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The Lost Continent
The capital of Atlantis as described by Plato.
(Copyright Lee Krystek 1997)
• The story of Atlantis is recorded
by Plato, the great Greek
philosopher, in his 2 dialogues:
Critias and Timaeus.
• He claimed that an Egyptian
priest told the story to the great
Athenian lawgiver Solon when
he went to visit Egypt
• However no records of the
Atlantis story is found in Egypt,
or indeed anywhere outside of
Plato
Timaeus
• It describes a mighty power situated on an island that
was larger than Libya and Asia put together, and was
the way to other islands, and from these you might
pass to the whole of the opposite continent which
surrounded the true ocean
• It further states that this mighty power invaded
Europe and Asia but was eventually defeated by the
Greeks
Timaeus
• It then states that “afterwards there occurred
violent earthquakes and floods…and the
island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared
in the depths of the sea”, before going on to
state that the waters in that area were
impassable due to the sinking of the island.
Critias
• It begins by stating that 9000 years had passed since
the sinking of Atlantis, and before then there was a
war between Atlantis and the Greeks, led by Athens.
It goes on to say that in the beginning, the Atlanteans
were pure and obedient to the gods, but they were
soon corrupted, leading to their downfall.
Atlantis: Myth or history
• The study of Atlantis has become a bizarre
bog of the strangest and most exotic notions
• The ‘true location’ of Atlantis has been placed
by scholars in the Atlantic ocean, Antarctica,
Thera, Crete, Troy, the Arctic, America,
Siberia…even outer space
• A search through the internet will also give
you countless amusing versions of ‘Atlantis’
• From: http://www.skeptic.com/atlantis/atlantis1.html
• We put together the wildly imaginative story below from bits and
pieces of a dozen different Websites. ---The citizens of Atlantis
had blue blood which gave them skin of a beautiful violet color
and they often stood over 8 feet tall. They possessed advanced
crystal technology which generated unlimited free energy.
• Crystals of different colors allowed them to completely control
the weather and cure every disease. Their life span was over
800 years long. Some say that they came from planets beyond
our own galaxy. They bred shorter inferior humans--us--as
slaves to attend to their every need. But because their life was
so easy they were bored.
• They set apart large areas of their continent as national parks
where the humans were allowed to live. In these areas they
staged violent storms, earthquakes and volcanos for their
amusement, caring little about the unfortunate effects these
disasters had on their slaves.
Are you a believer?
Skeptics
• For skeptics, it is clear that Atlantis is a myth
created by Plato to illustrate his political and
ethical philosophy
• Certainly no archaeological evidence of a
11,000 year old advanced civilization has
ever been found
Believers/Agnostics
• Plato mentioned that beyond the island of
Atlantis, we can pass ‘to the whole of the
opposite continent which surrounded the true
ocean’
• If we look at the world map, it is quite clear
that Plato is in fact referring to a continent on
the western side of the Atlantic Ocean, I.e.
North and South America
• But how could an ancient Greek living in
300BC have known of the Americas?
The Ice Age
• Another uncanny feature is Plato’s exact
description of Atlantis as being destroyed
9000 years before his time, or in other words,
11,000 years before our time
• This is in fact the period when the last ice age
was ending, and there was massive flooding
throughout the world due to rising sea levels
Atlantis: An Ice Age
civilization?
• It remains possible, but without any strong
archaeological evidence whatsoever, that
Plato might be giving an account of an
advanced ice age culture that disappeared
beneath the waves
• Humanity does have a tendency to build
cities near the coast, and indeed, an ancient
city that is apparently 8000 years old has
been found off the coast of India