Atlantis city under water. Secrets of Swedish Atlantis. Atlantis - the land of great minds and no less great miracles

But where Atlantis was "found", it did not correspond to Plato's descriptions. And in the place indicated by the philosopher (that is, behind the Pillars of Hercules), this mysterious land still can't find it...

Among scientists there are two approaches to the term "Atlantis". As mentioned above, in the first Atlantis was called Atlantis by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. But the predecessors of Plato also knew about it, although they called this country by other names. Ancient authors understood Atlantis as a certain state that was at the same stage of development with Greece, fought with it and died in a grandiose catastrophe during one of the wars.

However, in the occult sciences there is an idea of Atlantis as a kind of proto-civilization that preceded ours and died as a result of a series of catastrophes. This is also evidenced by the myths and legends of the peoples of various countries living on different continents. But many of them have an idea of some kind of people that preceded modern humanity and died as a result of some powerful cataclysm.

"Plato is my friend, but the truth is dearer," the great Aristotle once said. This is how this problem was posed: where, when and how did the state of the Atlanteans exist? Someone recognizes the existence of Atlantis without any doubt, someone rejects it without any doubt, based on the formula: "This cannot be, because this can never be." But most researchers consider the existence of Atlantis quite probable, but requiring proof. The Greek philosopher Krantor says that in 3010 BC. I saw a column in Egypt, on which the whole history of the island that disappeared in the depths of the sea was engraved.

What did Plato know about Atlantis? In his dialogues, he reports that Atlantis disappeared in the course of one day and one tragic night - "in one terrible day."

Starting to describe Atlantis, Plato warns that both the name of the island itself and all the other names in his story are not corrupted, but translated into Greek. The Egyptians, who first wrote the history of Atlantis, translated the Atlantean names in their own way. Solon, who informed Plato of information about this island, did not see the need to preserve the Egyptian names and translated them into Greek.

Russian symbolist poet V.Ya. Bryusov in his essay "Atlantis" notes that "Plato describes Atlantis already in the state it reached after several millennia of cultural life, when the island already had many separate kingdoms, many rich cities and a huge population numbering in the millions." And the history of the island itself began with the division of the earth between the three brother gods: Zeus, Hades and Poseidon. Poseidon, by lot, got the island of Atlantis and, in addition, he became the ruler of the seas. When Poseidon received Atlantis, only three people lived on the island - "one of the husbands, at the very beginning, was born by the Earth, named Evnor with his wife Livkippa and the beautiful daughter Kleito." Poseidon fell in love with Kleito, she became his wife and gave birth to five pairs of twins - the first ten kings of Atlantis.

Poseidon was the first to fortify the island in order to make it inaccessible to enemies. Around a low hill, gradually turning into a plain, three water and two earth rings were dug around the circumference, one after the other. In the very center of the hill (acropolis), on a hill, Poseidon built a small temple for Kleito and himself, surrounding it with a wall of pure gold.

A palace was built on the acropolis, which was expanded and decorated by each king, and the new one was sure to surpass its predecessor. "So it was impossible to see this building without being amazed at the size and beauty of the work."

The kings - the children of Poseidon, of course, could not do without bathing, and for this reason they built numerous baths on the acropolis. "For swimming there were reservoirs, open, and, for winter time, closed; there were special ones - for royal family and for individuals; still others - separately for women, and also for horses and beasts of burden; each of them was located and decorated according to its purpose. The water that came out of these reservoirs was diverted to irrigate Poseidon's Forest, where the fertility of the soil produced trees. amazing height and beauty."

The largest and most majestic building of the acropolis was a temple dedicated to one god Poseidon. It was truly gigantic in size: 185 meters long, 96 meters wide and a "corresponding" height. Outside big temple was entirely lined with silver, except for the "extremities" made of pure gold. Inside the temple there were many statues made of gold. The largest of them depicted the god Poseidon, who, standing on a chariot, controlled six winged horses. The statue of Poseidon was so tall that it almost touched the ceiling with its head, which was trimmed with ivory and all decorated with gold, silver and orichalcum. The walls, pillars and floors inside the temple were entirely lined with orichalcum. Everything literally sparkled and "lit up", as soon as the sunbeam penetrated into the sanctuary.

