The Story of Atlantis so far:

1592 Typus Orbis Terrarum by Abraham Ortelius (left), which shares an uncanny likeness with Kircher’s Atlantis (right, reoriented with north toward the top). They correctly depict a recessed southeastern coastline interrupted by the Rio de la Plata, but both also present erroneous depictions of a straight western coastline as well as a blunt west to east rising southern tip.

Over 11,000 years ago there existed an island nation located in the middle of the Atlantic ocean populated by a noble and powerful race. The people of this land possessed great wealth thanks to the natural resources found throughout their island. The island was a center for trade and commerce. The rulers of this land held sway over the people and land of their own island and well into Europe and Africa.



This was the island of Atlantis.


A map showing the supposed extent of the Atlantean Empire. From Ignatius L. Donnelly's Atlantis: the Antediluvian World, 1882.

Atlantis was the domain of Poseidon, god of the sea. When Poseidon fell in love with a mortal woman, Cleito, he created a dwelling at the top of a hill near the middle of the island and surrounded the dwelling with rings of water and land to protect her. Cleito gave birth to five sets of twin boys who became the first rulers of Atlantis. The island was divided among the brothers with the eldest, Atlas, first King of Atlantis, being given control over the central hill and surrounding areas. At the top of the central hill, a temple was built to honor Poseidon which housed a giant gold statue of Poseidon riding a chariot pulled by winged horses. It was here that the rulers of Atlantis would come to discuss laws, pass judgments, and pay tribute to Poseidon..




Approximate outer limits of Atlantis at its greatest extent. Vertical-stripe pattern indicates “protruding portions within this [Atlantis] that must have at one time or another been a portion” of the legendary lost continent. MAR = Mid-Atlantic Ridge; FZ = fracture zone.

If you think Plato was telling the truth in Timaeus and Critias then Atlantis is located somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. One of the more likely places would be around the Azores Islands. The Azores are a group of islands belonging to Portugal located about 900 miles (1500 km) west of the Portugese coast. Some people believe the islands are the mountain tops of the sunken continent of Atlantis.


To facilitate travel and trade, a water canal was cut through of the rings of land and water running south for 5.5 miles (~9 km) to the sea. The city of Atlantis sat just outside the outer ring of water and spread across the plain covering a circle of 11 miles (1.7 km). This was a densely populated area where the majority of the population lived.

Beyond the city lay a fertile plain 330 miles (530 km) long and 110 miles (190 km) wide surrounded by another canal used to collect water from the rivers and streams of the mountains. The climate was such that two harvests were possible each year. One in the winter fed by the rains and one in the summer fed by irrigation from the canal.

Surrounding the plain to the north were mountains which soared to the skies. Villages, lakes, rivers, and meadows dotted the mountains.Besides the harvests, the island provided all kinds of herbs, fruits, and nuts. An abundance of animals, including elephants, roamed the island. For generations the Atlanteans lived simple, virtuous lives. But slowly they began to change. Greed and power began to corrupt them. When Zeus saw the immorality of the Atlanteans he gathered the other gods to determine a suitable punishment. Soon, in one violent surge it was gone. The island of Atlantis, its people, and its memory were swallowed by the sea.

This is a summary of the story told by Plato around 360 BC in his dialogues Timaeus and Critias. These writings of Plato are the only specific known references to Atlantis. They have prompted controversy and debate for over two thousand years now.


A 15th-century Latin translation of Plato's Timaeus


The Atlantic Ocean Floor


Image of the Atlantic Ocean in special coloring in order to show the profile of the Atlantic Ocean floor. (Blue color is proportional to depth)

We can clearly distinguish something like a huge ridge or a small continental plate between Spain and the Northern American Continent. Further The North Atlantic Ocean floor looks like to be lowered from the line Ireland-New Foundland until the line Liberia-French Ginee. It seems to me that the all-over depth of the Northern part of the Atlantic Ocean is a lot lower than the all-over depth of the Southern part of the Atlantic Ocean as well as the all-over depth of the other oceans. Thus considering that this part of the ocean could have been lowered by some cataclysmic event. This picture has been used to create the correction data which is used to put the all-over depth of the Northern Atlantic back to the corresponding all-over depth of the remaining oceans. Then the other oceans are only deep there where the continental plates run into each other but not there where the continental plates run away from each other. It is still possible that the southern part was lowered to, but I did not find any visible sign of this, besides the Cogo River canyon, which runs until a depth of 2'000 meters, but it is the only one. Than in case of a lowering of the southern part of the Atlantic ocean, the South American Amazone river should have had a similar canyon to, but I did not find any sign of one.


The mid Atlantic ridge around the Acores islands


Map of the island of Atlantis, picture obtained by correcting the northern Atlantic region up, so that the overall depth matches the overall depth of the southern Atlantic ocean and the overall depth of the other oceans.

The north pole is positioned such that the pole is on the center of the predeluvian ice-cap, there where one would expect it to be.

The total size of the map is 4'800 Kms by 7'080 Kms, and the island itself is about 1'450 Kms wide and 3'200 Kms long, and the tail is about 2'000 Kms. This leaves in south center part place for a plain of about 500 Kms by 200 Kms, corresponding to the sizes mentioned by Plato, considering a foot to be between 25 Cm and 40 Cm, then the exact size of a Atlatean foot remains today unknown. The even Europe had in the past as many sizes for foots and inches as there were kings and towns. The Frech revolution and Napoleon did put an end to this nonsense.

Dont forget Plato's writing « There are remaining only the bones of the wasted body, as they may called, as in the case of small islands, all the richer and softer parts of the soil having fallen away » so do not expect to find much leftovers of this island, and anyway diving down there with a vehicle with a sight of no more 10 meters searching for any trace in an area of 1'450 Kms by 3'200 Kms looks like predicting the stock market by analyzing the Wallstreet Journal with a microscope.

However heavy constructions like pyramids and parts being digged out of the rocks to make place for canals should still be visible (in fact, the map does show such a canal of about 550 kms long !!), as well the remains of the sacred memorials.

Atlantis & The Minoan Civilization

There are some compelling similarites between the destruction of Thera and the destruction of Atlantis.....
For

* The island of Thera, a volcanic island, was destroyed around 1500 BC by an explosion which caused more than half of the island to sink into the sea.
* Artifacts found on the island indicate a sophisticated culture, probably part of the Minoan Civilization.
* There is evidence pointing to trade between the Minoans and Egyptians. The Egyptians would certainly have been aware of the destruction or at least the tremedous damage done to one of their trading partners.
* We'll examine this possibility in more detail in upcoming issues of Enigma.

Against

* Proponents of this theory claim that Plato's date of 9000 years ago should really have been 900 years ago: somewhere along the line either Solon or Plato made a mistake. If the story was 900 years ago it would place Atlantis in the time frame of the Minoan civilization on Crete and Thera. Conveniently overlooked in this thinking is that in Timaeus the priest tells Solon that ancient Athens and Atlantis preceeded Egypt by a thousand years. Egypt however existed and was known to have existed since long before 1500 BC, the time of Crete and Thera. The times just don't add up unless you assume the Egyptian priest was ignorant of his own recorded history.