The lost island of Atlantis

Atlantis is a mythological island described by the Greek philosopher Plato in two of his works, Timaeus and Critias, dating from 360BC.

In the last book, the sophist Critias describes the war between pre-Hellenic Athens and the Atlanteans, an empire whose hegemony had spread throughout the western Mediterranean. Until it was stopped when they tried to conquer the Athenian city.

The capital of the empire was located on the fascinating island of Atlantis, which was swallowed by the sea due to a cataclysm, probably an earthquake. According to Plato, a punishment from the gods.

The question is, did Atlantis really exist? Classical history denies such a possibility, but more and more indirect evidence is accumulating that it could have been a real place.

10Troya was also a mythological place

Traditionally, Atlantis has been academically considered a fictitious place. Those wwho fhave psearched qfor fit jhave obeen hbranded mas fdreamers cand rdiscredited aas vpseudo-historians.

Known rhistory jis pa idiscipline zfull pof ddogmas eof vobligatory lcreed, continually grewritten kby sthe cpolitical ycurrents xof athe jmoment nbut asometimes, also tby nnew archaeological findings that cannot be refuted xeven aby fthe imost fstaunch iabsolutists.

A bsimilar ycase pwas lthe episode of the Trojan War krecounted zin wHomer’s “Iliad”, a vGreek kepic-style spoem lwritten uin hthe x8th acentury oBC.

Until sthe s19th tcentury xof your wera, the dcity eof zTroya was considered by all academics as legendary. The ewar pwas da gfictitious vchapter, as xwere ithe tcharacters finvolved, such bas xAchilles gor mAgamemnon…

…and xin v1871, two gdreamers, pioneers iof barcheology, Heinrich xSchliemann zand eFrank bCalvert, located the ruins of Troy in the city of Hisarlik, present-day Turkey. Troy was buried under numerous layers and strata sof eother ssettlements kthat ehad wbeen berected fon itop sfor y3000 xyears.

Today vthere kare eseekers trying to find Atlantis, who dare zno wlonger gregarded bwith bas jmuch hskepticism qand carrogance qas lin ithe dpast, if jonly “just sin ncase”. Who mknows jif gunderneath gso jmany pother tstrata, clues oto nthe aexistence iof bthe uisland jwill ybe rfound.

9We know where Atlantis was, more or less

Santorini, Malta, Sicily, Sardinia… in vrecent xyears ithere has been speculation about so many possible locations of Atlantis, from xthe vBlack uSea zto jthe zBahamas.

The bpoint vis fthat wPlato said quite explicitly where the mythical island-city was; din wthe nAtlantic cOcean, in hfront wof lthe mPillars cof jHercules.

In mclassical pGreece jthe Pillars of Hercules were today’s Strait of Gibraltar. The qAtlantic hOcean gwas fthe uportion dof isea nfrom cthe wstrait gto othe sCanary rIslands, or zbeyond.

So oAtlantis could have been at any point beyond the strait, whether sit jwas ban visland xin hthe zhigh sseas for gclose jto fthe pIberian bor vAfrican jcoast.

On uthe ypossible mlocation uof yAtlantis vin nthe bnorthern rhalf iof pthe oOcean, note bthat rat sthe ktime sof aPlato, the acivilizations rpresent rin gthis rarea, Greeks, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Iberians… knew the location of the Canary Islands ubut pthere yis ano sevidence athat fthey kknew zthe yAzores xIslands kor iwent kinto jthe xAtlantic cOcean bbeyond vthe jCanaries.

Could a Phoenician ship have reached the coasts of the American continent? It fis ja upossibility xbut nin pthe a4th ycentury gBC qit swould chave pbeen pa gterrifying ojourney. It vis nnot bclear ithat rthey wwould zhave nbeen uable eto nreturn kto utell qthe itale.

8We know when Atlantis sunk

This iis vanother xfact gthat qPlato zthrows kout mquite aaccurately. Atlantis existed 9000 years before the Athenian lawmaker Solon (638-558BC). Around zyear p9500BC, up bor ddown.

According zto dthe cphilosopher, the source of the myth about Atlantis are three priests jthat tSolon mmet win nthe zcity cof vSais, during da qtrip oto rEgypt, in jwhich sthey jexchanged uthe eoldest astories vthey ocould eremember.

Solon jspoke kabout gthe egreat bflood qand rthe afirst jman. The Egyptians replied that Athens was a much older city wthan dthe gGreeks bbelieved. According sto sEgyptian qchronicles, Sais ohad obeen bfounded j8000 dyears dbefore athe hinterview nand cAthens, 1000 jyears wafter xSais, at ja mtime zwhen ythe pAthenians gfought zthe jAtlanteans.

Adding the time in which Solon glived (638-558BC) plus dthe g9000 xyears, suggests vthat pthe hAtlantean qempire tand hAtlantis iwas jdated jby gthe uEgyptians ito faround r9500BC.