Plato also tells a lot of wonderful things about the capital of the Atlanteans, and then proceeds to describe the whole country. "The island of Atlantis was very elevated above sea level, and the coast rose in an inaccessible cliff. Around the capital, a plain stretched, surrounded by mountains that reached the sea." Everyone said about this plain that it is the most beautiful on earth and very fertile. It was densely dotted with flourishing villages, separated by lakes, rivers, meadows, where many wild domestic animals grazed.

Much came to the Atlanteans from outside, in view of the vastness of their power; but the island itself produced almost everything necessary for life. "Firstly, all metals are hard and fusible, suitable for processing, including the one that we now know only by name: orichalcum ... its deposits were found in many places on the island; after gold, it was the most precious of metals.

The island delivered all the necessary materials for crafts. Lived on an island a large number of domestic animals and wild animals, among other things, many elephants ... The island provided abundant food for all kinds of animals, both living in swamps, lakes and rivers or on mountains and plains, and these (elephants), although they are huge and gluttonous.

Produced and delivered to the island all the flavors now grown in different countries, roots, herbs, juice flowing from fruits and flowers. There was also a fruit that gives wine (grapes), and one that serves as food (cereals), along with those that we also eat, calling the common word - vegetables; there were also fruits that simultaneously gave drink, food and incense (coconuts?) ... Such were the divine and amazing riches, such, in innumerable quantities, this island produced.

On a happy island, each of the ten brothers-kings had absolute power in his kingdom, but the general rule of the state of Atlantis was decided by the kings by the Council, to which they gathered after 5-6 years, alternating even and odd numbers. The supreme power always remained with the direct heir of Atlantis, but even the main king could not sentence death penalty none of his relatives without the consent of the majority of the kings. "As long as the Atlanteans followed the principles of virtue during their reign and as long as the "divine principle" dominated in them, they succeeded in everything. But when the "human disposition" triumphed - the base beginning, when they lost all decency and unbridled greed began to boil in them, when people began to present a "shameful sight", then the God of the Gods - Zeus, seeing the depravity of the Atlanteans, once so virtuous, decided to punish them. "He gathered all the gods in the heavenly sanctuary and addressed them with these words ...".

This is where Plato's dialogue "Critias" abruptly ends. And the story of Atlantis and its search for two thousand years begins. The priests lamented the spiritual wisdom of Atlantis, which defiled itself. Philosophers talked about the divine rulers of this island, poets sang about the fabulous perfection of its structure. However, some researchers believe that Plato needed dialogues about Atlantis in order to express his thoughts about the ideal structure of the state.

But the story of Atlantis, as noted by Valery Bryusov, "is not something exceptional in Plato's writings. He also has other descriptions of fantastic countries, denounced in the form of myths. But none of these stories is furnished, like the description of Atlantis, with references to sources Plato, as if anticipating future doubts and objections, takes care to indicate the origin of his information with the greatest accuracy that only ancient authors knew.

At the beginning of the 20th century, three expeditions were equipped and sent in search of Atlantis, one of which (the second) was led by Pavel Schliemann, the grandson of the famous discoverer of Troy, Heinrich Schliemann. "According to Pavel Schliemann, his famous grandfather left a sealed envelope so that it would be opened by one of the family members who would give a solemn promise to devote his whole life to research, indications of which he would find in this envelope. Pavel Schliemann took such an oath, opened the envelope Heinrich Schliemann reported that he undertook research on the remains of Atlantis, the existence of which he has no doubts and which he considers the cradle of our entire civilization. large, inside which were smaller clay vessels, small figurines of a special metal, money from the same metal, and objects "made from fossil bones. "On some of these objects and on a bronze vessel was written "Phoenician hieroglyphs": " From the king of Atlantis Chronos. "But many researchers, Russian and foreign, this story is distrustful.

