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 still cannot be found...
Among scientists, there are two approaches to the term “Atlantis”. As mentioned above, the ancient Greek philosopher Plato was the first to call Atlantis Atlantis. But Plato’s predecessors also knew about it, although they called this country by other names. Ancient authors understood Atlantis as a certain state that was at the same stage of development as Greece, fought with it and during one of the wars died in a grandiose catastrophe.
However, in 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 disasters. The myths and legends of the peoples of various countries living on different continents speak about this. But many of them have an idea about some people who preceded modern humanity and died as a result of some powerful cataclysm.
“Plato is my friend, but truth is dearer,” the great Aristotle once said. This is how this problem was posed: where, when and how did the Atlantean state exist? Someone recognizes the existence of Atlantis without any doubt, someone rejects it without any doubt, based on the formula: “This cannot be, because this can never happen.” But most researchers consider the existence of Atlantis to be quite probable, but requiring proof. The Greek philosopher Crantor says that in 3010 B.C. I saw a column in Egypt on which was engraved the entire history of an island that had disappeared into the depths of the sea.
What did Plato know about Atlantis? In his dialogues, he reports that Atlantis disappeared within one day and one tragic night - “in one terrible day.”
When starting to describe Atlantis, Plato warns that both the name of the island itself and all other names in his story are not pseudonymous, but a translation into Greek. The Egyptians, who were the first to write the history of Atlantis, translated the Atlantean names into their own way. Solon, who informed Plato about this island, did not see the need to preserve the Egyptian names and translated them into Greek.
Russian symbolist poet V.Ya. Bryusov in his essay “Atlantis” notes that “Plato describes Atlantis already in the state that it reached after several thousand years of cultural life, when the island already had many separate kingdoms, 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 brother gods: Zeus, Hades and Poseidon. Poseidon was given the island of Atlantis by lot 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 brought into the world by the Earth, named Eunor with his wife Livkippa and the beautiful daughter Kleito.” Poseidon fell in love with Cleito, she became his wife and gave birth to five pairs of twins - the first ten kings of Atlantis.
Poseidon was the first to fortify the island 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, one after another, alternately. In the very center of the hill (acropolis), on a hill, Poseidon built a small temple for Cleito and himself, surrounding it with a wall of pure gold.
A palace was built on the acropolis, which was expanded and decorated by each king, and the new one certainly sought to surpass his predecessor. “So it was impossible to see this building without being amazed at the size and beauty of the work.”
The kings, the children of Poseidon, of course, could not do without bathing, and for this reason they built numerous baths on the acropolis. “For bathing there were reservoirs, open, and, for winter, closed; there were special ones - for the royal family and for private individuals; others - separately for women, and also for horses and pack animals; each of them was located and decorated according to "The water coming out of these reservoirs was directed to irrigate the forest of Poseidon, 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” in height. From the outside, the large temple was entirely lined with silver, except for the “ends” made of pure gold. There were many statues made of gold inside the temple. The largest of them depicted the god Poseidon, who, standing on a chariot, controlled 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 entirely lined with orichalcum. Everything literally sparkled and “lit up” as soon as a ray of sunlight penetrated into the sanctuary.
Plato also reports many wonderful things about the capital of the Atlanteans, and then moves on to describe the entire country. “The island of Atlantis was very elevated above sea level, and the shore rose up like an inaccessible cliff. All around the capital lay 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 flowering villages, separated by lakes, rivers, and meadows, where many wild domestic animals grazed.
Much came to the Atlanteans from outside, due to the extent 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... its deposits were found in many places on the island; after gold it was the most precious of metals.
The island supplied all the necessary materials for crafts. A large number of domestic animals and wild animals lived on the island, among other things, many elephants... The island provided abundant food for all kinds of animals, both those living in swamps, lakes and rivers or on the mountains and 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 produces wine (grapes), and one that serves as food (cereals), along with those that we also eat as food, generally called vegetables; there were also fruits that simultaneously provided drink, food and incense (coconuts?)… Such were the divine and amazing riches that this island produced in innumerable quantities.”
On the happy island, each of the ten brother kings had absolute power in his kingdom, but the overall rule of the state of Atlantis was carried out by the kings by the Council, to which they gathered every 5-6 years, alternating even and odd numbers. The highest power always remained with the direct heir of Atlas, but even the main king could not sentence any of his relatives to death without the consent of the majority of the kings. “As long as the Atlanteans followed the principles of virtue during their reign and while the “divine principle” dominated in them, they succeeded in everything.” But when “human morality” triumphed - the base principle, when they lost all decency and unbridled greed began to boil in them, when people began to present themselves as a “shameful spectacle”, then the God of Gods - Zeus, seeing the depravity of the Atlanteans, once so virtuous, decided to punish them. “He gathered all the gods in the heavenly sanctuary and addressed them with these words...”
At this point, Plato's dialogue "Critias" suddenly ends. And the story of Atlantis and its two thousand year long search begins. The priests mourned the spiritual wisdom of Atlantis, which had defiled itself. Philosophers talked about the divine rulers of this island, poets sang of the fabulous perfection of its structure. However, some researchers believe that Plato needed dialogues about Atlantis to express his thoughts about the ideal structure of the state.
