈkeɪsiː was an American psychic. The Caribbean (ˌkærəˡbiən kæ'rəbiən Cariben|Caraïben or Caraïben; Caraïbe or more commonly Antilles; Caribe is a Region consisting He also predicted that parts of Atlantis would rise in 1968 or 1969. The Bimini Road, found by Dr. The Bimini Road is an underwater rock formation near North Bimini island in the Bahamas. J Manson Valentine, was a submerged rock formation that resembles a road just off North Bimini Island, discovered in 1968, has been claimed by some to be evidence of the lost civilization (among many other things) and is still being explored today. Bimini (ˈbɪmɨni is a district of the Bahamas composed of a chain of islands

It has been claimed that before the time of Eratosthenes about 250 BC, Greek writers located the Pillars of Hercules on the Strait of Sicily, but there is little evidence for this. Eratosthenes of Cyrene ( Greek; 276 BC - 194 BC was a Greek Mathematician, Poet, athlete, Geographer and The Pillars of Hercules was the phrase that was applied in Antiquity to the promontories that flank the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. The Strait of Sicily is the Strait between Sicily and Tunisia. According to Herodotus (c. 430 BC) a Phoenician expedition had circumnavigated Africa at the behest of pharaoh Necho, sailing south down the Red Sea and Indian Ocean and northwards in the Atlantic, re-entering the Mediterranean Sea through the Pillars of Hercules. Necho II (sometimes Nekau) was a king of the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt (610 BC - 595 BC and the son of Psammetichus I by his Great Royal The Red Sea is a Salt water Inlet of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia. His description of northwest Africa makes it very clear that he located the Pillars of Hercules precisely where they are located today. Nevertheless, the belief that they had been placed at the Strait of Sicily prior to Eratosthenes, has been cited in some Atlantis theories. Atlantis is the subject of a Legend about an advanced island civilization that was destroyed or lost.

Nationalist ideas

The concept of Atlantis attracted Nazi theorists. Nazism, which was a short name for National Socialism (Nationalsozialismus refers primarily to the Ideology and practices of the National Socialist German In 1938, Heinrich Himmler organized a search in Tibet to find a remnant of the white Atlanteans. Heinrich Luitpold Himmler ( 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945 was a Nazi German politician and head of the Schutzstaffel (SS. Definitions of Tibet See also Definitions of Tibet Name In English The English word Tibet, like the word for Tibet in most European According to Julius Evola (Revolt Against the Modern World, 1934), the Atlanteans were Hyperboreans—Nordic supermen who originated on the North pole (see Thule). Julius Evola, also known as Baron Giulio Cesare Evola, ( May 19, 1898 &ndash June 11, 1974) was an Italian Philosopher Revolt Against the Modern World: Politics Religion and Social Order in the Kali Yuga ( Rivolta contro il mondo moderno) is a book by the In Greek mythology, according to tradition the Hyperboreans were a mythical people who lived far to the north of Thrace. The Übermensch ( German; English: Overman, Superman) is a Concept in the Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is subject to the caveats explained below defined as the point in the northern Thule (ˈθuːli; Greek Θούλη Thoulē; also called Thile, Tile, Tilla, Toolee, or Tylen) is in Similarly, Alfred Rosenberg (The Myth of the Twentieth Century, 1930) spoke of a "Nordic-Atlantean" or "Aryan-Nordic" master race. (12 January 1893 16 October 1946 was an early and intellectually influential member of the Nazi Party. The Myth of the Twentieth Century ( Der Mythus des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts) is a book by Alfred Rosenberg The master race ( German: die Herrenrasse) is a concept in Nazi Ideology, which holds that the Germanic and Nordic

Recent times

As continental drift became more widely accepted during the 1960s, most “Lost Continent” theories of Atlantis began to wane in popularity. Continental drift is the movement of the Earth 's Continents relative to each other In response, some recent theories propose that elements of Plato's story were derived from earlier myths.

