Atlantis is a legendary “lost” subcontinental island, often idealized as an advanced utopian society where wisdom reigned , and which therefore could bring peace to the whole world. The idea of ​​Atlantis has fascinated dreamers, occultists and New Age enthusiasts for generations. Unlike many other legends, whose origins are lost in time, we know exactly where and when the story of Atlantis first appeared : the legend was told in the dialogues of Plato, the Timaeus and Critias, written in 330 BC. about.
The legend of the lost continent
Although many think that the story of Atlantis is a myth created by Platoto illustrate his political theories, others insist that the legend is based on a historical fact that really happened, a catastrophe that actually happened.
According to the Greek philosopher, Atlantis was a powerful kingdom located in the Atlantic Ocean , larger than ancient Libya and Turkey combined. Plato also accurately describes the geography of the island, with its mountains located in the north and along the coast, up to the plains of the south. Its rulers were direct descendants of Poseidon, the king of the sea, even if the purity of the lineage was gradually diluted due to continuous racial mixes.
Around 9600 BC the island empire had conquered most of Western Europe and Africa, enslaving their enemies. This date places the story in a historical period that coincides with the end of the last glaciation and the birth of the first city-states , discovered in present-day Iraq.
After a failed attempt to conquer Athens, the entire island sinks into the sea “in a single day and night of disgrace”.
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Atlantis really existed or not
Here is the proof!
Atlantis is a myth or it really existed
This is a question that many have asked themselves, to which they have also tried to answer. First of all it must be remembered that that of Atlantis is not the only legend that tells of a continent, an island or a sunken city. Similar tales are passed down around the world and some of them seem to be true. For over two millennia, no one has thoroughly investigated the veracity of Plato’s tales of Atlantis.
The idea that it was a place that really existed and was very recent, originally proposed by a writer named Ignatius Donnelly in 1881. He even believed that many of human achievements (such as metallurgy, agriculture, religion and language) had their origin in Atlantis. According to his suppositions, no ancient people would have had the knowledge necessary to independently develop these conquests, which must have been spread by some unknown and ancient civilization. His theory is similar to that of the “ancient astronauts”, alien civilizations that would have intervened on the knowledge of advanced peoples such as the Egyptians.
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Other writers and scientists, some starting from the hypotheses elaborated by Donnelly, also developed their ownopinions and speculations . There are those who firmly maintain that Atlantis really existed as the explorer of the oceans Robert Ballard, the very one who in 1985 discovered the wreck of the Titanic. Despite these more or less authoritative opinions, there are no concrete proofs of the actual existence of the vanished continent , at least there is no where Plato indicates the location of Atlantis.
Where was Atlantis
Here are the main 4 theories
Numerous hypotheses have been proposed regarding the location of Atlantis. Some are more serious as theorized by researchers and archaeologists, others have been advanced by mediums or as a result of pseudoscientific research. Many of the places proposed share some characteristics of the island’s history (water, catastrophic end, historical period) but for none of these there is overwhelming evidence that can identify them to historical Atlantis.
- Most of the proposed resorts are located in the Mediterranean Sea, such as Crete and Santorini, Cyprus, Malta or Ponza, or some cities such as Troy, Turkey and the latest theory on Israel.
- Other locations have been proposed, such as Antarctica, Indonesia and the Caribbean , or the Spartel islands near the Strait of Gibraltar would have elements that would coincide with Plato’s story.
- In the Black Sea area there are also three other proposed locations: Bosporus, Sinop and Ancomah. The nearby Sea of ​​Azov was proposed as another site in 2003, as well as various groups of islands in the Atlantic Ocean, most notably the Azores (which are a territory of Portugal).
- In Northern Europe, Sweden, Ireland and the North Sea have been proposed, as well as areas in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, Cuba, the Canary Islands.
Curiosity: Atlantis in Sardinia
The nuraghi say it …
In his works, Plato described Atlantis as “an island larger than Libya and Asia located beyond the Pillars of Hercules”, whose inhabitants were “builders of towers devoted to the god Poseidon “, a land” rich in water and forests and with a mild climate, to the point of making possible more harvests per year “, but also” rich in minerals and metals used to build concentric protective walls “.