But the story about Atlantis, as Valery Bryusov notes, “is not something exceptional in the works of Plato. He also has other descriptions of fantastic countries, presented 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 accuracy that 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 his entire life to research, indications of which he would find in this envelope. Pavel Schliemann made such an oath and opened the envelope and read the letter that was there. In the letter, Heinrich Schliemann reported that he undertook research on the remains of Atlantis, the existence of which he has no 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 unique bronze vessel large in size, inside which were smaller clay vessels, small figurines of a special metal, money of 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 many researchers, Russian and foreign, are distrustful of this story.
The search for Atlantis has been and is ongoing everywhere - all over the globe. The Soviet hydrogeographer Ya.Ya. Gakkel presented his “Atlantis” in the form of 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 connections between the history of mankind and the history of the oceans. He wrote many books about Plato’s legendary Atlantis and about numerous “Atlantis” - the so-called hypothetical lands that have now sunk under water.
Foreign researchers Renata and Yaroslav Malina, in their works about natural disasters and aliens from outer space, write that Atlantean navigators 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 sounds on video tapes, used a crystal laser, invented terrible weapons using cosmic rays, and also used the energy of antimatter... However, the use of the dark forces of nature for personal gain by ambitious priests and the increasing frequency of earthquakes led to the disintegration of the continent into many islands, which subsequently also disappeared into the sea "And ten thousand years BC, an underground explosion destroyed the island of Poseidonis. But the radiation emitted by a large crystal lying at the site of the death of Atlantis leads to the sudden disappearance of ships and planes in the famous Bermuda Triangle."
As can be seen from the above, the geography of the search for Atlantis is very wide and varied.
Atlantis has not disappeared, it exists and lies in the depths of the sea. Much has been said about Atlantis, thousands of research materials have been written. Historians, archaeologists, and searchers have proposed fifty versions of possible locations around the world (in Scandinavia, the Baltic Sea, Greenland, North and South America, Africa, the Black, Aegean, Caspian Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, etc. ), but the exact location is not named. – Why is there such confusion?
As you begin to look into it, you discover one regularity: all sentences are initially linked to some similarity, an ancient find, a single description to which the materials were subsequently “adjusted.” As a result, nothing worked. There is a similarity, but Atlantis cannot be found.
“We will go the other way”!
Let's look for Atlantis in a different way, which in this case (judging by the known proposals) has not been used by anyone before. – First, let’s take the exclusion method, where Atlantis could not exist. As we narrow the circle, we will use all the “reference points” that were proposed by the ancient Greek scientist, sage (428-347 BC) Plato (Aristocles) in his works – “Timaeus” and “Critius”. These documents provide the only and fairly detailed description of Atlantis, its inhabitants and historical events related to the life of the legendary island.
“Aristotle taught me to satisfy my mind only with what reasoning convinces me of, and not just with the authority of teachers. Such is the power of truth: you try to refute it, but your very attacks elevate it and give it greater value.” (XVI century, Italian philosopher, physicist, mathematician Galileo Galilei).
So, let's start cutting off the ends. – Atlantis could not be located in any distant corner of the world, not even in the Atlantic Ocean. The war (according to the history of the narrative) between Athens and Atlantis could not have happened anywhere except in the Mediterranean Sea in this “patch of civilization” due to the limitations of human development. The world is big, but the developed world is narrow. Athens simply would not have been able to reach the borders of Atlantis with its army and navy. Water and vast distances were an insurmountable obstacle. “This barrier was insurmountable for people, because ships and shipping did not yet exist.” (Plato, Critias).
In ancient Greek mythology, which arose many thousands of years after the death of Atlantis, the only (!) hero Hercules (according to Homer - 12th century BC) accomplished a feat by traveling to the farthest western point of the world - to the edge of the Mediterranean Sea. “When the Atlas Mountains appeared on Hercules’ way, he did not climb them, but cut his way through, thus creating the Strait of Gibraltar and connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic. This point served as the border for sailors in the ancient era, therefore, in a figurative sense, “Pillars of Hercules” is the end of the world, the limit of the world, and the expression “to reach the pillars of Hercules” means “to reach the limit.” What western limit Hercules reached (“the edge of the world”) was unattainable for other mortals.
Thus, Atlantis was closer to the center of ancient civilization - it was in the Mediterranean Sea. But where exactly?
There were seven pairs of the Pillars of Hercules (according to Plato’s narrative, behind which lay the island of Atlantis) in the Mediterranean Sea! (Gibraltar, Dardanelles, Bosphorus, Kerch Strait, Mouth of the Nile, etc.). The pillars were located at the entrances to the straits and had the same names - Hercules (later the Latin name - Hercules). The pillars served as landmarks and beacons for ancient sailors.
“First of all, let us briefly recall that, according to legend, nine thousand years ago there was a war between those peoples who lived on the other side of the Pillars of Hercules and all those who lived on this side: we have to tell about this war... How we have already mentioned, this was once an island larger than Libya and Asia (not their entire geographical territory, but rather areas inhabited in ancient times), but now it has collapsed due to earthquakes and turned into impassable silt, blocking the way for sailors who would try to sail from us into the open sea, and making sailing unthinkable.” (Plato, Critias).