The search for Atlantis was and is being conducted everywhere - all over the globe. The Soviet hydrogeographer Ya.Ya. Gakkel presented his "Atlantis" in the form of a narrow strip that stretches along the underwater Lomonosov Ridge and connects the Canadian arctic archipelago With New Siberian Islands. Active member Geographic Society, member of the Scientific Council on Cybernetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Kondratov devoted many works to the links between the history of mankind and the history of the oceans. He wrote many books about the legendary Platonic Atlantis and numerous "Atlantis" - the so-called hypothetical lands, now submerged.

Foreign researchers Renata and Yaroslav Malina in their works on natural disasters and aliens from outer space write that the Atlantean navigators explored the Earth ... They say that "they traveled through the air and under water, photographed objects at a great distance, used X-rays, fixed images and sounds on video tapes, used a laser from a crystal, invented a terrible weapon using cosmic rays, and also used the energy of antimatter.However, the use of the dark forces of nature by ambitious priests for selfish purposes and more frequent earthquakes led to the disintegration of the mainland into many islands, which later also disappeared into the sea "And ten thousand years before our era, an underground explosion destroyed the island of Poseidonis. But the radiation emitted by a large crystal lying in the place of the death of Atlantis leads to the sudden disappearance of ships and aircraft in the famous Bermuda Triangle."

As can be seen from the foregoing, the geography of the search for Atlantis is very wide and varied.

G. ALEKSANDROVSKY.

In the dialogues of the ancient thinker Plato, there is still a grain that speaks of the reality of the legendary island. The legend of Atlantis has been alive for more than two thousand years. But only a few decades ago, people, desperate to find traces of a once prosperous state, ranked Plato's writings as utopias. And here is a sensational twist: in our days, some historians and archaeologists have recognized that Plato's dialogues do contain a grain of real facts. We present three newest hypotheses suggesting where and when Atlantis died.

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Tradition of the Egyptian priests

In 421 BC. e. Greek philosopher Plato in two of his writings - Timaeus and Critias - outlined the history and sad end of the island nation of Atlantis. The story in the form of a dialogue is conducted by Plato's great-grandfather, Critias: he conveys the content of the conversation with his grandfather, who heard the story about Atlantis from a contemporary, Solon, an Athenian legislator and poet, who, in turn, learned about Atlantis from an Egyptian priest. And Plato in his texts repeatedly emphasizes that this is not a myth, but a true story of historical events.

Atlantis, according to Plato, is a huge island that lay in the ocean behind the Pillars of Hercules, that is, behind Gibraltar. In the center of the island there was a hill, on which temples and the royal palace stood. Acropolis - upper city- defended two rows of earthen embankments and three water annular channels. The outer ring was connected to the sea by a 500-meter canal through which ships entered the inner port. The life of Atlantis appears to be full of prosperity.

The temple of the main deity of the islanders - Poseidon, the ruler of the seas, was, Plato narrates, lined with gold, silver and orchilac (a recently unraveled word means an alloy of copper and zinc). Another temple dedicated to Poseidon and his wife Kleito, the progenitor of all Atlanteans, is surrounded by a golden wall. There were also a golden statue of Poseidon and golden statues of Nereids - numerous daughters of the sea deity. The Atlanteans had bronze weapons and thousands of war chariots. The bowels gave copper and silver.

The people had fun horse racing, thermal baths were at their service: two springs beat on the island - cold and hot water. Ships hurried to the harbor of Atlantis with ceramic dishes, spices, and rare ores. To supply the port fresh water the riverbed was turned.

The island belonged to a powerful union of kings. And then the moment came when he decided to subjugate other countries, including Greece. However, Athens, having shown valor and strength in the war, won. But, as Plato says, the Olympic gods, dissatisfied with the warring peoples, decided to punish them for their greed and violence. A monstrous earthquake and flood "in one terrible day and one night" destroyed the Athenian army and all of Atlantis. The ocean waters swallowed the island.

47 years after the death of Plato, an Athenian citizen, Krantor, went to Egypt to see if the origins of the information used by the philosopher were really there. And he found, according to him, in the temple of Neith hieroglyphs with a text about the events described.

