Plato’s work is the source of our knowledge of the world’s most renowned lost continent.
While scholars write lengthy theses about the age and location of Atlantis, no one is certain that Plato did not invent the Atlantean people as an allegory for what happens when a civilization overreaches itself. Despite this, the search for Atlantis continues unabated.
Plato lived in Greece between 428 and 348 BC, and his dialogues ‘Timaeus’ and ‘Critias’ presented the account of Atlantis. Although many of Plato’s stories were made up to make a point, the history of Atlantis was constantly stated as fact.
The dialogues tell the account of Solon, a Greek scholar who went to Egypt to study more about the ancient world approximately 600 BC. The Egyptians were famed for having centuries of knowledge and records, and when Solon sought to impress his hosts with tales of Greece’s accomplishments, the wise old Egyptian priests put him in his place.
They told him a narrative about a continent and a people he had never heard of. A great race resided on an island in the west, beyond the ‘Pillars of Hercules,’ which are now thought to represent the landmasses along the shores of the Straits of Gibraltar, around 10,000 BC.
Poseidon, the Sea God, ruled over the island. It had a massive center mountain with a deity temple and verdant outlying districts, as well as an extensive canal system to irrigate its prosperous crops and a bustling central city.
The island was abundant in veggies and home to a wide variety of unusual creatures. Originally, the Atlanteans were a powerful yet fair people. They were technologically advanced people with a thriving commercial sector, a powerful and noble army, and a society that was well educated and cultured.
Their power was widespread, and they ruled over vast swaths of Africa, Asia, and the Mediterranean. Despite the fact that the island provided all they needed, their desire for power and empire caused them to overextend themselves. After an unsuccessful attempt to take Athens, the Atlanteans returned home to confront a catastrophic tragedy.
Legend has it that when the great god Zeus noticed the island’s people’s corruption, he rained down an enormous onslaught of earthquakes, fire, and water.
Atlantis vanished beneath the waters. While Plato’s account was well-known, a former US congressman, Ignatius Donnelly, published Atlantis: The Antediluvian World in 1882, reignited modern interest in Atlantis. Donnelly’s book was a mix of speculation, misinformation, and historical fact.
However, he had some intriguing theories, noting similarities in the science and culture of local races that had never met.
Similarly, the great ancient flood, which is claimed to have wiped out Atlantis, is documented in ancient writings and traditions from all around the planet. It’s unclear who the Atlanteans were.
Some claim they were extraterrestrials, while others claim they were Lemurians who later migrated west and became Native American tribes. Similarly, the precise location of Atlantis is a contentious issue.
Many scholars believe the island was once part of the Mediterranean, and a steady stream of archaeological digs in the vicinity have attempted to confirm this.
Atlantis could be Sardinia in the Mediterranean or Thera in the Aegean Sea, according to certain ideas. The Nuraghi people of Sardinia and the Minoan culture of Thera both possessed highly developed civilizations.
Both have been devastated by natural disasters. However, neither of these islands is west of the Gibraltar Straits, therefore accepting them casts doubt on Plato’s geography. Furthermore, the advanced species on these islands vanished some 900 years before Plato – he said that Atlantis perished 9,000 years before him.
According to other experts, Atlantis was located in the middle of the Atlantic, and all that remains of the island are its mountains, which can be seen above the waters. Many people now assume they are the Azore Islands.
There’s also evidence that a massive comet or asteroid slammed into the southwest Atlantic Ocean thousands of years ago, with two 23,000-foot-deep holes discovered near Puerto Rico on the seabed.
Experts believe the falling rock would have triggered tremendous natural motions, capable of destroying any mid-Atlantic islands.
