Atlantis: The Lost Continent

By: Rondave Gabriel B. Malpaya IV - Solidarity

-Table of Contents-

Introduction
What do we know about Atlantis? Cast of Characters

Related Studies
Evidence for Existence of Atlantis Proposed Geographical Location of Atlantis

Conclusion

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Introduction
For the past few centuries, Atlantis has been the subject of countless legends about an advanced civilization situated on an island that was destroyed or lost. The stories about the legendary city were first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, where it's been said that it was struck by an earthquake or a tsunami about 9,000 years before the time in which Plato had written about it. The story claims that Atlantis was somewhere outside the "Pillars of Hercules". According to Plato, the story originated from Ancient Egyptian priests. While some people believe that Plato's claims of Atlantis were plausible, others believe that the stories are fictions made up to serve the purposes of Plato's dialogues. There have been hundreds - perhaps thousands - of proposed geographical locations for the legendary city of Atlantis. Some are more-or-less serious attempts at legitimate scholarly or archeological works; others have been made by psychic or other pseudoscientific means. As the continental drift theory of the past has been consequently proven and accepted over the past few years, most "Lost continent" theories of Atlantis have been conclusively falsified. Most cultures have "lost civilization" myths. In some cases, it has been argued that there is a common historical event or real "lost civilization" at the root of some or all of these legends, but there is considerable disagreement between the competing hypotheses. It may be that these myths were derived from many different historical events, and are just only incorporated by modern theorists because of their uncanny similarities. It may also be that these legends are entirely fictitious, but for some reason have became popular in many cultures over the years.

What do we know about Atlantis?

Timaeus and Critias, two of Plato's famous dialogues, are the only written records which specifically refer to Atlantis' existence. The dialogues were written transcripts of conversations between Socrates, Hermocrates, Timaeus, and Critias. Apparently in response to Socrates' previous talk about ideal societies, Timaeus and Critias agree to entertain Socrates with a tale that is "not a fiction but a true story." The story is about the conflict between the ancient Athenians and the Atlanteans 9,000 years ahead of Plato's time. Knowledge of the distant past was apparently forgotten by the Athenians of Plato's day, the story of Atlantis was conveyed to Solon by Egyptian priests. Solon passed the tale to Dropides, the great-grandfather of Critias. Critias learned it from his grandfather of the same name, son of Dropides

Cast of Characters
All of the men, except for Timaeus, who have taken part in or are mentioned in Timaeus and Critias are known to have actually existed in ancient Greece. Records of their lives and deeds have been recorded in other writings from the time period. However there are two people named Critias related to the story of Atlantis and this can lead to some confusion. There is the Critias who had actually taken part in the dialogues, while the other Critias is actually the grandfather of the Critias of the dialogues. This elder Critias told the story of Atlantis to his grandson, of the same name, who then conveyed the story to Socrates in the dialogues.

Those who actually take part in the dialogues:

Timaeus - there is no historical record of him. Critias - Plato's great grandfather. Socrates - Plato's mentor and teacher. He was condemned to death by authorities in Athens for "corrupting the moral of Athenian youth"; He lived from 469 to 399 BC. Hermocrates - statesman and soldier from Syracuse.

Those mentioned in the dialogues:

Solon - Athenian traveler, poet, and lawgiver who lived from approximately 638-559 BC. According to Plato it was he who learned of the story of Atlantis from an Egyptian priest. Dropides - Critias' great grandfather who was told the story of Atlantis by Solon, a distant relative and close friend.

Related Studies
Atlantis started with Plato and in his hands it was never a supercivilization of the sort conjectured by later authors; perhaps in strictly Greek terms it was no civilization at all but rather a fatally luxurious elaboration of an essentially barbarian way of life, for all its inception by a god. At all events, it was no seminal civilization: it wasn't the fons et origo of all later civilizations in the world, indeed Athens was its independent contemporary. Both Atlantis and old Athens were, for Plato, but episodes in the ever ongoing cycle of catastrophes and renewals that he saw as the most rational and scientific interpretation to which the world of human experience could be subjected. For him, science and religion were quite bound up together, so that the natural catastrophes were at the same time eras in which the divine light was withdrawn from the world and the equally natural renewals were times when it returned. So rational and obviously true was this scheme of things to Plato that the "problem" of the real historical location and fate of Atlantis that has exercised so many writers after him would have left him cold, or perhaps amused to think of what he had started.