This information about Atlantis, dating back to the 6th century BC. came from the Egyptian priest Timeus from the city of Sais (on the coast of Africa, western Nile Delta, the current name of the village of Sa el-Hagar). When Timaeus said that the barrier from the remains of the sunken Atlantis blocked the way - “from us to the open sea,” this clearly indicated that Atlantis was on its way from the Egyptian mouth of the Nile to the wide waters of the Mediterranean Sea. In ancient times, the entrance to the main (western) mouth of the Nile, nicknamed the mouth of Hercules, that is, Hercules, where the city of Hercules and the temple in honor of Hercules were located, was also called the Pillars of Hercules.
Over time, the silt and floating material from the sunken Atlantis were carried across the sea, and the island itself sank even deeper into the abyss. “Since many great floods occurred in nine thousand years (and that is exactly how many years have passed from those times to this day), the earth did not accumulate in the form of any significant shallows, as in other places, but was washed away by the waves and then disappeared into the abyss. (Plato, Critias).
We exclude further impossible locations.
Atlantis could not have been located in the Mediterranean Sea north of the island of Crete. Today in that area there are countless small islands scattered throughout the waters, which does not correspond to the story of the flooding (!) and by this very fact excludes this entire territory. Moreover, there would not be enough space to place Atlantis (according to the description of its size) in the sea north of Crete.
The expedition of the famous explorer of the deep sea, French scientist-oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau, to the area north of Crete on the periphery of the islands of Thira (Strongele), Fera discovered the remains of an ancient sunken city, but from the above it follows that it most likely belongs to another civilization than Atlantis.
In the archipelago of islands of the Aegean Sea, earthquakes and disasters associated with volcanic activity are known, leading to local subsidence of the earth, and according to new evidence they occur in our time (for example, a sunken medieval fortress in the Aegean Sea near the city of Marmaris in a bay on the coast of Turkey).
Narrowing the search, we come to the conclusion that Atlantis could only be in one place opposite the mouth of the Nile - south and east of the island of Crete. She lies there today at a depth, having fallen into a deep basin of the sea. The collapse of an almost oval water area with influxes from the shores, horizontal wrinkling (from sliding) of sedimentary rocks towards the center of the “funnel” is clearly visible from an online review of the seabed from space. The bottom of the sea in this place resembles a pit, sprinkled with soft sedimentary rock on top; there is no hard “crust-mantle” below. A hole not overgrown with “bone” inside is on the body of the Earth, “point your finger and you will fall through.”
The Egyptian priest Timaeus, in his story about the location of the silt from the flooded Atlantis, gives a link to the Pillars of Hercules (closest to it at the mouth of the Western Nile). In another case (later), when Plato describes the power of Atlantis, we are talking about other pillars (as mentioned above, there were seven of them in the Mediterranean). Later, when Plato set out the text of his retelling work, Timaeus had been gone for 200 years by that time, and there was no one to clarify the information about which pillars were being discussed. From this arose all the subsequent confusion with the location of Atlantis.
“After all, according to the evidence of our records, your state (Athens) put a limit on the insolence of countless military forces that set off to conquer all of Europe and Asia, and kept their path from the Atlantic Sea. [...] On this island, called Atlantis, arose a kingdom of amazing size and power, whose power extended over the entire island, many other islands and part of the mainland, and moreover, on this side of the strait they took possession of Libya right up to to Egypt and Europe up to Tirrenia (west coast of Italy). (Plato, Timaeus).
The sea that washed the island of Atlantis (between Crete and Egypt) was called in ancient times the Atlantic; it was located in the Mediterranean Sea, as well as the modern seas of the Aegean, Tyrrhenian, Adriatic, and Ionian. Subsequently, due to an error in linking Atlantis not to the Nile, but to the Gibraltar pillars, the name “Atlantic” spread to the ocean across the strait. The once inland Atlantic Sea, due to inaccurate interpretation and description (by Plato, Critias or Solon), became the Atlantic Ocean. As the Russian proverb says: - “We got lost in three pines” (in seven pairs of pillars). When Atlantis sank into the abyss of the sea, the Atlantic Sea disappeared along with it.
Timaeus, narrating the history of Atlantis, noted that the victory of Athens brought freedom from slavery to all other peoples (including the Egyptians) who had not yet been enslaved by the Atlanteans - “on this side of the Pillars of Hercules” (talking about themselves - about Egypt).
“It was then, Solon, that your state showed the whole world a brilliant proof of its valor and strength: surpassing everyone in strength of spirit and experience in military affairs, it first stood at the head of the Hellenes, but because of its allies it found itself left to its own devices, and faced the extreme dangers and yet defeated the conquerors and erected victorious trophies. It saved those who were not yet enslaved from the threat of slavery; but all the rest, no matter how many of us lived on this side of the Pillars of Hercules, it generously made free. But later, when the time came for unprecedented earthquakes and floods, in one terrible day all your military strength was swallowed up by the opening of the earth; likewise, Atlantis disappeared, plunging into the abyss. After this, the sea in those places became, to this day, unnavigable and inaccessible due to shallowing caused by the huge amount of silt that the settled island left behind.” (Plato, Timaeus).