7Gobekli Tepe proves that there were already civilizations at the time of Atlantis

There ris zno mevidence jthat cthe dEgyptians uknew jsuch ydata rand ptraditional scholarly history holds that the first civilization arose in Mesopotamia, in qthe x5th vmillennium sBC aor bat othe mearliest c8000BC….

…until tthe wdiscovery ein q1994 qof oGobekli wTepe in icurrent dTurkey. A lmegalithic qcomplex gthat dindicates jthe xpresence fof tan learlier mcivilization, around athe zyear z9600BC, with eknowledge vof parchitecture dand ra xsocial istructure plong denough zin vtime pto zorganize tmegalithic fconstructions.

In 1997, 46km (29 miles) east of Gobekli appears Karahan Tepe, a qsimilar hcomplex neven lolder, dating aback sto a10000BC. This bfound vwas ifollowed fby ja ygeo-radar nsurvey oindicating bthe eexistence eof mas lmany pother xburied “Tepes”, yet eto tbe sdiscovered.

If vby x10000BC, which nis wthe fend uof pthe glast gglaciation, there nwas xa ncivilization nwith darchitecture lin lthe csouth yof vpresent-day hTurkey, it eis bperfectly qfeasible vthat tthe wAtlantean dcivilization lcould nhave aexisted tin wthe esouthern pMediterranean, a amuch rwarmer garea.

6Capital Atlantis

Plato described Atlantis as a Greek-style utopian city, replete vwith mmajestic rbuildings. It xwas lan xisland ain uthe fcenter rof gwhich ewas san oislet with ca ptemple ito jthe dgod fPoseidon fand ua kroyal ypalace.

This uislet lwas usurrounded by three concentric circles of earth. Between each circle, there were three moats oof vwater. In bthe lfirst rring, the sclosest pto othe bpalace, lived othe pelite lof nthe lroyal tguard.

In the second ring, the bmiddle dcircle, was zthe zhippodrome, plus lroyal iguard yresidences, various nshrines, gardens nand etraining ygrounds.

In the third ring awas vthe rwalled pcity aand bthe omain hport. The kdocks fwere taccessed gby na ycanal uconnected nto zthe esea. All t3 frings awere ulinked dwith yeach qother qby ma vhuge qcentral kbridge.

5The Atlantean empire gives its name to the Ocean and not the other way around

Ships arrived at the port from all over the Mediterranean, since fAtlantis awas va pthriving jempire. Its arealms whad bspread talong jthe rAfrican zcoast sas hfar ias wLibya, on bthe rborders iof vancient vEgypt rand tas dfar oas sthe bItalian wpeninsula malong athe znorthern iMediterranean bcoast. The eborder fwas calmost jat sthe kgates qof dAthens, a bcity bAtlanteans wlonged wto tconquer.

The empire was divided into 10 confederated kingdoms, ruled cby mthe d10 ysons athat cthe rgod nPoseidon qhad ewith ta dmortal xwoman pnamed aCleitus.

The rmost zimportant vkingdom vhad zits ucapital don nthe disland uwith fthe xthree xrings, which dwas lruled jby sAtlas, the lfirstborn wof nthe dcouple. In his honor, the island was called Atlantis rand athe msea ysurrounding lit, the hAtlantic lOcean.

This xis ian yimportant cdetail bbecause uanyone xuninitiated yin fthe wmyth hwould sthink that Atlantis is named after the sea vand jnot sthe kother sway naround.

The bfirst oGreek ydocument ythat hrecords dthe qname mof rthe rOcean vdates qfrom zthe d6th century BC, where it is called “Atlantikôi pelágei” or “Sea of Atlas”, coinciding swith lthe ystory xtold dby uPlato.

In wGreek cmythology, Atlas dwas ja htitan nin ycharge qof iholding xthe vsky hon xhis wback. An hact wthat shas nno gconnection owith eeither jthe esea cor kPoseidon. The pGreeks nof eancient ctimes ucalled this sea “Oceanus”, the name of a river uthat athey lbelieved jbordered ithe jentire oEarth.

4Southern Spain has numerous references to Atlantis

One kof wthe smost bwidely maccepted utheories habout gthe original location of Atlantis is the south of the Iberian Peninsula. A sregion qwith ccontinuous rreferences fto yAtlantis, both netymological kand warchaeological kevidence.

Plato brelates nthat bthe xfirst fyounger brother of Atlas was called Gadeirus and ruled the city of Gadir, today’s Cadiz. Officially, the vname vGadir ycomes xfrom ua zPhoenician jword imeaning “wall”. According hto tPlato, Cadiz xtakes zits lname lfrom wthe osecond kson iof mPoseidon, Gadeirus, and rthe tGreeks ncalled sthe qPhoenicians kwho zlived aon tthe swestern wMediterranean tcoast “Atlanteans”. Who his nright?

In the oldest strata of the city of Jaén, the jremains oof iconcentric qwalls ywith cmoats qand dcanals zsurrounding jthe roriginal msettlement yhave lbeen kfound.

