Mythical island of Atlantis where is located?

Atlantis (Greek: Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, Atlnntis) is a mythical island state, first mentioned and described by the classical Greek philosopher Plato in the dialogues of Timaeus and Critias. About what Atlantis is and where it is, have been arguing since the first mention of it. This concept represents a variety of ideas: for some, it is the object of archaeological research, waiting to be discovered, a lost source of supernatural knowledge and power, or perhaps nothing more than a philosophical treatise on the dangers of civilization at the apogee of its development. Was Atlantis in fact, or is it just Plato's invention, probably will never be known. Nevertheless, the idea of its existence continues to inspire and intrigue many, echoing the desire to reach an era of prosperity or return to it.

The Origin of the Myth

Description of Atlantis Plato, which is considered the first, occurs in the dialogues of Timaeus and Critias, written in 360 BC. E. In the Socratic style of dialogue, the author conveys his story through a conversation between the politicians of Crete and Hermocrates, as well as the philosophers of Socrates and Timaeus. About the island state says Critias, first in "Timaeus," briefly describing the huge empire "behind the Pillars of Hercules", defeated by the Athenians after she tried to conquer Europe and Asia Minor. Then Critias proceeds to a detailed description of a powerful civilization. The politician claims that his stories about the ancient Athens and Atlantis stem from the visit to Egypt of the Athenian lawmaker Solon in the sixth century BC. E. There he met a priest from Sais who translated the history of ancient states, written on papyrus with Egyptian hieroglyphs, into Greek.

The account of the Egyptian clergymen

The story told by the priests, Solon was unknown. According to the records of the ancient Egyptian temple, the Athenians waged war against the rulers of Atlantis about nine thousand years ago and won it.

The ancient and mighty kings of the mythical island formed a confederation with which they ruled it and other islands. After the war, the rulers sent troops to Europe and Asia. To counter this attack, the Athenians formed an all-Greek alliance. At first difficulties, it disintegrated, and the Athenians waged war alone. The invasion was stopped, and then Egypt and other countries conquered by the rulers of Atlantis were liberated.

Shortly after the victory, even before the return of the Athenians home, the island state underwent catastrophic earthquakes and floods, until it disappeared underwater. According to legend, all the brave men were absorbed in one day and night of horror. That's why the Egyptians did not thank the Athenians.

In addition, Plato describes the history of Atlantis, which shows how the rulers reached a point where they wanted to conquer the whole world. The story was written by Solon and passed on to his family from generation to generation.

Divine redivision

According to Solon's records, the history of the mythical island began at the beginning of time. It was then that the immortal gods divided the world among themselves and each controlled its part. God granted Poseidon Atlantis. Where it is, it was not specified, but it was an island larger than Libya and Asia combined. He chose as his wife the mortal woman Clayto and with it founded a dynasty of rulers of the state.

Poseidon and Claytooth

Poseidon built a house on a high hill, in the heart of the island. The structure rose above the fertile plain bordered by the sea. To protect his beloved wife Poseidon with ease and divine art surrounded her house with five concentric rings of water and soil. Hot and cold keys were beating from under the ground. With the development of the city, its inhabitants have never lacked water.

Clayto gave birth to Poseidon ten sons, five pairs of twins. Atlant, the first son of the first couple, became the ruler of his father's vast land. His brothers were appointed archons, each of which ruled most of this territory. The most valuable part of the kingdom was the mother's house on top of the mountain and the land around it. Atlanta had many sons, and the throne passed to the oldest of them.

Peaceful Prosperity

For many generations, Atlantis remained peaceful and prosperous. Almost all the needs of the population were provided by the spears, fields and forests of the island. Everything that was not produced was imported. This became possible because a canal was built that ran through all the rings from the ocean to the center of the kingdom, the acropolis where the royal palace stood near the house of Poseidon and Clayto. Each succeeding ruler tried to outdo his predecessor in creating a larger kingdom. Finally, the magnificent Metropolis and the outer city spread beyond the large outer wall.

Laws of Poseidon

Poseidon established the laws of Atlantis, which the rulers had to observe. The ruling body was to meet regularly. It consisted of ten representatives of the first rulers - Atlanta and his brothers - who had absolute power over the life and death of their subjects. The meetings took place in the temple of Poseidon, where the first rulers inscribed the laws on the orihalk pillar. First of all, in accordance with the requirements of the ancient ceremony, the archons exchanged gifts. Then the sacrifice of the sacred bull took place. The blood was mixed with wine and poured into the fire as an act of purification. The rulers were given wine in gold cups, they made a libation on fire and vowed to make a decision in accordance with the prescribed laws. Everyone drank wine and dedicated his cup to the temple. Then followed a dinner for which the participants dressed in gorgeous blue robes. In them they resolved questions concerning the kingdom, in accordance with the laws of Poseidon.