The location of Atlantis can be further clarified from the description of the island itself.
“Poseidon, having received the island of Atlantis as his inheritance..., approximately in this place: from the sea to the middle of the island a plain stretched, according to legend, more beautiful than all other plains and very fertile.” (Plato, Timaeus).
“Firstly, it was said that this entire region lay very high and dropped steeply to the sea, but the entire plain surrounding the city (capital) and itself surrounded by mountains that stretched all the way to the sea, was a flat surface, three thousand in length stades (580 km), and in the direction from the sea to the middle - two thousand (390 km). This entire part of the island was facing the south wind, and was closed from the north by mountains. These mountains are praised by legend because they were superior in number, size and beauty to all those present today. The plain... was an oblong quadrangle, mostly rectilinear.” (Plato, Critias).
So, following the description, a rectangular plain of 580 by 390 kilometers stretched approximately to the middle of the island, open to the south and closed to the north by large and high mountains. Fitting these dimensions into a geographical map of the “Atlantic” Sea north of the mouth of the Nile, we obtain that the southern part of Atlantis could be adjacent to Africa (in the area of the current Libyan cities of Tobruk, Derna, Egyptian cities on the coast west of Alexandria), and its northern mountainous part could be ( but not a fact) - the island of Crete.
The story about the fauna of the island speaks in favor of the fact that Atlantis was connected to Africa in earlier times (than its mention in the ancient Egyptian papyri), namely tens of thousands of years ago.
“There were even a great many elephants on the island, for there was enough food not only for all other living creatures inhabiting swamps, lakes and rivers, mountains or plains, but also for this beast, the largest and most voracious of all animals.” (Plato, Critias).
It should also be taken into account that with the end of the Ice Age and the beginning of the melting of the northern glaciers, the level of the world's oceans rose by 50-70 meters and the part of the land that once connected Atlantis and Africa was gradually flooded. Elephants and, by the way, people - the inhabitants of the island (named after their king Atlanta - Atlanteans) who came here earlier from the depths of Africa remained surrounded by the sea. The Atlanteans were ordinary modern people, and not four-meter giants, otherwise Athens would not have been able to defeat them. The island, isolated position of the inhabitants prompted civilization to develop separately (without wars and external enemies), active, and ahead of external warring barbarians (fortunately, everything necessary was on the island).
On Atlantis (in its capital, which looked like a hill of an extinct volcano) there were hot springs of mineral water, this indicates the high seismic activity of the territory and the “thin” mantle of the earth’s crust... “a spring of cold and a spring of hot water, which provided water in abundance, and, moreover, amazing both in taste and in healing power.” (Plato, Critias).
I will not speculate now what caused the “internal hiccups of the Earth”, as a result of which Atlantis sank into the basin of the Mediterranean Sea within a day, and later even deeper. Exactly in that place, along the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, the border between the African and European continental tectonic plates passes. The depth of the sea there is very large - about 3000-4000 meters. It is possible that a powerful impact of a giant meteorite in North America in Mexico, which, according to the US National Academy of Sciences, occurred 13 thousand years ago (around that time) caused inertial movement of plates in the Mediterranean.
Just as continents, creeping on each other, breaking their edges, rear up mountains - the same process, but in the opposite direction, when diverging, forms depressions. The African plate moved slightly away from Europe, and this was quite enough to lower Atlantis into the abyss of the sea. The fact that Africa, earlier in the history of the Earth, was moving away from Europe and Asia is clearly evidenced by the visible huge intercontinental rift from the Mediterranean Sea in two directions - the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, the Dead Sea, the Gulf of Aqaba, the Aden, Oman and Persian Gulfs.
It is possible (but not a fact) that the current island of Crete, the former northern highest mountainous part of Atlantis, did not fall into the abyss of the sea, but, having broken away, remained on the “European continental cornice”. On the other hand, if you look at Crete on a geographical map, it does not stand on the very cliff of the mantle of the European continent, but about 100 kilometers from the basin of the Mediterranean (Atlantic) Sea. This means that there was no catastrophic landslide fault of Atlantis along the current coastline of the island of Crete; it only, as an independent unit, was part of the archipelago of the island of Atlantis.
Historians and archaeologists write: “Excavations on Crete show that even four to five thousand years after the supposed death of Atlantis, the inhabitants of this Mediterranean island sought to settle further from the coast. (Memory of Ancestors). An unknown fear drove them to the mountains. The first centers of agriculture and culture are also located at some distance from the sea."
The former proximity of Atlantis to Africa and the mouth of the Nile is indirectly evidenced by the extensive Qattara depression (minus 133 meters below sea level), in the Libyan Desert in Egypt, 50 km away. from the Mediterranean coast, also a lowland west of Alexandria. In addition, along the tectonic fault line is the Dead Sea lowland (minus 395 meters) in Israel. They all talk about a territorial catastrophe that once occurred nearby due to land subsidence.
What does it mean to establish the exact location of Atlantis?