Search

The search for Atlantis began already at the very beginning of a new era - in the 50th year from the birth of Christ. Almost two thousand years since that time, there have been many hypotheses about the location of Atlantis. Many were attracted by the wealth mentioned by Plato. Just think: take possession of the golden walls and statues! Most interpreters of Critias and Timaeus pointed to the present existing islands Atlantic Ocean. But there were other guidelines as well. Among the 50 points on Earth identified by enthusiasts for the search for Atlantis, there are also quite fantastic ones, for example, Brazil or Siberia, the existence of which the ancient philosopher did not suspect.

A new surge of interest in the search for the legendary island arose after the First World War. Underwater technology, improved in wartime, prompted adventurous businessmen to organize companies in several countries to search for the mysterious Atlantis. For example, in the French newspaper "Figaro" there was such a note: "A society for the study and exploitation of Atlantis has been created in Paris." Companies, of course, burst one after another, but the Russian writer Alexander Belyaev found in a newspaper publication the plot for his fantastic story "The Last Man from Atlantis."

More than 50 thousand publications are devoted to the problem of the sunken island. Movies and television have also contributed to this story. Over 20 expeditions explored the places where, according to their organizers, the people of Atlantis once prospered. But they all returned empty-handed.

To two main questions - where? and when? - already in our century, the objections of archaeologists were added, who considered the story of the abundance of gold and silver on the island a fantasy. They attributed the network of canals - circular and leading to the sea, the inner port and other hydraulic structures to Plato's inventions: such large-scale cases were beyond their strength in those days. Researchers of the philosophical and literary heritage of Plato considered that, telling about the prosperous Atlantis, the ancient idealist thinker called on his contemporaries to build an exemplary state without dictatorship and tyranny. And in this sense, Plato is called the creator of the utopian genre. (In fact, in some of his writings, Plato called for the construction of an ideal state based on goodness and justice. He traveled from Athens to Syracuse three times, the last time as a very old man, hoping in vain to inspire humane ideas in the tyrants there.) As for the time of the death of the island in deep ocean, Plato named a date that contradicts all the data of modern science: according to his information, the catastrophe occurred 11,500 years ago to the present day, or 9,000 years, counting up to the time of Plato himself. 12-10 thousand years ago, humanity was just emerging from the Paleolithic, the ancient Stone Age, and it is difficult to imagine that a people lived somewhere, in its development ahead of the human race by many thousands of years. The primary source of such an error could be incorrect determinations of the age of the Egyptian state, carried out in ancient times. For example, Herodotus counted Egypt 11340 years.

Is it Atlantis?

"The Russians have found Atlantis!" - with such sensational full houses, many newspapers Western Europe accompanied in 1979 by photographs of the seabed. In the photographs, vertical ridges were clearly visible under a layer of sand, reminiscent of the walls of a destroyed city. The impression of ancient city ruins was enhanced by the fact that other ridges ran along the bottom at right angles to the first ones.

Underwater images were taken by the research vessel of the Moscow University "Akademik Petrovsky". Actions unfolded where Plato pointed out - "behind the Pillars of Hercules." Out in the Atlantic Ocean, the ship stopped over the shallows to test its underwater equipment. Pure chance helped to choose a parking spot just above the underwater volcano Ampère. It was possible to establish that the Amper volcano once protruded from the water and was an island.

In 1982, the Soviet ship "Rift" lowered the underwater vehicle "Argus" into the ocean. "The panorama of the ruins of the city opened up to us, since the walls very similarly imitated the remains of rooms, streets, squares," commander of the "Argus" V. Bulyga reported to the Institute of Oceanology of the Academy of Sciences. Unfortunately, the next Vityaz expedition, which took place in the summer of 1984, did not confirm such encouraging impressions of the aquanaut. From one of the walls, two stones of a fairly regular shape were raised up, but their analysis showed that this was not a creation of human hands, but a volcanic rock. The commander of the Argus crew, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences A. Gorodnitsky, writes: "Most likely, the stone is a frozen lava that once poured out through the cracks of the volcano." Another seamount, Josephine, was also surveyed, also an ancient volcano, and in the past an island.