Court of the Gods

Until the rulers judged and lived under the laws of Poseidon, the state flourished. When the laws began to be forgotten, troubles arose. The rulers began to marry mortals and behave like unreasonable people. They were seized with pride, and they began to fight for greater power. Then Zeus saw what had happened: the rulers abandoned the laws of the gods and began to act in concert with the people. He gathered all the gods of Olympus and was going to make a decision about Atlantis. This concludes Plato's story.

Fact or fiction?

Was it done intentionally or not, no one knows. Just like no one knows, Plato believed in the real existence of the island, or it was pure fiction. Many are convinced that the author, who used many details in his description, believed in him. Others reject it, arguing that just because history is a pure invention of Plato, he was able to come up with as many details as he wanted. Also in question is her dating. According to Solon, the island existed 9000 years ago. This corresponds to the early Stone Age. In this period it is difficult to imagine the existence of agriculture, architecture and maritime navigation described in the story. One explanation for this inconsistency is the misinterpretation by Solon of the Egyptian symbol 100 as 1000. If so, Atlantis existed 900 years before the time of the narrative. This corresponds to the middle of the Bronze Age, when the tools and equipment necessary to achieve the described level of development have already appeared.

Many ancient philosophers regarded Atlantis as a fiction, including (according to Strabo) and Aristotle. Nevertheless, there were philosophers, geographers, historians who accepted Plato's story at face value. One of them was Crantor, a disciple of Plato's disciple Xenocrates, who was trying to find evidence of the existence of Atlantis. His work, the commentary of Timaeus, is lost, but another ancient historian, Proclus, reports that Crantor traveled to Egypt and in fact found columns with a history of the island written in Egyptian hieroglyphics. As in all works of antiquity, it is difficult to assess ambiguous proclamations, as there are no other proofs, except written ones.

Second Troy?

The controversy about where Atlantis is located until the end of the nineteenth century was not as turbulent as after the discovery in 1872 by Henry Schliemann of the lost city of Troy. He did this with the help of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, so it became clear that classical sources, previously considered myths, actually contain some of the lost truths. In 1882, the scientist Ignatius Donelly published the book Atlantis: an Antediluvian World, which stimulated interest in the legendary island. The author took Platon's reference seriously and tried to establish that all the famous ancient civilizations came from a high Neolithic culture. Others offered more outlandish ideas, attributing supernatural aspects to Atlantis, combining them with stories of other lost continents such as Mu and Lemuria, popular figures in the movement of theosophy, occultism and the growing phenomenon of New Age.

The Parable of Plato

Most scholars rejected the belief in Atlantis as the idea of a "new century" religion, considering the most plausible explanation that the island was Plato's parable, or based on another known civilization - the Minoan. The fact that the Greek philosopher often told moralizing stories in the guise of fictitious ones is cited in support of this point of view. "Cave" is perhaps the most famous example in which Plato illustrates the nature of reality. Scientists warn that a literal understanding of the myth is its perversion. It is more likely that Plato sent a warning to his fellow tribesmen about the dangers of imperial expansion, political ambitions, singing the nobility and circulation of knowledge not for personal gain.

The truth about the intentions of the Greek philosopher will remain known only to himself, but no one can doubt the symbolic longevity of his history. If Atlantis can not be a physical place, then it certainly has a place in the universal imagination.

Hypotheses about the location

There were dozens, perhaps hundreds, of assumptions about where Atlantis was, until the name turned into a common noun that did not belong to one particular (perhaps even genuine) location. This is reflected in the fact that many of the proposed sites are not located at all in the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the proposed sites share some of the features of the history of the mythical island (water, a catastrophic end, an appropriate period of time), but finally it has not been proven that this is true Atlantis. Where is (photo of it, for obvious reasons, we can not provide) the most likely location of its location, you can learn from the list of popular options. Some of them are scientific or archaeological hypotheses, while others were created by pseudoscientific means.

Mediterranean Atlantis

Where is the legendary island, they wondered a lot. Most of the proposed sites were located within or near the Mediterranean Sea, or islands such as Sardinia, Crete, Santorini, Cyprus or Malta.