Perhaps not much. The Mediterranean trench is too deep. At first, the silt, earth, and subsequent sedimentary deposits and landslide rocks that rose and then settled to the bottom densely covered Atlantis. The golden capital, with its countless treasures in the temple of Poseidon, was located closest to Africa and ended up at the very depths (in the center of the depression). Perhaps searches in the southern part of the coast of Crete will bring something, but this is unlikely, since the South Cretan European continental “ledge-cornice” over the millennia was literally “licked by the sea to bare stone,” and everything that was from the Atlanteans - long ago washed away into the basin. Who will dig in the depths of the sea, who will look for the fallen “necklace in the crater of a volcano”? “That’s why nothing from Atlantis has been found so far.”
But the only thing that is inspiring is that the confusion with the “Pillars of Hercules” has been successfully resolved, and the location of Atlantis has finally been established.
The search for the remains of previous civilizations on Earth has always been considered one of the most intriguing mysteries of modern humanity. The most extensive research on this issue was carried out in search of the remains of the legendary Atlantis, but in vain. The question arises: did the island state really exist?
Who did Plato write about?
In the modern world, there is no historical mystery to which as many scientific studies, books, documentaries and feature films have been devoted as the search for the mythical Atlantis. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato, a student of Socrates himself, was the first to tell humanity about its existence. Considering his influence and popularity in ancient Greece, there is no doubt about the words of the famous philosopher. According to Plato, the island state existed more than 12,000 years ago and sank during a natural disaster. If the remains of Atlantis are discovered, humanity will reliably learn about how the antediluvian civilizations of the planet lived, what knowledge and technologies they possessed. The most interesting thing is that nowadays there is no question whether Atlantis really existed. It is only necessary to determine which of the cities found at the bottom of the world's oceans is the historical Atlantis.
City of Poseidon
The signs by which researchers recognize Atlantis can be understood by reading the legend about its mythical creator Poseidon. According to legend, having fallen in love with an ordinary earthly woman named Kleito, the god of the seas Poseidon decided to build a beautiful city for her on a sea island. After a long search, the god of the seas chose an island called Atlantis, inhabited by beautiful, tall people. It was on their land that Poseidon erected a majestic city, consisting of alternating five rings of water and land, connected by wide canals. The entrance to them from the sea was guarded by two watchtowers and a wall built of red, white and black stones. In the center of the city on the “Hill of Kleito” Poseidon created a magnificent palace in which he indulged in pleasures with his beloved. Subsequently, the children of the god of the seas, born from Kleito, built a temple in honor of their father, decorated with his giant statue made of pure gold. On it, Poseidon drives a chariot drawn by winged horses. It is assumed that it is the megalithic buildings and the statue of Poseidon that researchers will have to determine the location of the legendary Atlantis.
Was Atlantis found in Cuba?
In order to determine for certain where on Earth the famous island state was located, it is necessary to discard all dubious versions that placed Atlantis: on the Black Sea coast, in the center of the Mediterranean Sea, in the Pacific Ocean and even in Antarctica. It is unlikely that ancient Greek scientists were so uneducated as to confuse seas and oceans when describing the place where the island state was located. And it’s absolutely certain that the eminent philosophers of ancient Greece would not have created Atlantis, as some researchers say. The most amazing thing is that five years ago the supposed remains of Atlantis were found, and exactly where Plato located it - in the Atlantic Ocean in the center of the Bermuda Triangle.
Were the Atlanteans built the pyramids?
Humanity owes the discovery of the remains of Atlantis in 2012 to two researchers Paul Weinzweig and Paulina Zalitsky. After serious theoretical calculations, scientists decided to test their conclusions in practice. Using deep-sea vehicles operating autonomously, they explored in detail a section of the Atlantic Ocean near the coast of Cuba. The results of the devices exceeded all their wildest expectations. Underwater photographs appeared in which researchers were surprised to discover giant pyramids, several sphinxes, as well as many other megalithic buildings and structures. The ruins of the ancient city were located at a depth of about 180 meters. The distance is not critical for modern automatic bathyscaphes. The use of special equipment will allow us to examine in sufficient detail the flooded buildings, which are likely to hide many amazing artifacts.
What destroyed the ancient city?
According to scientists, Atlantis was flooded during the end of the Ice Age, when powerful streams of water poured from the poles towards the Equator. Atlantis was not the only one affected. In those years, many large centers of human civilization instantly disappeared under water. Unfortunately, the outstanding scientific technologies of the Atlanteans could not protect their island state from the rampant elements. However, modern human civilization, with the existing level of scientific and technological progress, would also not be able to do this. Numerous storms and hurricanes that periodically hit the United States and Central American countries eloquently prove this. The catastrophe that sent Atlantis to the bottom of the ocean occurred approximately 12,900 years ago. However, the island nation was not completely underwater. Modern atlantologists, based on the discovery of Paul Weinzweig and Paulina Zalitsky, believe that Cuba is a surviving part of Atlantis.
What did Atlanteans look like?