Evidence for Existence of Atlantis

"This is probably the greatest discovery in World history", was stated by Maxine Asher, the codirector of a scientific expedition that found Atlantis at the bottom of the ocean, reported United Press International and major newspapers in the United States during the summer of 1973. UPI continued that "Maxine Asher said that scuba divers found data to prove the existence of the super-civilization which legend says sank beneath the sea thousands of years ago". "The divers had found evidence of roads and large columns, some with concentric spiral motifs, in the exact place described by the Greek philosopher Plato". "The group of some 70 scientists, teachers and adventurers was endorsed by Pepperdine University in Los Angeles, California."

The document "History of the Golden Ages" reveals over 30 ruins including pyramids, domes, paved roads, rectangular buildings, columns, canals and artifacts that have been found on the ocean bottoms from the Bahamas to the nearby coasts of Europe and Africa, referencing the vast size of the lost continent. Dozens of historians and famous writers wrote about the Atlantis they believed existed, how the Myans and Aztecs had told their conquerors that they came from Atlantis and Mu, about ancient tablets photographed in Peru showing those two lost continents, Atlantis and Lemuria, and ancient maps clearly showing Atlantis. Just some of the ruins so far found include:
A pyramid explored by Dr Ray Brown on the sea floor off the Bahamas in 1970. Brown was accompanied by 4 divers who also found roads, domes, rectangular buildings, unidentified metallic instruments, and a statue holding a "mysterious" crystal containing miniature pyramids. The metal devices and crystals were taken to Florida for analysis at a university there. What was discovered was that the crystal amplified energy that passed through it.

Ruins of roads and buildings found off Binini Island in the 1960's by the photographed and published expeditions of Dr Mansan Valentine. Similar ruins were also photographed off Cay Sal in the Bahamas. Similar underwater ruins were found off Morocco and photographed 50 to 60 feet underwater.

A huge 11 room pyramid found 10,000 feet under water in the mid Atlantic Ocean with a huge crystal top, as reported by Tony Benlk.

A 1977 report of a huge pyramid found off Cay Sal in the Bahamas, photographed by Ari Marshall's expedition, about 150 feet underwater. The pyramid was about 650 feet high. Mysteriously the surrounding water was lit by sparkling white water flowing out of the openings in the pyramid and surrounded by green water, instead of the black water everywhere else at that depth.

A sunken city about 400 miles off Portugal found by Soviet expeditions led by Boris Asturua, with buildings made of extremely strong concrete and plastics. He said "the remains of streets suggests the use of monorails for transportation". He also brought up a statue.

A marble acropolis underwater across five acres of fluted columns raised on pillars.

Heinrich Schilemann, the man who found and excavated the famous ruins of Troy (which historians thought was only a legend), reportedly left a written account of his discovery of a bronze vase with a metal unknown to scientists who examined it, in the famous Priam Treasure. Inside it are glyphs in Phoenician stating that it was from King Chronos of Atlantis. Identical pottery was found in Tiajuanaco, Bolivia. Many other examples of roads, buildings and columns are available, many of them made with materials not available in their areas.

Many ancient maps are also known to have Atlantis on them, including the ancient Greek ones studied by Christopher Columbus before he set sail for America. Ancient writings from the Aztecs, Myans, Greeks, Egyptians, Spain, India, Tibet, and islands in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans all speak of ancient sunken continents and their connection to them. Human footprints and shoe prints, a perfectly engineered cube, jewelry, a prehistoric animal with a hole in its skull that scientists admit only a bullet could make, a remnant of a screw, and other modern artifacts have been found in layered rock strata geologists admit formed on these objects millions of years ago. All of these discoveries were printed in public daily newspapers when they occurred, and left out of history books simply because historians could not explain them with their theories.