The eruption of the volcano on Feer, dating from the seventeenth or fifteenth century BC, caused a massive tsunami, which, according to the hypothesis put forward by experts, destroyed the Minoan civilization on the nearby island of Crete. This catastrophe could inspire the appearance of the myth of Atlantis. Supporters of the idea refer to the fact that the Egyptians used a lunar calendar based on months, and the Greeks - solar, based on years. Therefore, it is possible that the time interpreted as nine thousand years actually corresponds to 9000 months, placing the death of Atlantis within approximately 7 hundred years.

Santorini

Volcanic eruptions on the Mediterranean island of Santorini during the Minoan civilization, most likely, caused a cataclysm that destroyed Atlantis. The main criticism of this hypothesis is that the ancient Greeks were well aware of the volcanoes, and if there was an eruption, it would be possible to have a mention of it. In addition, Pharaoh Amenhotep III ordered his emissary to visit the cities surrounding Crete, and he found them populated there, where supposedly everything was completely destroyed.

Spartel

Another hypothesis is based on the re-creation of the geography of the Mediterranean Sea at a time when Atlantis still existed. Where it was, points out Plato - outside of the Pillars of Hercules. So called the Strait of Gibraltar, connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean. Eleven thousand years ago the sea level was 130 m lower, and in the strait there was a number of islands. One of them, Spartel, is Atlantis, where it sank, although there are a number of inconsistencies with the version of Plato.

Sardinia

In 2002, the Italian journalist Sergio Frau published the book "The Hercules Pillars" in which he stated that before Eratosthenes all the ancient Greek writers had them in the Sicilian strait, and Alexander the Great's journey to the east obliged Eratosthenes in his description of the world to move the pillars to Gibraltar. According to his thesis, there was Atlantis, where Sardinia is today. Indeed, the tsunami caused catastrophic destruction on the island, destroying the mysterious Nuraghian civilization. Several survivors moved to the neighboring Italian peninsula, founded the Etruscan culture, which became the basis for a later Roman, while the other survivors were part of the "peoples of the sea" who attacked Egypt.

Outside the Mediterranean

Outside the Mediterranean Sea, Antarctica was located in all corners of the world - from Ireland and Sweden to Indonesia and Japan. Many of these theories rely on mildly convincing evidence. Two of the most discussed areas are the countries of the Caribbean and Antarctica.

Road Bimini - Sunken Atlantis?

Where the Bermuda Triangle is located, everyone seems to know. Often associated with mysterious events, the Caribbean basin attracted attention to underwater structures, called the Bimini road, discovered by pilots in the 1960s. The Bimini road consists of large stones arranged in two parallel rows in shallow water for several kilometers from the Bimini Islands. Many expeditions went there to try to prove or disprove the technogenic origin of these formations and somehow connect them with Atlantis. Most scientists, in particular geologists, found the evidence unconvincing or came to the conclusion that this is a natural phenomenon. Others, however, strongly argue that the rock is too symmetrical and deliberate to be a mere creation of nature. In any case, no other remains, which would confirm that the road leads to the sunken island, was not found.

Antarctica

The theory that Antarctica is the place where Atlantis (photo) once sank was especially popular in the 1960-1970s. It was fueled by Lovecraft's novel "Ridges of Madness", as well as the Piri Reis card, which allegedly shows Antarctica as it would be without ice, as far as the knowledge of that period allowed. Charles Berlitz, Erich von Daniken, and Peter Kolosimo were among the popular authors who made such an assumption. Nevertheless, the theory of continental drift is contrary to this idea, because during the life of Plato Antarctica was in its present place and preserved its inhospitable climate. Nevertheless, the romance of unexplored regions generates many ideas, like Atlantis, to this day.

Pop culture

The study and discovery of long-lost cities and civilizations is a topic that is not related to space or time in the popular imagination. Atlantis became that mythical island, whose name turned out to be a landmark for all other lost cities. Mentions about it are present in all literary genres, from works of the Renaissance to modern science fiction, fantasy, archaeological and scientific works, books "New Age". Television and cinema also took advantage of the charm of Atlantis. The myth was so tempting that one of the largest hotels in the Bahamas, the Atlantis Paradise Island Resort, became a resort on the theme of a lost city.

In the New Age movement, there are those who believe that Atlantis, where there was a technologically advanced civilization, self-destructed because of rapid progress, or that extraterrestrial technology was used there. Similar ideas have been attributed to other ancient cultures, since many New Age believers tend to combine different mysterious phenomena in one idea. In the end, the ongoing discussion of what Atlantis is, where this sunken island is located, is evidence of the endless curiosity of mankind and the desire not to be satisfied with the current vision of the world, but to continue to search for secrets and discover the lost worlds of our past.