Despite the irrefutability of underwater finds, supporters of the location of Atlantis in other parts of the world rightly demand additional evidence. The desire is quite logical and the necessary facts were provided to them. Firstly, as we know, humanity learned about the existence of an ancient state from Plato’s works Timaeus and Critias. Having compared the description of the island city given in literary monuments and the location of underwater ruins off the coast of Cuba, scientists discovered that they are completely identical. But this cannot be said about any other supposed location of Atlantis. Secondly, the Olmec civilization, which in ancient times inhabited the territory of Central America, according to the legends of this people, originates from an island with the telling name Atlanticu. Comments, as they say, are unnecessary. Thirdly, the US Institute of Anthropology, which studied the Olmec civilization in detail, noted: the writings and patterns of this people completely coincide with what researchers discovered at the bottom of the ocean. Olmec mythological texts also point to their origins from a continent that sank as a result of a natural disaster caused by an earthquake and a sharp rise in water. Today there is no doubt that the underwater city off the coast of Cuba is the legendary Atlantis, which actually existed. Today, exploration of the sunken city continues. Let's hope that humanity will soon receive a lot of additional evidence of the real existence of Atlantis.
Atlantis (Greek: Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, Atlantis Island) is a mythical island state first mentioned and described by the classical Greek philosopher Plato in the dialogues Timaeus and Critias. What Atlantis is and where it is located has been debated since the first mention of it. The concept represents a variety of ideas: to some, she is an archaeological object 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 its apogee. Whether Atlantis really existed or was just Plato's invention will probably never be known. Nevertheless, the idea of its existence continues to inspire and intrigue many, echoing the desire to achieve or return to an era of prosperity.
Origin of the myth
Plato's description of Atlantis, considered to be the first, is found in the dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written in 360 BC. e. In the Socratic style of dialogue, the author tells his story through the conversation of politicians Critias and Hermocrates, as well as philosophers Socrates and Timaeus. Critias speaks about the island state, first in the Timaeus, briefly describing the huge empire “beyond the Pillars of Hercules”, defeated by the Athenians after it tried to conquer Europe and then Critias moves on to a detailed description of the powerful civilization. The politician claims that his stories about 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 the ancient states recorded on papyri into Greek.
The Narrative of the Egyptian Priests
The story told by the priests was unknown to Solon. According to records, the Athenians waged war against the rulers of Atlantis about nine thousand years ago and won it.
The ancient and powerful kings of the mythical island formed a confederation through which they ruled it and other islands. Having started the war, the rulers sent troops to Europe and Asia. To counter this attack, the Athenians formed a Panhellenic League. At the first difficulties it fell apart, and the Athenians fought the war alone. The invasion was stopped, and then Egypt and other countries conquered by the rulers of Atlantis were liberated.
Soon after the victory, even before the Athenians returned home, the island nation suffered catastrophic earthquakes and floods until it disappeared under water. According to legend, all the brave men were consumed in one day and night of horror. This is why the Egyptians never thanked the Athenians.
In addition, Plato describes the history of Atlantis, which shows how the rulers reached the point where they wanted to conquer the whole world. The story was written down by Solon and passed down in his family from generation to generation.
Divine redistribution
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 ruled their own part. The god Poseidon inherited Atlantis. Where it was located was not specified, but it was an island whose size was larger than Libya and Asia combined. He chose the mortal woman Cleito as his wife and with her founded a dynasty of rulers of the state.
Poseidon and Cleito
Poseidon built a house on a high hill in the very center of the island. The structure rose above a fertile plain bordered by the sea. To protect his beloved wife, Poseidon, with ease and divine skill, surrounded her house with five concentric rings of water and soil. Hot and cold springs came out of the ground. With the development of the city, its residents never experienced a shortage of water.
Cleito bore Poseidon ten sons, five pairs of twins. Atlas, the first son of the first couple, became the ruler of his father's vast land. His brothers were appointed archons, each of whom ruled over most of this territory. The most valuable part of the kingdom was the mother's house on the top of the mountain and the land around it. Atlas had many sons, and the throne passed to the eldest of them.
Peaceful Prosperity
For many generations, Atlantis remained peaceful and prosperous. Almost all the needs of the population were provided by the mines, fields and forests of the island. Everything that was not produced was imported. This became possible because a canal was built that passed 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 Cleito. Each subsequent ruler tried to surpass 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 abide by. The ruling body had to meet regularly. It consisted of ten representatives of the first rulers - Atlas 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 laws on the orichalcum 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 served wine in golden goblets, poured a libation over a fire, and swore an oath to pass judgment in accordance with the prescribed laws. Everyone drank wine and dedicated their cup to the temple. This was followed by lunch, for which the participants dressed in magnificent blue robes. In them they resolved issues concerning the kingdom in accordance with the laws of Poseidon.
Court of the Gods
As long as the rulers judged and lived according to the laws of Poseidon, the state flourished. When the laws began to be forgotten, trouble arose. The rulers began to marry mortals and behave like foolish people. They were overcome by pride and began to fight for more power. Then Zeus saw what happened: the rulers abandoned the laws of the gods and began to act in concert with 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?