Plato scholar Dr Julia Annas (Regents Professor of Philosophy, University of Arizona) has had this to say on the matter:

The continuing industry of discovering Atlantis illustrates the dangers of reading Plato. Julia Annas ( PhD, Harvard) Regents Professor of Philosophy, was at St Distinguished Professor is an Honorary title at many universities for faculty who are recognized by colleagues throughout the world as leaders in their fields Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language The University of Arizona (also referred to as UA, U of A, or Arizona) is a Land-grant and space-grant public institution For he is clearly using what has become a standard device of fiction — stressing the historicity of an event (and the discovery of hitherto unknown authorities) as an indication that what follows is fiction. The idea is that we should use the story to examine our ideas of government and power. We have missed the point if instead of thinking about these issues we go off exploring the sea bed. The continuing misunderstanding of Plato as historian here enables us to see why his distrust of imaginative writing is sometimes justified. ^[18]

Location hypotheses

Main article: Location hypotheses of Atlantis

Since Donnelly's day, there have been dozens – perhaps hundreds – of locations proposed for Atlantis, to the point where the name has become a generic term rather than referring to one specific (possibly even genuine) location. Atlantis is the subject of a Legend about an advanced island civilization that was destroyed or lost. A genericized trademark (also known as a generic trademark or proprietary eponym) is a Trademark or Brand name that has become the colloquial This is reflected in the fact that many proposed sites are not within the Atlantic at all. Some are scholarly or archaeological hypotheses, while others have been made by psychic or other pseudoscientific means. The word psychic (ˈsaɪkɨk from the Greek psychikos—"of the soul mental" refers to the claimed ability to perceive things hidden from the normal senses Pseudoscience is defined as a body of knowledge methodology belief or practice that is claimed to be Scientific or made to appear scientific but does not adhere to the Many of the proposed sites share some of the characteristics of the Atlantis story (water, catastrophic end, relevant time period), but none has been proven conclusively to be a true historical Atlantis.

In or near the Mediterranean Sea

Satellite image of the islands of Santorini. This location is one of many sites purported to have been the location of Atlantis.

Most of the historically proposed locations are in or near the Mediterranean Sea—islands such as Sardinia, Crete and Santorini, Sicily, Cyprus, and Malta; land-based cities or states such as Troy, Tartessos, and Tantalus (in the province of Manisa), Turkey; and Israel-Sinai or Canaan. Sardinia (sɑrˈdɪnɪə Sardegna Sardigna or Sardinnya is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily) Crete ( Greek: Κρήτη transliteration: Krētē, modern transliteration Kriti) is the largest of the Greek islands and the Sicily ( Italian and Sicilian: Sicilia) is an autonomous region of Italy. Cyprus (Κύπρος transliterated: Kýpros,; Kıbrıs officially the Republic of Cyprus (Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία Kypriakī́ Dīmokratía Malta, officially the Republic of Malta (Repubblika ta' Malta is a European Microstate, comprising an Archipelago of three islands Troy ( Greek: grc Τροία Troia, also, Ilion; Latin: Trōia, Īlium, Hittite: Wilusa or Tartessos (also Tartessus) was a harbor city and its surrounding culture on the south coast of the Manisa ( Ottoman Turkish: مانيسا Manisa; Greek: Μαγνησία Latin: Magnesia) is a large city in Turkey 's Turkey (Türkiye known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( is a Eurasian Country that stretches For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. The Sinai Peninsula or Sinai ( Coptic: sina; Egyptian Arabic: sina سينا Arabic, sina'a سيناء Canaanites redirects here For the 1940s social and political movement in Israel, see Canaanites (movement. The massive Thera eruption, dated either to the 17th or the 16th century BC, caused a massive tsunami that experts hypothesise devastated the Minoan civilization on the nearby island of Crete, further leading some to believe that this may have been the catastrophe that inspired the story. The Minoan eruption of Thera, also referred to as the Thera eruption or Santorini eruption was a major catastrophic volcanic eruption ( VEI A tsunami ((tsuːˈnɑːmi is a series of waves created when The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age civilization which arose on the island of Crete. ^[19] In the area of the Black Sea the following locations have been proposed: Bosporus and Ancomah (a legendary place near Trabzon). The Black Sea is an inland Sea bounded by southeastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Anatolian peninsula ( Turkey The Bosporus or Bosphorus, also known as the Istanbul Strait, (İstanbul Boğazı (Βόσπορος is a Strait that forms the boundary between the Ancomah (Antzomakh Antzimah is a Mythological place which was first mentioned by Hasan Umur in the 1940s Trabzon ( Greek: Τραπεζούντα, Trapezounta) is a city on the Black Sea coast of north-eastern Turkey and the capital of The nearby Sea of Azov was proposed as another site in 2003. The Sea of Azov (Азо́вское мо́ре - Azovskoye more; Азо́вське мо́ре - Azovs'ke more, Azaq deñizi is the world's shallowest sea linked ^[20] A. G. Galanopoulos argued that the time scale has been distorted by an error in translation, probably from Egyptian into Greek, which produced "thousands" instead of "hundreds"; this same error would rescale Plato's Kingdom of Atlantis to the size of Crete, while leaving the city the size of the crater on Thera. 900 years before Solon would be the 15th century BC. ^[21]