A. Gorodnitsky proposed his own model of a grandiose geological catastrophe of the distant past. It arose due to a sharp shift in the northern direction of the African tectonic plate. Its collision with the European plate caused the eruption of the Santorin volcano in the east, and in the west - a sinking into the ocean of the mentioned volcanic islands. This hypothesis does not contradict the geological and geophysical data of modern science. However, once again, Atlantis turned out to be not a fascinating hypothesis, but only a myth: scientists did not find any traces of the remains of the material culture of the Atlanteans.

Atlantis (Greek: Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, Atlantis island) - mythical Island state, first mentioned and described by the classical Greek philosopher Plato in the dialogues Timaeus and Critias. About what Atlantis is and where it is located, they have been arguing since the first mention of it. This concept represents a variety of ideas: for some, it is an object of archaeological research, waiting to be discovered, a lost source of supernatural knowledge and power, or perhaps nothing more than a philosophical treatise on the danger of civilization at its apogee. Whether Atlantis was real, or just Plato's invention, will probably never be known. Nevertheless, the idea of its existence continues to inspire and intrigue many, echoing the desire to achieve or return to an era of prosperity.

Origin of the myth

The description of Atlantis by Plato, which is considered the first, is found in the dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written in 360 BC. e. In the Socratic style of dialogue, the author conveys his story through the conversation of the politicians Critias and Hermocrates, as well as the philosophers Socrates and Timaeus. The island state is spoken of by Critias, first in the Timaeus, briefly describing the vast empire "beyond the Pillars of Hercules", defeated by the Athenians after it tried to conquer Europe, and then Critias proceeds to describe in detail a powerful civilization. The politician claims that his stories about ancient Athens and Atlantis stem from a visit to Egypt by the Athenian legislator Solon in the sixth century BC. e. There he met a priest from Sais, who translated the history of the ancient states, recorded on papyri, into Greek.

Narratives of the Egyptian clerics

The story told by the priests was unknown to Solon. According to the records, the Athenians fought a war against the rulers of Atlantis about nine thousand years ago and won it.

The ancient and powerful kings of the mythical island formed a confederation, with the help of which they ruled it and other islands. Having started the war, the rulers sent troops to Europe and Asia. To counter this attack, the Athenians formed a pan-Greek alliance. At the first difficulty, it collapsed, and the Athenians fought the war alone. The invasion was stopped, and then Egypt and other countries conquered by the rulers of Atlantis were liberated.

Shortly after the victory, even before the Athenians returned home, the island nation suffered catastrophic earthquakes and floods until it disappeared under water. According to legend, all the brave men were consumed in one day and night of horror. That is why the Egyptians never thanked the Athenians.

In addition, Plato describes the history of Atlantis, which shows how the rulers got to the point where they wanted to conquer the whole world. The story was written down by Solon and passed down in his family from generation to generation.

Divine redistribution

According to the records of Solon, the history of the mythical island began at the beginning of time. It was then that the immortal gods divided the world among themselves and each controlled his part. God Poseidon got Atlantis. Where it is located was not specified, but it was an island, the size of which was larger than Libya and Asia combined. He chose the mortal woman Kleito as his wife and with her founded a dynasty of rulers of the state.

Poseidon and Kleito

Poseidon built a house on a high hill, in the very center of the island. The building towered over a fertile plain bordered by the sea. To protect his beloved wife, Poseidon, with ease and divine art, surrounded her house with five concentric rings of water and soil. Hot and cold springs spouted from the ground. With the development of the city, its inhabitants have never lacked water.