Whether this was done intentionally or not, no one knows. Just as no one knows whether Plato believed in the real existence of the island, or whether it was pure fiction. Many are convinced that the author, who used many details in his description, believed in him. Others reject this, arguing that it is precisely because the story is pure invention of Plato that he was able to come up with as many details as he wanted. Its dating is also questionable. According to Solon, the island existed 9,000 years ago. This corresponds to the Early Stone Age. During 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 Solon's misinterpretation of the Egyptian symbol for 100 as 1000. If this is true, then Atlantis existed 900 years before the time of the story. This corresponds to the middle of the Bronze Age, when the tools and equipment necessary to achieve the described level of development had already appeared.
Many ancient philosophers viewed Atlantis as a fiction, including (according to Strabo) Aristotle. Nevertheless, there were philosophers, geographers, and historians who accepted Plato’s story at face value. One of them was Crantor, a student of Plato's student Xenocrates, who was trying to find evidence of the existence of Atlantis. His work, a commentary on the Timaeus, is lost, but another ancient historian, Proclus, reports that Crantor traveled to Egypt and actually found columns with a history of the island written in Egyptian hieroglyphs. As in all works of antiquity, it is difficult to evaluate ambiguous proclamations here, since no other evidence other than written evidence has survived.
Second Troy?
Until the end of the nineteenth century, the debate about the location of Atlantis was not as heated as after the discovery of the lost city of Troy in 1872 by Heinrich Schliemann. He did this with the help of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, so it became clear that the classical sources, previously considered myths, actually contain some lost truths. Scientist Ignatius Donnelly published the book Atlantis: The Antediluvian World in 1882, which stimulated interest in the legendary island. The author took Plato's mention seriously and tried to establish that all known ancient civilizations descended from the high Neolithic culture. Others have proposed 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 Theosophy movement, the occult and the growing New Age phenomenon.
Plato's parable
Most scholars have dismissed the belief in Atlantis as a "new age" religion, considering the most plausible explanation that the island was a Platonic parable, or based on another known civilization, the Minoans. The fact that the Greek philosopher often told moral tales under the guise of fiction is cited in support of this view. "The 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 was sending a warning to his fellow tribesmen about the dangers of imperial expansion, political ambition, praising nobility and the circulation of knowledge not for personal gain.
The truth about the Greek philosopher's intentions will remain known only to himself, but no one can doubt the symbolic longevity of his story. If Atlantis may not be a physical place, then it has certainly found a place in the human imagination.
Location hypotheses
There were dozens, perhaps hundreds, of suggestions about where Atlantis was located, until the name became a common noun, not referring to one specific (perhaps even genuine) location. This is reflected in the fact that many proposed sites are not located in the Atlantic Ocean at all. Most of the proposed sites share some of the features of the mythical island's history (water, catastrophic end, appropriate time period), but have never been conclusively proven to be the true Atlantis. Where is the most likely location of its location (for obvious reasons, we cannot provide a photo of it), you can find out from the given list of popular options. Some of them are scientific or archaeological hypotheses, while others were created through pseudoscientific means.
Mediterranean Atlantis
A lot of people have wondered where the legendary island is located. Most of the proposed locations were located either near the Mediterranean Sea or islands such as Sardinia, Crete, Santorini, Cyprus or Malta.
A volcanic eruption on Thera, dating back to the seventeenth or fifteenth century BC, caused a massive tsunami that experts hypothesize destroyed the Minoan civilization on the nearby island of Crete. This disaster may have inspired the myth of Atlantis. Proponents of the idea point to the fact that the Egyptians used a lunar calendar based on months, while the Greeks used a solar calendar based on years. It is therefore possible that the time interpreted as nine thousand years actually corresponds to 9000 months, placing the destruction of Atlantis within approximately 7 hundred years.
Santorini
Volcanic eruptions on the Mediterranean island of Santorini during the Minoan civilization most likely caused the cataclysm that destroyed Atlantis. The main criticism of this hypothesis is that the ancient Greeks were well aware of volcanoes, and if there had been an eruption there, it would have been likely that there would have been a mention of it. In addition, Pharaoh Amenhotep III ordered his emissary to visit the cities surrounding Crete, and he found them inhabited where everything was supposedly completely destroyed.
Spartel
Another hypothesis is based on recreating the geography of the Mediterranean Sea at a time when Atlantis still existed. Where she was, Plato indicates - outside the Pillars of Hercules. This is the name of the Strait of Gibraltar, connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean. Eleven thousand years ago the sea level was 130 m lower, and there were a number of islands in the strait. One of them, Spartel, is Atlantis, where she sank, although there are a number of inconsistencies with Plato's version.
Sardinia
In 2002, the Italian journalist Sergio Frau published the book “The Pillars of Hercules” in which he stated that before Eratosthenes, all ancient Greek writers located them in the Sicilian Strait, and the campaign of Alexander the Great to the east obliged Eratosthenes in his description of the world to move the pillars to Gibraltar. According to his thesis, Atlantis was there, where Sardinia is today. Indeed, the tsunami caused catastrophic destruction on the island, destroying the mysterious Nuraghi civilization. Several survivors moved to the nearby Italian peninsula, founding the Etruscan culture that became the basis for the later Roman one, while other survivors were part of the "Sea Peoples" who attacked Egypt.