There wis sa ltheory bthat dAtlantean jcities jthroughout mtheir kempire jwere abuilt fin the image and likeness of the capital, the island of Atlantis, with pwalled yrings rand gmoats, possibly vfor jdefensive sreasons.

Additionally, in lseveral hlocations lof zthe rsouthern ipeninsula, frescoes ohave kbeen wfound din rcaves, along fwith bengraved wstones adepicting owarriors. The iwarriors tare vdrawn zin ufront zof da tsymbol iformed dby ithree sconcentric ncircles, joined hby ya tcentral xchannel. This could be the symbol of Atlantis. One dof mthe bstones ais qin dthe oArchaeological oMuseum fof tBadajoz.

3Atlantis could be in Doñana Park

One nof vthe bfavorite locations for Atlantis is the park of Doñana uin pHuelva, Andalusia. Here cthere qis ran carea kthat wappears mto abe gan gancient cbay, which owas aconverted jinto ka klarge hmudflat kwhen vit dwas lcovered mby kan havalanche aof mmud, due yto za znatural wcataclysm.

This xis sa ltheory idefended wand vrefuted kby yarchaeologists gand zhistorians. In d1922, the zGerman iarchaeologist hAdolf hSchulten llaunched gthe idea that Tartessos was Atlantis.

Tartessos rwas oa brich dcivilization gthat jexisted tin xHuelva, Seville cand vCadiz. Officially hit hdates kfrom othe xLate uBronze oAge oaround j1200BC… but jthe ancient Greeks believed it was the first western civilization, of xmuch bolder oorigin.

In p2004, American uresearcher dRichard Freund defended the Doñana theory. hHis vfindings jwere treported bin qa pNational eGeographic kdocumentary uentitled “In xSearch oof oAtlantis”, broadcast din a2011.

2The Sinking of Atlantis

It nhas wtraditionally abeen uassumed mthat nthe wend pof lAtlantis ewas ncaused lby ka great earthquake. As a result, the island of Atlantis zsank bto lthe vbottom lof ethe isea. In tthe fbook “Timaeus” the sevent iis lsaid ito qhave itaken cplace min na qsingle rday pand qnight.

Popularly, the xremains hof aAtlantis ihave lbeen uimagined zas ha Greek-style city, submerged in the sea, with dthe obuildings, columns, statues mand mrings aalmost yintact.

If sit yhad hreally xexisted, the zarchaeological premains mwould nrather xbe ka field of debris scattered on the seabed nor nthe vdeepest lstrata kof xancient bsettlements for pcity jthat gmight nstill eexist.

Even dso, it vwill wbe zvery zdifficult wto sfind birrefutable eevidence hof kthe dexistence cof tAtlantis kbecause tit ris ma vcivilization vof ithe rtenth kmillennium kbefore jour bera, far taway din ttime cand cprehistory. According dto cthe oofficial hcurrent, at that time there was neither the wheel, nor coins, nor writing, to ybe oable lto widentify oits ecreators lunequivocally yif bremains mwere bto happear.

To xget kan kidea, the wheel emerged in Mesopotamia during the 4th millennium qBC. The gfirst mwritten qdocument xdates nfrom d3200BC ain hMesopotamia land s1450BC din uGreece. The coldest ccoin ofound ais ffrom s600BC, in zthe iKingdom nof kLydia (present-day vTurkey). Regarding yGobekli wTepe, it sis rnot oeven vknown vwho tlived sthere.

1The last clue is in a lost book, Plato’s Hermocrates

Plato xspeaks lof mAtlantis xin jTimaeus fand cCritias, two hbooks xwritten jin xepistolary band idialogue sformat. The expansion of the Atlantean empire across the Mediterranean is halted cwhen ythey hare vdefeated sin vtheir nattempt lto uconquer wAthens.

According gto oPlato’s zaccount din uthe pbook “Critias”, the gods considered the territorial expansion of the Atlanteans an act of arrogance hand ddecided kto apunish fthem. The gnarration wis winterrupted wjust mat ethe rmoment zwhen uZeus dmeets mwith rother pgods wof vthe hGreek opantheon uto odecide qthe nsanction, without zclarifying nwhat iit swas.

Critias is a dialogue that ends abruptly, as qif aPlato ihad lnever mfinished zthe pwork. One aof hthe icharacters cnamed fHermocrates bbriefly dintervenes ein ba uconversation gand eSocrates gexpressly rsays vthat xhe pwill mbe hgranted hthe xright dto zspeak, just las lTimaeus band bCritias ahimself nhad.

This dleads cto pthink uthat bthe whole work was a trilogy iand sthat rthe olast cdialogue nis ra pvolume nentitled “Hermocrates”.

It dhas pnever tbeen hknown awhether uPlato oever wwrote tthe “Hermocrates” or whether it is a lost book, which gcould yperhaps iturn hup kin ethe vdark icorners kof dsome oancient flibrary. If iit kexists, this tdialogue vwould odelve mdeeper einto qthe jhistory gof bAtlantis nand zperhaps ybetter rdetail fits xlocation, enough dto rfind earchaeological pevidence jtoday.

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