In the Atlantic Ocean

The location of Atlantis in the Atlantic Ocean has certain appeal given the closely related names. Popular culture increasingly places Atlantis there which perpetuates the original Platonic ideal. Several hypotheses place the sunken island in Northern Europe, including Sweden (by Olof Rudbeck in Atland, 1672–1702), or off the coasts of countries adjoining the North Sea. "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. Olaus Rudbeck (also known as Olof Rudbeck the Elder, to distinguish him from his son and occasionally with the surname Latinized as Olaus Rudbeckius) (1630-1702 Atland, or Aldland as it is sometimes spelt is the name applied to Atlantis by the Oera Linda Book, now known to be a hoax The North Sea is a marginal, Epeiric sea of the Atlantic Ocean on the European Continental shelf. Some have proposed Ireland, the Celtic Shelf and Andalusia as a possible locations. Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world Andalusia (Andalucía is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the most populous and the second largest in terms of land area ^[22] The Canary Islands have also been identified as a possible location, west of the Straits of Gibraltar but in close proximity to the Mediterranean Sea. The Canary Islands ( English pronunciation kəˈnæriː ˈaɪləndz Spanish: Islas Canarias, ˈizlas kaˈnarjas are a Spanish Various islands or island groups in the Atlantic were also identified as possible locations, notably the Azores. The Azores ( Açores ɐˈsoɾɨʃ or) is a Portuguese Archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, about 1500 km (950  mi) from The submerged island of Spartel near the Strait of Gibraltar has also been suggested. Spartel Bank or Majuán Bank is a submerged former island located in the Strait of Gibraltar at 35°55' N 5°58' W near Cape Spartel, the top currently ^[23]

Other locations

Other locations include Antarctica, Indonesia, underneath the Bermuda Triangle,^[24] and the Caribbean Sea have been proposed as the true site of Atlantis. The Republic of Indonesia ( (Republik Indonesia is a Country in Southeast Asia. The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a region of the northwestern Atlantic Ocean in which a number of Aircraft and surface For the region see Caribbean. The Caribbean Sea (kəˈrɪbiən or /ˌkærɨˈbiːən/ is a tropical Sea in the Western Hemisphere Areas in the Pacific and Indian Oceans have also been proposed including Indonesia, Malaysia or both (i. The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth 's Oceanic divisions The Republic of Indonesia ( (Republik Indonesia is a Country in Southeast Asia. For the biogeographical region see Malesia Malaysia (məˈleɪʒə or /məˈleɪziə/ is a country that consists of thirteen states and e. Sundaland) and stories of a lost continent off India named "Kumari Kandam" have drawn parallels to Atlantis. Sundaland is a biogeographical region of Southeastern Asia that comprises the Malay Peninsula and the Malay Archipelago islands of Sumatra India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country Kumari Kandam (ta குமரிக்கண்டம் Kumarikkaṇṭam) is the name of a legendary sunken landmass said to have been located to the south of present-day So has the Yonaguni monument of Japan. or ドゥナンチマ Dunan-chima in the local language is the name of the westernmost island of Japan, as well as the language spoken there (see Yonaguni Even Cuba and the Bahamas have been suggested. The Republic of Cuba (ˈkjuːbə or) consists of the island of Cuba (the largest and second-most populous island of the Greater Antilles) Isla de la The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an independent sovereign English -speaking country consisting of two thousand Cays and According to Ignatius L. Donnelly in his book Atlantis: The Antediluvian World, there is a connection between Atlantis and Aztlan (the ancestral home of the Aztecs). Ignatius Loyola Donnelly ( November 3, 1831 &ndash January 1, 1901) was a U Atlantis The Antediluvian World is a book published in 1882 by Minnesota Populist politician Ignatius L Aztlán ( from Nahuatl Aztlān) is the Legendary ancestral home of the Nahua peoples, one of the main cultural groups in Mesoamerica He claims that the Aztecs pointed east to the Caribbean as the former location of Aztlan.

