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 It remains a puzzle whether Plato had invented the story

Timaeus It describes a mighty power situated on an ”island 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; for this sea which is within the Straits of Heracles is only a harbour, having a narrow entrance, but that other is a real sea, and the surrounding land may be most truly called a boundless continent”. 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 Geologists also seem to think that the bottom of the Atlantic cannot harbor any sunken continent

Believers/Agnostics Other scholars will however point to the 2 uncanny features in Plato’s account Plato mentioned that beyond the island of Atlantis, we can pass ‘to the whole of the opposite continent which surrounded the true ocean’ (Timaeus, see earlier slide) 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

Europe 12000 to 11000 Years ago Europe 9000 to 8000 Years ago

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 been found off the coast of India Perhaps one day Atlantis, like Troy, may be discovered

Atlantis: The power of the Myth Yet regardless of whether Atlantis ever existed, it remains a potent and evocative story of an advanced and utopian civilization that destroyed itself As we shall see, like the Frankenstein story, its relevance in our current scientific age is greater than ever before