Proposed Geographical Location of Atlantis

The island of Atlantis is so ingrained into the fabric of literature and popular culture that it is easy to overlook that the scant evidence of its having existed is at best, circumstantial and indirect. Throughout history proponents of the islands existence have either ignored or grossly re -interpret the first, legitimate, source of evidence (or acknowledgement) concerning Atlantis. In so doing, those same proponents have placed the site of the legendary Atlantis all over the globe while engaging in all manner of fanciful speculation. Stripped of these speculations and removed from the realm of the metaphysical, the case for the existence of Atlantis is not a simple matter to argue. Returning to the source story for the account of Atlantis, the late Otto Heinrich Muck, a German physicist, engineer and inventor of the World War II U-boat snorkel, establishes as solid a case as is possible in his book, The Secret of Atlantis. Delving into ancient literature, geological history and scientific observation, Mucks step-by-step argument culminates in a preponderance of hard to ignore evidence. Mucks case has not only withstood the test of time, but also strengthened since publication due to scientific consensuses on matters both orbital and central to his thesis. Originally written in German and translated by Fred Bradley, The Secret of Atlantis is divided into six parts. It ends with Mucks conclusions and begins with the first known reference to Atlantis via an extensive account attributed to Plato (427 347 B.C.). The major question regarding Platos account has always been whether the famous writer of Greek tragedies and eight-year student of philosophy under Socrates, invented Atlantis as an example of a utopia or merely related a factual story. Otto Muck sides with the latter. Muck indicates that this earliest account of Atlantis is contained in Platos two discussions (dialogues) named after the explorer/astrologer Timaeus and Platos maternal uncle, Crit ias the Younger. The two dialogues, according to Muck, are a direct continuation of Platos ten political volumes, The Republic. During a religious festival discussions between Socrates and others concerning a concept of the ideal state gradually turned toward, a story , strange but perfectly true, Muck quotes Platos, re-telling, of Atlantis. Otto Muck then quotes the story as Plato told it, which Muck says, placed Atlantis just west of the present day Strait of Gibraltarin the region of the Azores Islands. Such beliefs, Muck notes, were completely opposite to the religious dogma of the day that proclaimed nothing existed beyond the Eastern world, which was the center of the universe.

The approximate position of the island of Atlantis according to Otto Muck's interpretation of Plato's description (The Secret of Atlantis, pg. 18).

Quoting Plato, Mucks says that Atlantis was destroyed, when there came violent earthquakes and floods, the entire valiant generation of your people (Greeks) was swallowed up by the earth and the island of Atlantis was similarly swallowed up by the sea, vanishing in a single dreadful day and in a single dreadful night. Along this line of dialogue, Muck believes the Biblical flood of Noah no more destroyed Atlantis than it did the rest of the world. Rather, a specific and separate cataclysm was the culprit. But this is not meant to alleviate the Biblical flood of complicity. Muck points to a Charles Leonard Wholly, who discovered a layer of alluvial clay, about 8 feet thick, and bur ied beneath 40 feet of desert sand. This layer, Muck believes, substantiates the Biblical flood and is contributory to the secrecy of Atlantis, after the fact. Placing the presence of Atlantis at the end of the Quaternary epoch, Muck contends that sheets of ice constituted a large portion of the earths water and thus sea levels were 330 to 600 fee lower than now. This, coupled with his belief that the sea floor and island platform sank, leads Muck to conclude that Atlantis is buried at least two miles beneath the sea floor. While quoting various archaeological finds on the Bahamas Plateau and, particularly in the neighborhood of Bemini, Muck cites Charles Berlitys, The Bermuda Triangle, as evidence of artifacts that cannot be associated to any culture extant, thus by process of elimination, belonging to an Atlantis that would have been a thriving island nation with widespread influence. While this is certainly a possibility, this is neither the central crux of his argument nor the most convincing of the circumstantial and indirect evidence. In a chapter entitled, Mythical History of the Earth?, Muck admits that the theory of Atlantis, meets with a certain amount of skepticism among most geologist, due perhaps to the, swiftness with

which this island is said to have sunk beneath the sea. It is this sudden demise that runs counter to the concepts of gradualist geology, to Lyells theory that changes in the earths surface are caused solely by minute forces. Additionally, Muck concedes that Alfred Wagene rs theory of continental drift conflicts with the theory of Atlantisat least upon first examination. Upon closer scrutiny, Muck says: The existence of Atlantis would have been simulated only by a pre-tertiary land bridge between the Canadian Shield and the Eurasian platform. Whenfor whatever reasonthe large platforms drifted apart, this direct land connection was broken; this created the myth of the sunken continent. While Muck contends that Wegeners theory holds little importance to the subject of Atlantis, the theory can none-the-less accommodate the islands existence within a reasonable probability. Saying that all of the continents can be fitted back together like a jigsaw puzzle, according to Wegeners theory, Muck explains the gap in the joint between North American and Europe could account for a landmass that was later the doomed Atlantis. Turning attention to the Gulf Stream itself, Muck details a series of compelling inter-related factors as evidence for Atlantis that have not been widely considered (at the time of his writing or to any extensive degree since). These factors all arise out of the presence and importance of the Gulf Stream as a warming agent to European shores. Muck poses the question and answer: What would happen if the Gulf Stream suddenly failed? It would mean the climate of northwest Europe would undergo a radical change. The climate would become the normal one for that latitude. In short then, Muck opines that if a large island blocked the Gulf Stream, glaciation would overtake mid and northern Europejust as it did during the Quaternary age (which, not coincidentally, coincides with the geological period in which Muck places the presence of Atlantis).