According to a recent theory, supported among other things by some data collected through aerophotogrammetry, Sardinia would have many characteristics in common with the Atlantis described by Plato :
- The ancients considered Sardinia even more extensive than Sicily;
- It is positioned beyond the Pillars of Hercules (if we consider the geography preceding the writings of Eratosthenes, who was responsible for moving the columns from Sicily to the Strait of Gibraltar);
- It enjoys an excellent climate, which allowed three harvests a year at the time;
- It was, and still is, rich in forests and water;
- It was rich in mines of lead, zinc, silver and the company was metallurgical from the very beginning;
- It was the homeland of the Tyrrhenians, that is, the “builders of towers”, which would be none other than the famous nuraghi.
The theory is based on this last point. From the aerial photographs it is clear that most of the nuraghi located at low altitudes are almost totally covered with mud (including the great nuragic palace of Barumini, which was unearthed after 14 years of excavations). The reason for this could be traced back to a tragic tsunami of enormous proportions that would have hit Sardinia, destroying ports and cities, decimating the population and effectively bringing it to extinction; fate very similar to that of the Atlantean people.
Myth and mystery: why it disappeared
The myth tells that Atlantis was sunk and destroyed by Poseidondue to the growing corruption that had now undermined and ruined a society defined as peaceful, rich and extremely wise. What could be the real causes of the disappearance of the continent
The Minoan eruption of Thera (Santorini), dated in the 17th or 15th century BC, caused a huge tsunami that, experts speculate, devastated the Minoan civilization on the neighboring island of Crete. Some think that this is precisely the catastrophe that inspired the legend. To date, this is the most accredited hypothesis on the disappearance of the mythical island .
Fun fact: The submerged city has been found
Recently, the myth of the missing continent has returned to the fore thanks to the discoveries of a team of American researchers. By studying satellite photos that portrayed the area north of Cadiz, Spain, they noticed a particular site that had anomalies. They then organized dives in the waters of the Dona Ana Natural Park and claim to have found the ruins of a city structured in concentric rings , the very structure that Plato described.
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But they are not the only ones who claim to have found Atlantis.
In 1999, the French maritime archaeologist Franck Goddio and his team of researchers unearthed the ruins of an ancient temple near the Nile delta, with red granite columns, the remains of high walls, statues and other objects. which testified to the presence of an ancient civilization. The certainty of having finally found Atlantis, however, is not there yet and, perhaps, will forever remain a fascinating mystery .
Atlantis in literature: books, films and tv series
The legend of Atlantis was rediscovered by humanists in the modern era, and has inspired several utopian worksfrom the Renaissance onwards. Just think that in 1926 J. Gattefosse and C. Rouxun compiled an incomplete bibliographic catalog of the literature on Atlantis which included 1,700 titles! In Jules Verne’s novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, for example, the occupants of Captain Nemo’s Nautilus submarine paid a visit to the submerged ruins of Atlantis.
Also Tolkien, in “The Silmarillion”, describes the fall of the island of Numenor with a term that in the elven language invented by Tolkien becomes “Atalante” and the episode closely resembles the story of the lost island.
In the famous novel by Pierre Benoit, called “Atlantis”, the descendants of the lost continent now established in the Sahara desert are imagined. This literary work also inspired most of the extensive filmography devoted to the legend . There are five adaptations of the novel:
- Atlantis (1921) by Jacques Feyder
- L’Atlantide (The Lady of Atlantis, 1932) by Georg Wilhelm Pabst
- The Atlantis (Siren of Atlantis, 1949) by Gregg C. Tallas
- Antinea, the lover of the buried city (1961) by Edgar G. Ulmer and Giuseppe Masini
- The Atlantis, a 1992 film by Bob Swaim
The TV series have also been inspired by the legend, in particular Stargate Atlantis , a spin-off of Stargate SG-1, where the city of Atlantis is rediscovered in the galaxy of Pegasus, and Atlantis , a TV series made by BBC One set in the legendary city. .