Cleito bore Poseidon ten sons, five pairs of twins. Atlas, the first son of the first couple, became the ruler vast land my father. His brothers were appointed archons, each of whom ruled over most of this territory. The most valuable part of the kingdom was the mother's house on top of the mountain and the land around it. Atlas had many sons, and the throne passed to the eldest of them.

peaceful prosperity

For generations, Atlantis has remained peaceful and prosperous. Almost all the needs of the population were provided by the mines, fields and forests of the island. Everything that was not produced was imported. This became possible because a canal was built that passed through all the rings from the ocean to the center of the kingdom, the acropolis, where the royal palace stood near the house of Poseidon and Kleito. Each subsequent ruler tried to surpass his predecessor in creating a larger kingdom. Finally, the splendid metropolis and outer city extended beyond the great outer wall.

Laws of Poseidon

Poseidon established the laws of Atlantis, which the rulers had to abide by. The governing body was to meet regularly. It consisted of ten representatives of the first rulers - Atlanta and his brothers - who had absolute power over the life and death of their subjects. The meetings took place in the temple of Poseidon, where the first rulers inscribed the laws on an orichalcum pillar. First of all, in accordance with the requirements of the ancient ceremony, the archons exchanged gifts. Then the sacrifice of the sacred bull took place. The blood was mixed with wine and poured into the fire as an act of purification. The rulers were served wine in golden goblets, poured libations over fire, and swore to pass judgment in accordance with prescribed laws. Everyone drank wine and dedicated his cup to the temple. This was followed by lunch, for which the participants dressed in magnificent blue robes. In them, they resolved issues relating to the kingdom, in accordance with the laws of Poseidon.

court of the gods

As long as the rulers judged and lived according to the laws of Poseidon, the state flourished. When the laws began to be forgotten, trouble arose. The rulers began to marry mortals and behave like unreasonable people. Pride seized them, and they began to fight for more power. Then Zeus saw what happened: the rulers abandoned the laws of the gods and began to act in concert with the people. He gathered all the gods of Olympus and was going to make a decision about Atlantis. This concludes Plato's story.

Fact or fiction?

Whether this was done on purpose or not, no one knows. Just like no one knows, Plato believed in the real existence of the island, or it was pure fiction. Many are convinced that the author, who used many details in his description, believed in him. Others reject this, arguing that it was precisely because the story is pure fiction that Plato was able to come up with as many details as he wanted. Its dating is also questionable. According to Solon, the island existed 9,000 years ago. This is in line with the earlier stone age. During this period, it is difficult to imagine the existence of agriculture, architecture and maritime navigation, described in the story. One explanation for this inconsistency is Solon's misinterpretation of the Egyptian character 100 as 1000. If so, then Atlantis existed 900 years before the time of the story. This corresponds to the middle of the Bronze Age, when the tools and equipment necessary to achieve the described level of development already appeared.

Many ancient philosophers regarded Atlantis as a fiction, including (according to Strabo) Aristotle. Nevertheless, there were also philosophers, geographers, and historians who took Plato's story at face value. One of them was Krantor, a student of Plato's student Xenocrates, who was trying to find evidence for the existence of Atlantis. His work, the Timaeus commentary, is lost, but another ancient historian, Proclus, reports that Crantor went to Egypt and actually found columns with the history of the island written in Egyptian hieroglyphs. As in all works of antiquity, it is difficult to evaluate the ambiguous proclamations here, since no evidence other than written evidence has been preserved.

Second Troy?

Disputes about the location of Atlantis, until the end of the nineteenth century, were not as violent as after the discovery in 1872 by Heinrich Schliemann of the lost city of Troy. He did this with the help of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, so it became clear that the classical sources, previously considered myths, actually contain some lost truths. Scientist Ignatius Donnelly published Atlantis: An Antediluvian World in 1882, which stimulated interest in the legendary island. The author took the mention of Plato seriously and tried to establish that all known ancient civilizations originated from a high Neolithic culture. Others have proposed more outlandish ideas, attributing supernatural aspects to Atlantis, combining them with stories of other lost continents such as Mu and Lemuria, popular figures in the theosophical movement, the occult, and the growing New Age phenomenon.

