The Lost City of Atlantis is one of the world’s most famous mysteries. Plato, the ancient Greek philosopher, described it as an ancient, and advanced island civilization. For thousands of years before Plato’s time this island was not just powerful and wealthy, but incredibly technically superior to any place on earth, and was capable of overpowering most enemies encountered by brute force alone.
Thousands of years ago it subsequently sank to the bottom of the sea, and ever since then explorers, archaeologists, historians and myths have debated over what really happened to this amazing lost civilization.
One critical point needs to be understood straight away; Atlantis has never proven itself to be an ancient city or civilization in real terms. The story originated in two of Plato’s dialogues, Timaeus, and Critias. Many traditional scholars consider the story itself to be in reality a parable with little or no historic accuracy.
The Story of Atlantis
Plato first introduced Atlantis in his dialogue, the Timaeus, written some time in the fourth century B.C. and added further to it in his dialogue called Critias which was never finished. From his writing we learn Atlantis was a great and a large island situated beyond the “Pillars of Hercules” which we would now know as the Straits of Gibraltar. The island was an immensely successful and wealthy sea power, and an amazing place to be and has been viewed by many scholars as being advanced for it’s period. The most important point to note from Plato’s writing however, is the fact Atlantis was depicted not only as just a “city” but as an amazing kingdom that ruled a larger area beyond the walls of the great city.
The Ancient Kingodm
Plato described Atlantis as being exceedingly wealthy. Large structures included buildings such as:
* Temples
* Palaces
* Harbors
* Bridges
* Walls
* Farmland
* Complex canal/aqueduct systems
* Natural resources such as gems and minerals.
* A huge army and a vast navy were also a feature that would prove invaluable when they faced the enemies they would eventually encounter. The central city was basically a great fortress surrounded by walls but not as the modern conception of a fortress-in fact the entire city itself was designed around eight concentric rings of land and water separated by land; connected by bridges which spanned the waters, while rivers and canals cut through the islands enabling ships access to the inner part of the city where the important landmarks were deemed important. Poseidon, god of the ocean, resided in a temple of the highest antiquity.
Poseidon Creates Atlantis
Apparently Poseidon had grown to be infatuated with the large and fertile island as he deemed it the perfect place to carry out his research which consisted of “navigational knowledge” so when Atlantis was first developed he laid his claim to it and was granted the ownership of the Island by Zeus. Dividing it amongst his ten children who fathered a dynasty, creating a line of ruling kings for the powerful nation. His oldest offspring Atlas eventually gave his name to the nation creating its name of Atlantis. One significant factor associated with ruling power was the family was designated rulership with the head monarch residing at the center of Atlantis and his sons having control over certain areas across the island as to ensure the highest degree of stability as possible to the overall nation.
The Concentric City
Another major fascination, to say the least of the Atlantis fable is it’s layout. The structure built by humans at this point had always revolved around something linear or circular. The layout of Atlantis was based solely around concentric circles divided by canals allowing water transport from the shore to the heart of Atlantis and also by way of large impressive bridges spanning between each separation making the infrastructure that much more advanced for the time. This is one element that has allowed historians to doubt not only Atlantis’s existence but it’s planning.
Atlantic Rise and Dominion
With millennia going by, the population had become highly successful within just every profession. Atlantean rule had expanded outward from their great kingdom to conquer other regions, and by the time that we see in the story even gained control over some parts of Europe and Africa, and also took great offense to it’s new territorial expansion be hindered by the growing power of ancient Athens. Thus we see the story transcend the tale of a simple island lost with its history into a story of two civilizations, both vying for supremacy in the Ancient world, their fate would depend on the people of Athens’ prowess in both mind, and skill; and the hubris of the Atlantean empire
Atlantis vs Ancient Athens
Plato described Athenians as the courageous, organized, moral beings, whereas Atlantis became overcome with immense pride and avarice which led to it’s downfall as an evil and powerful, dominating civilization. This demonstrates Plato’s use of a symbolic ‘contrast’ between civilizations that allows a wider, “true” lesson, thus leading scholars to assume that Atlantis as an archaeological finding was only to show that too much ambition can be fatal as it would lead to Atlantis being ultimately conquered through both it’s arrogance and lack of ability for warfare in comparison to the Athenians.
The Atlantean Downfall
The great king Neptune, father of the Atlanteans, became ashamed at the corruption of the society by money but was later struck dead by the gods due to his overwhelming hubris. This resulted in Atlantis becoming subject to natural disaster and being lost in the ocean. Famously this catastrophic event said to have taken only “a single day and a single night” in order to be completed causing the empire, along with its magnificent city to be annihilated in one large movement and no proof of any ancient Atlantis settlement left on the planet capable of being known by later civilizations so the quest to find where this amazing kingdom actually resides begun.
Was Atlantis Real?
This remains the key argument, in essence; no archaeological evidence has been found to corroborate Plato’s tale as a genuine event. The primary source comes from the historian of antiquity Plato himself, and nearly all current arguments regarding it originate and rely upon his tale as being “fact” due to scholars pointing out Plato himself was a keen philosopher, making theAtlantisstory possibly fiction for philosophical purposes as shown in one case by studies arguing Plato wrote Atlantis as simply “man made history”, rather than anything discovered and found over many years. This means while Atlantis may look like a genuine archaeological enigma, historians do not officially believe it is a reality
Major theories on where it would be located:
1. Santorini Theory: As above it is generally considered that modern day Santorini Island in Greece was the inspiration for Atlantis. It became subjected to one of the worst volcanic eruptions in human history around 1600 BC thus producing tsunamis. Even though this theory makes perfect sense for many parts to Plato’s descriptions of the destruction of Atlantis however as there is a gap of tens of thousands of years between Plato’s writings and the date stated as being in the ancient Minoan script, it is highly unlikely.
2. Atlantis in the Atlantic: Quite simply a lot of people believe in a landmass off the coasts of America or Africa, but nothing tangible has ever been discovered, and all theories of it’s existence is usually on based on speculative sightings and findings.
Conclusion; while it is an incredible theory I believe personally that while great research and effort goes into finding Atlantis the chances are slim it will ever be found to exist, it may prove to be one of the greatest ancient myths and questions that remains unanswered forever.