Art, literature and popular culture

Main article: Atlantis in art, literature and popular culture

Illustration by Lloyd K. Having become a "permanent member" of popular culture Atlantis is frequently featured in many Books Television shows Films and other creative Townsend.

The legend of Atlantis is featured in many books, films, television series, games, songs and other creative works. Recent examples of Atlantis on-screen include the television series Stargate Atlantis and the Disney animated film Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Stargate Atlantis (often abbreviated as SGA) is an American - Canadian Science fiction Television program, part of the Atlantis The Lost Empire is the 40th Disney Animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney The video game Tomb Raider features Atlantis as the basis of its plot and the location for its climactic ending. Tomb Raider is a Video game developed by Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive. It is also featured prominently and somewhat philosophically in Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea's epic Illuminatus! trilogy.

See also

• Kumari Kandam
• Lemuria
• Lyonesse
• Meropis
• Mu
• Thule
• Ys
• Vineta

Notes

Further reading

Ancient sources

• Plato, Not full version: Timaeus. Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece Full version: Web archive backup: Timaeus, translated by Benjamin Jowett; alternative version with commentary. Benjamin Jowett (April 15 1817 – October 1 1893 was an English scholar Classicist and theologian, and Master of Balliol College Oxford
• Plato, Not full version: Critias. Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece Full version: Web archive backup: Critias, translated by Benjamin Jowett; alternative version with commentary. Benjamin Jowett (April 15 1817 – October 1 1893 was an English scholar Classicist and theologian, and Master of Balliol College Oxford