Parable of Plato

Most scholars have dismissed belief in Atlantis as the idea of a "new age" religion, considering the most plausible explanation that the island was a parable of Plato, or based on another known civilization, the Minoan. The fact that the Greek philosopher often told moral stories under the guise of fiction is cited in support of this view. The Cave is perhaps the most famous example in which Plato illustrates the nature of reality. Scientists warn that the literal understanding of the myth is its perversion. It is more likely that Plato sent a warning to his fellow tribesmen about the dangers of imperial expansion, political ambitions, praising nobility and the conversion of knowledge not for personal gain.

The truth about the intentions of the Greek philosopher will remain known only to himself, but no one can doubt the symbolic longevity of his story. If Atlantis cannot be a physical place, then it certainly has a place in the general human imagination.

Location hypotheses

Dozens, and maybe hundreds of assumptions were put forward about where Atlantis is located, until the moment when the name turned into a household name, not related to one specific (perhaps even genuine) location. This is reflected in the fact that many of the proposed locations are not located at all in Atlantic Ocean. Most of the proposed locations share some of the features of the mythical island's history (water, cataclysmic end, appropriate time period), but it has never been definitively proven to be the true Atlantis. Where is located (we cannot provide a photo of it, for obvious reasons), the most likely location of its location can be found from the list of popular options. Some of them are scientific or archaeological hypotheses, while others have been created by pseudo-scientific means.

Mediterranean Atlantis

Where is legendary island, guessed a lot. Most of of the proposed sites was located within or near mediterranean sea, or islands such as Sardinia, Crete, Santorini, Cyprus or Malta.

The volcanic eruption on Thera, dated to the seventeenth or fifteenth century BC, caused a massive tsunami, which, according to the hypothesis put forward by experts, destroyed the Minoan civilization on the nearby island of Crete. This catastrophe may have inspired the myth of Atlantis. Proponents of the idea refer to the fact that the Egyptians used moon calendar, based on months, while the Greeks use solar, based on years. It is therefore possible that the time interpreted as nine thousand years actually corresponds to 9000 months, placing the demise of Atlantis within about 7 hundred years.

Santorini

Volcanic eruptions on the Mediterranean island of Santorini during the Minoan civilization most likely caused the cataclysm that destroyed Atlantis. The main criticism of this hypothesis is that the ancient Greeks were well aware of volcanoes, and if there was an eruption, it would be likely that there was a mention of it. In addition, Pharaoh Amenhotep III ordered his emissary to visit the cities surrounding Crete, and he found them inhabited where everything was allegedly completely destroyed.

Spartel

Another hypothesis is based on recreating the geography of the Mediterranean at a time when Atlantis still existed. Where she was, Plato points out - outside the Pillars of Hercules. So called strait of Gibraltar connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean. Eleven thousand years ago, the sea level was 130 m lower, and there were a number of islands in the strait. One of them, Spartel, is Atlantis, where she sank, although there are a number of inconsistencies with Plato's version.

Sardinia

In 2002, the Italian journalist Sergio Frau published the book "The Pillars of Hercules" in which he stated that before Eratosthenes, all ancient Greek writers placed them in the Sicilian Strait, and the campaign of Alexander the Great to the east obliged Eratosthenes in his description of the world to move the pillars to Gibraltar. According to his thesis, Atlantis was there, where Sardinia is today. Indeed, the tsunami produced catastrophic destruction on the island, destroying the mysterious Nuragic civilization. A few survivors moved to the neighboring Italic peninsula, establishing the Etruscan culture that became the basis for later Roman culture, while other survivors were part of the "Sea Peoples" that attacked Egypt.

Beyond the Mediterranean

Outside the Mediterranean Sea, Antarctica was placed in all corners of the world - from Ireland and Sweden to Indonesia and Japan. Many of these theories rely on weak evidence. Two of the most talked about areas are Antarctica.

Is the Bimini Road a sunken Atlantis?