The limits of glaciation during the Quaternary Age. The belts of terminal moraines found in Canada and Europe indicate the southern limit of the advance of the inland ice sheets, which reached about the same latitude on both sides of the Atlantic. It clearly shows that during the Quaternary period northwestern Europe did not enjoy a better climate than northeastern America (The Secret of Atlantis, pg. 70).

Thus, argues Muck, the presence of Atlantis in the mid-Atlantic produces four corresponding conditions: European glaciations, climatic conditions consistent with the geological record during the time period theorized for the presence of Atlantis, climatic conditions exactly matching Platos description of the island and an explanation for the inexplicable migratory life cycle of the European eel. The European eel, Muck reports, is a species that paleontologists believe originated in the, so called cretaceous age. According to Muck, twice in its lifetime the eel crosses the huge basin of the Atlantic; the first time as a colorless lava about the length of a matchstick and the second time as an adult ready to breed. Muck calls these migratory trips, senseless, and states that there had been found, no plausible reason, for this, peculiar behavior.

Large scale map of Atlantis. 1:10,000, 000. The outline plotted from the isobaths obtained by sounding shows a large island extending 685 miles (1100 km) from north to south, sufficient to deflect the Gulf Stream from its eastward course. A range of high mountains towered over the northern portion with ten tall peaks, among them Mt. Atlas (today Pico alto), which was then more than 16,400 ft (5000m) high. The southwestern part of the island, which enjoyed a Gulf Stream climate ideal for vegetation, comprises the Great Plain (E) mentioned by Plato and occupying an area of about 77,000 sq. miles (200,000 sq. km). The Royal city, according to Plato, is situated near the southeast coast. Hatched: mountainous area. (The Secret of Atlantis, pg. 109.)

Zeroing in on the possible answer, Muck explains that to the west of the Azores is a warm area of water the size of central Europe, called the Sargasso Sea. It is, he writes, buoyed up by sluggish currents and huge plants up to 1000 feet in length. In this, seaweed jungle, the eels matethe American eel in the western part of the Sargasso Sea and the European eel in the eastern part of the sea. After hatching, Muck writes, the larva swim into the Gulf Stream and are carried for three years in the currenteventually arriving at Europe. The females then swim into the European rivers in order to become sexually mature (as they require fresh water instead of salt water). They then return after a two-year period, Muck notes, at which timeat five years of agethey began their journey back. While making the return trip they are exposed to a number of dangers, including sea birds, dolphins and predatory fish. Once they have returned to the Sargasso Sea, they mate and the cycle begins anew. Muck questions the cycle by asking why the males accompany the females on the trip when it is only the females that require fresh water. While the West Indies are closer to the Sargasso Sea than Europe, Muck concedes that the eel may make the trip simply because of the ease of using the current of the Gulf Stream. However, he also points out, the males have no biological need to even much such an extensive trip. It is the absence of Atlantis, Muck contends, which prompts this ingrained and illogical behavior. For at one time, he says, the trip would have been a far shorter and safer distance to the island of Atlantis.

The eel habitat in North Atlantic during the Quaternary era was the large island of Atlantis (A). Because Atlantis induced the Gulf Stream to circulate around the Sargasso Sea (S) it was a factor in the life of the females, as much more distant Western Europe is today. (The Secret of Atlantis, pg. 92.)