Beyond the Mediterranean
Outside the Mediterranean, Antarctica has been deployed in every corner of the world, from Ireland and Sweden to Indonesia and Japan. Many of these theories are based on inconclusive evidence. Two of the most discussed areas are Antarctica.
Bimini Road - Sunken Atlantis?
Everyone seems to know where the Bermuda Triangle is located. Often associated with mysterious events, the Caribbean has drawn attention to an underwater structure called the Bimini Road, discovered by pilots in the 1960s. The Bimini Causeway consists of large rocks arranged in two parallel rows in shallow waters for several kilometers from the Bimini Islands. Many expeditions were sent there to try to prove or disprove the man-made origin of these formations and somehow connect them with Atlantis. Most scientists, particularly geologists, found the evidence inconclusive or concluded that it was a natural phenomenon. Others, however, strongly argue that the rock is too symmetrical and deliberate to be a simple creation of nature. In any case, no other remains were found that would confirm that the road leads to the sunken island.
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 novella The Ridges of Madness, as well as the Piri Reis map, which supposedly shows Antarctica as it would have been without ice, as far as the knowledge of that period allowed. Charles Berlitz, Erich von Daniken, and Peter Colosimo were among the popular authors who made this assumption. However, the theory of continental drift contradicts this idea because during Plato's lifetime Antarctica was in its current location and retained its inhospitable climate. However, the romance of unexplored regions gives rise to many Atlantis-like ideas to this day.
Pop culture
The exploration and discovery of long-lost cities and civilizations is a topic that is not bound by space or time in the popular imagination. Atlantis became that mythical island, the name of which turned out to be symbolic for all the other lost cities. Mentions of it are present in all literary genres, from works of the Renaissance to modern science fiction, fantasy, archaeological and scientific works, and New Age books. Television and film have also capitalized on Atlantis's charm. The myth was so enticing that one of the largest hotels in the Bahamas, Atlantis Paradise Island Resort, became a Lost City themed resort.
There are those in the New Age movement who believe that Atlantis, which had a technologically highly advanced civilization, self-destructed due to rapid progress, or that it used extraterrestrial technology. Similar ideas have been attributed to other ancient cultures, as many New Age believers seek to combine various mysterious phenomena into one idea. Ultimately, the ongoing discussions of what Atlantis is, where this sunken island is located, is a testament to humanity's endless curiosity and 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.
Atlantis has been described by many researchers as the most advanced of human civilizations. Some believe that the city was destroyed by one of the greatest natural disasters known to man, while others believe that it was nothing more than a figment of Plato's imagination. This article contains some "facts", concept images and videos. Let's dream a little together, immersing ourselves in the story of Atlantis.
The legend of Atlantis begins with two dialogues: Timaeus and Critias, written by the classical Greek philosopher, Plato. He describes the Atlanteans as noble and strong people who lived on an island located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Greek myths tell us that Poseidon created a home for the mortal woman Cleito, with whom he fell in love. To protect her, he surrounded the island with rings of water and earth.
Cleito soon gave birth to 5 pairs of twin boys, who became the rulers of the country. Atlas became the first king. Atlantis was a thriving center of trade due to its location and natural resources. 
Unfortunately, as happened with all lost civilizations, greed and power began to corrupt the inhabitants of Atlantis. Zeus was outraged by the immorality of people and had to decide the fate of Atlantis by gathering other gods and determining punishment. At the peak of its greatness, Atlantis was swallowed up by sea waves after a terrible earthquake. 
It is believed that the center of Atlantis was connected to the sea by an extremely large and deep channel - almost 9 km long, 100 m wide and 30 m deep. It was even deeper than the Panama Canal, which reaches 18 meters at its deepest location. 
At the very top of the central mountain a temple was built in honor of Poseidon. Inside was a statue of Poseidon on a chariot with winged horses (Pegasi). The statue was usually surrounded by the senior rulers of Atlantis, who discussed laws here, made decisions and paid tribute to Poseidon. 
The main city of Atlantis was located outside the 1st ring of water and covered 17 km of land. It was very densely populated, with most of the inhabitants living here. Outside the city were fertile fields and farms 530 km long and 190 km wide, surrounded by another canal used to collect water from rivers and mountain streams. Every year, the climate of Atlantis allowed for 2 harvests. One in winter, which was fed by rainfall, and one in summer, which was fed by irrigation from canals. 
High mountains surrounded the plain in the north of the 3rd circle. Small villages, lakes, rivers and meadows covered much of this area. In addition to lush vegetation, the island was very rich in various metals (gold, copper, bronze, silver) and several types of stone. It is also believed that elephants lived here. 
Due to the size of its army and navy, which consisted of approximately 1,200 ships, Atlantis was able to rule lands far beyond its borders, including Egypt. 
Today there are a few places in the world where you can experience a little of the atmosphere of Atlantis: The Palm of Dubai and Atlantic Paradise (Bahamas). Below are some photos of these places: 
It's always interesting to see how other people feel and imagine Atlantis. Below are some artistic works by artists from different parts of the world. Enjoy! Humanity can only hope that Atlantis will soon become one of the new