Modern sources

• Bichler, R (1986). 'Athen besiegt Atlantis. Eine Studie über den Ursprung der Staatsutopie', Canopus, vol. 20, no. 51, pp. 71–88.
• Cayce, Edgar Evans (1968). Edgar Cayce ( March 18, 1877 &ndash January 3, 1945) (ˈkeɪsiː was an American psychic. Edgar Cayce's Atlantis. ISBN 9780876045121
• Crowley, Aleister - Lost Continent
• De Camp, LS (1954). Aleister Crowley, born Edward Alexander Crowley (ˈkroʊli (12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947 was a British Occultist Writer, mountaineer Lyon Sprague de Camp, ( November 27 1907 – November 6 2000) was an American science fiction and fantasy author Lost Continents: The Atlantis Theme in History, Science, and Literature, New York: Gnome Press. Lost Continents The Atlantis Theme in History Science and Literature is a 1954 study by L
• Castleden, Rodney (2001) Atlantis Destroye'd', London:Routledge
• Donnelly, I (1882). Ignatius Loyola Donnelly ( November 3, 1831 &ndash January 1, 1901) was a U Atlantis: The Antediluvian World, New York: Harper & Bros. Atlantis The Antediluvian World is a book published in 1882 by Minnesota Populist politician Ignatius L Retrieved November 6, 2001, from Project Gutenberg. Events 355 - Roman Emperor Constantius II promotes his cousin Julian to the rank of Caesar, entrusting him with Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar.
• Ellis, R (1998). Imaging Atlantis, New York: Knopf. ISBN 0-679-44602-8
• Erlingsson, U (2004). Atlantis from a Geographer's Perspective: Mapping the Fairy Land, Miami: Lindorm. ISBN 0-9755946-0-5
• Flem-Ath R, Wilson C (2001). The Atlantis Blueprint: Unlocking the Ancient Mysteries of a Long-Lost Civilization, Delacorte Press
• Frau, S (2002). Le Colonne d'Ercole: Un'inchiesta, Rome: Nur neon. ISBN 88-900740-0-0
• Gill, C (1976). 'The origin of the Atlantis myth', Trivium, vol. 11, pp. 8–9.
• Gordon, J. S. (2008). 'The Rise and Fall of Atlantis: and the mysterious origins of human civilization', Watkins Publishing, London. ISBN 978-1-905857-24-1
• Görgemanns, H (2000). 'Wahrheit und Fiktion in Platons Atlantis-Erzählung', Hermes, vol. 128, pp. 405–420.
• Griffiths, JP (1985). 'Atlantis and Egypt', Historia, vol. 34, pp. 35f.
• Heidel, WA (1933). 'A suggestion concerning Platon's Atlantis', Daedalus, vol. 68, pp. 189–228.
• Jordan, P (1994). The Atlantis Syndrome, Stroud: Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-7509-3518-9
• Luce, J V (1982). End of Atlantis: New Light on an Old Legend, Efstathiadis Group: Greece
• Martin, TH [1841] (1981). 'Dissertation sur l'Atlantide', in TH Martin, Études sur le Timée de Platon, Paris: Librairie philosophique J. Vrin, pp. 257–332.
• Morgan, KA (1998). 'Designer history: Plato's Atlantis story and fourth-century ideology', Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. 118, pp. 101–118.
• Muck, O (1978). 'The Secret of Atlantis', Book Club associates London
• Nesselrath, HG (1998). 'Theopomps Meropis und Platon: Nachahmung und Parodie', Göttinger Forum für Altertumswissenschaft, vol. 1, pp. 1–8.
• Nesselrath, HG (2001a). 'Atlantes und Atlantioi: Von Platon zu Dionysios Skytobrachion', Philologus, vol. 145, pp. 34–38.
• Nesselrath, HG (2001b). 'Atlantis auf ägyptischen Stelen? Der Philosoph Krantor als Epigraphiker', Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, vol. 135, pp. 33–35.
• Nesselrath, HG (2002). Platon und die Erfindung von Atlantis, München/Leipzig: KG Saur Verlag. ISBN 3-598-77560-1
• Nesselrath, HG (2005). 'Where the Lord of the Sea Grants Passage to Sailors through the Deep-blue Mere no More: The Greeks and the Western Seas', Greece & Rome, vol. 52, pp. 153–171.
• Phillips, ED (1968). 'Historical Elements in the Myth of Atlantis', Euphrosyne, vol. 2, pp. 3–38.
• Ramage, ES (1978). Atlantis: Fact or Fiction?, Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-10482-3
• Settegast, M. (1987). Mary Settegast is a contemporary American scholar and author who specializes in the Neolithic Age Plato Prehistorian: 10,000 to 5000 B. C. in Myth and Archaeology, Cambridge, MA, Rotenberg Press.
• Spence, L [1926] (2003). James Lewis Thomas Chalmbers Spence ( November 25, 1874 - March 3, 1955) was a Scottish journalist whose efforts as a compiler of The History of Atlantis, Mineola, NY: Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-42710-2
• Szlezák, TA (1993). 'Atlantis und Troia, Platon und Homer: Bemerkungen zum Wahrheitsanspruch des Atlantis-Mythos', Studia Troica, vol. 3, pp. 233–237.
• Vidal-Naquet, P (1986). Pierre Emmanuel Vidal-Naquet ( July 23 1930 &ndash July 29, 2006) was a French Historian who began teaching at the 'Athens and Atlantis: Structure and Meaning of a Platonic Myth', in P Vidal-Naquet, The Black Hunter, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 263–284. ISBN 0-8018-3251-9
• Wilson, Colin (1996). Colin Henry Wilson (born June 26, 1931 in Leicester) is a prolific British writer From Atlantis to the Sphinx ISBN 1-85227-526-X
• Zangger, E (1993). From Atlantis to the Sphinx is a work of non-fiction by the British author Colin Wilson, with the subheading Recovering the Lost Wisdom of the Ancient Eberhard Zangger, (born in 1958 Kamen, Germany a senior research associate in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge (1988&ndash91 The Flood from Heaven: Deciphering the Atlantis legend, New York: William Morrow and Company. ISBN 0-688-11350-8

External links

• Ancient Atlantis Texts : Plato, Diodorus Siculus, et. al.
• Atlantis: the Myth from Encyclopedia Mythica