The primary force of Otto Mucks theory rest upon his version of the Cataclysm: An Asteroid with the total force of, 4x1015 tons per second, Mucks proposes, struck the fracture zone of the Atlantic Ridge. Two holes were forged by the impact which acted like volcanic vents. They extend far into those red-hot depths, and the great bang triggered of a cosmic explosive charge equal in force to 30,000 hydrogen bombs. Explaining the Atlantic Ridge fracture seam was torn apart, Muck says, the bottom of the sea burst open to the north and to the south. All the existing volcanoes were activated and new vents formed. Terrestrial fire and ocean water become embroiled in ever-increasing volume. Magma mixed with steam. The chain of fire ran all the way between the two continents, from the Beerenberg Volcano on Jan Mayen in the north to Tristan de Cunha in the south. Muck calculates the fracture line opened up at about 50 feet per second and traveled 1,860 miles from the point of impact. Taking a two or three day period to open up from Puerto Rico to Iceland. What followed, according to Muck, is best described as a worldwide catastrophe. We can call it a submarine eruption of the most monstrous dimensions, Muck claims. We can say with confidence that throughout the entire history of mankind there has been no other fall of meteorites or volcanic eruption comparable in extent to the cata strophe of Atlantis According to our calculations, 5x1015 tons of magma erupted into the atmosphere during this cataclysm. Muck estimates a volume of 360,000 480,000 cubic miles of magma was dispersed into the air, consisting of large boulders, fly ash and fine dust.

Top: Before the catastrophe. The island platform is situated between the continenial platforms, presenting a broad expanse aove the sea level. To the right and left of it are fracture lines closed by plugs of extruded magma. ("Plugs of extruded magma" is lava that has cool and acts like a cork in the neck of a bottle--Tolleson.)

Center: during the catastrophe. Substrate magma welling up from the opened fracture lines is violently hurled into the air by the evaporating sea water and dispersed by the wind. The magma level begins to sink. Asphyxiating gases and sea floods invade the continents.

Bottom: After the catastrophe. The surface of the magma suffered its maximum depression below the island platform and has become a submarine landmass; Two mountain peaks have become rock islands. The inner edges of the continental platforms subsided and are slightly sloping, which caused coastal subsidence.

(The Secret of Atlantis, pp 194 - 195.)

This was quite enough to produce terrible and long lasting disturbances in the whole of like on earth, Muck continues. One of the effects was the deluge so familiar in myth. This did not, as

might have been supposed, destroy the island of Atlantis by fl ood. Rather the reverse. The flood was itself a direct consequence of the Atlantic catastrophe and followed the sinking of the island of Atlantis, as Plato relates. Muck calculates a total of 2x1016 tons of water mixed with 3x1015 tons of ash spread evenly across northern Eurasia resulting in a mean depth of rainfall of about 100 feet. Due largely to topographical locations the rain and runoff, according to Muck, would have been much greater. Muck also attributes the mysterious, ice box, of great mammot hs in Siberia to the sudden destruction of Atlantis. Claiming a 2 tilt of the Earth on its axis, Muck purposes a polar rotation resulted in a sudden sweep of freezing air following the asphyxiation gases that struck the mammoths dead where they stood. This, Muck concludes, is the reason that even the food in their stomachs has been so well preserved. Muck further contends that a, sea of mud, was a result of the catastrophe. He underscores the assertion with a comparison to the 1883 eruption of Karakatoa, which filled the surrounding sea with pumice stone (solidified magma interspersed with air bubbles) that caused considerable interference with shipping. This, says Muck, is why Plato said of Atlantis: This is why the sea is no longer navigatable there and cannot be crossed in ships because this is prevented by very deep mud, the remains of the island when it sank. After 2000 years of darkness beneath of ash-laden clouds, a dramatically altered earth emerged. Certainly all that remains of Atlantis are myths and, Otto Muck concludes, the tops of its great mountain range that we now know as the Azores Islands.

Conclusion
Be it fact or fiction, Atlantis has played a big part in the formation of Greek history and culture. During recent times however, the existence of Atlantis has become a motivation for a certain group of people to promote certain practices, such as Nazism and Occultism, where Atlantean supremacy is used as a pretense for their ideological platform and subsequent genocide. It has showed the ancient civilians of Greece, as well as ourselves, the effects of being too greedy for power. It has metaphorically taught us all how power can be the reason of a civilizations, or a person for that matter, rise and fall. Greed is a form of sickness because those who suffer from greed seem deprived of morality. We should take a look at what Atlantis has suffered because of too much power, we should apply it to our lives and take a look at all the decisions we have made. We may have done things before that we think we would not regret in the future, but it may affect our personality later on in life. It may isolate us from the rest of the community, just like how Atlantis has been feared and hated by most Gods and neighboring civilizations because of its power, and may lead us to a downfall. We should not let power and control be our motivation in living, we should always consider how most of our actions affect the people around us. Let us keep in mind that being powerful or above the rest does not give us the privilege to take others for granted, sometimes being on top can be lonely.

Oh how the mighty have fallen!

Samuel 1:27