Everyone seems to know where the Bermuda Triangle is located. Often associated with mysterious events, the Caribbean drew attention to underwater structures called the Bimini Road, discovered by pilots in the 1960s. The Bimini Road consists of big stones, located in two parallel rows in shallow water for several kilometers from the Bimini Islands. Many expeditions went there to try to prove or disprove the technogenic origin of these formations and somehow connect them with Atlantis. Most scientists, in particular geologists, have found the evidence inconclusive or have concluded that it is a natural phenomenon. Others, however, strongly argue that the rock is too symmetrical and deliberate to be a simple creation of nature. In any case, no other remains have been found to confirm that the road leads to the sunken island.

Antarctica

The theory that Antarctica is the place where Atlantis (photo) once sank was especially popular in the 1960s and 1970s. It was fueled by Lovecraft's The Ridges of Madness, as well as the Piri Reis map, which allegedly shows Antarctica as it would be without ice, as far as knowledge of that period allowed. Charles Berlitz, Erich von Daniken, and Peter Colosimo were among the popular authors who made this suggestion. However, the theory of continental drift contradicts this idea, because during the lifetime of Plato, Antarctica was in its current location and retained its inhospitable climate. Nevertheless, the romance of unexplored regions gives rise to many ideas like Atlantis to this day.

pop culture

The exploration and discovery of long lost cities and civilizations is a topic that in the popular imagination is not bound by space or time. Atlantis has become mythical island, whose name turned out to be symbolic for all the other lost cities. Mentions of it are present in all literary genres, from works of the Renaissance to modern science fiction, fantasy, archaeological and scientific works, New Age books. Television and cinema have also taken advantage of the charm of Atlantis. The myth turned out to be so enticing that one of the largest hotels in the Bahamas, the Atlantis Paradise Island Resort, has become a lost city-themed resort.

There are those in the New Age movement who believe that Atlantis, where there was a technologically advanced civilization, self-destructed due to rapid progress, or that extraterrestrial technology was used there. Similar ideas have been attributed to other ancient cultures, as many New Age believers seek to integrate different mysterious phenomena in one idea. After all, the ongoing discussions about what Atlantis is, where this sunken island is located, is evidence of humanity's endless curiosity and desire not to be content with the current vision of the world, but to continue to search for secrets and discover the lost worlds of our past.

The "fatal" mistake of Plato (Critias or Solon) is revealed, which led to confusion with the location of Atlantis.

Atlantis has not disappeared, it exists and lies in the depths of the sea. A lot has been said about Atlantis, thousands of research materials have been written. Historians, archaeologists, searchers have proposed fifty versions of a possible location around the world (in Scandinavia, in the Baltic Sea, in Greenland, North and South America, in Africa, the Black, Aegean, Caspian Sea, in the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and so on), but the exact location is not named. Why such confusion?

Starting to figure it out, you discover one pattern that all assumptions are initially tied to some kind of similarity, a find of antiquity, a single description, under which (which) the materials were subsequently “fitted”. As a result, nothing worked. There is a similarity, but Atlantis cannot be found.

We'll go the other way

Let's look for Atlantis in a different way, which in this case (judging by the well-known proposals), has not been used by anyone before. First, let's take the method of elimination, where Atlantis could not be. As the circle narrows, we will use all the "benchmarks" that were proposed by the ancient Greek scientist, the sage (428-347 BC) Plato (Aristocles) in his works - Timaeus and Critias. In these documents, the description of Atlantis, its inhabitants and historical events associated with the life of the legendary island.

“Aristotle taught me to satisfy my mind only with what reasoning convinces me, and not just the authority of teachers. Such is the power of truth: you are trying to refute it, but your attacks themselves elevate it and give it great value, ”said the Italian philosopher, physicist, mathematician Galileo Galilei in the 16th century.

Below is a map of the world, as it was presented in Greece during the time of Plato, Herodotus (IV - V century BC).

Mediterranean Sea

So, let's start "cutting the ends." Atlantis could not be in any far corner of the world, and even it was not in the Atlantic Ocean. You will ask why? Because the war (according to the history of the story) between Athens and Atlantis could not be anywhere except in the Mediterranean Sea on this “patch of civilization” due to the limited development of mankind. The world is big - but the developed one is small. Close neighbors fight among themselves more often and constantly than distant ones. Athens simply could not, with her army and navy, reach the limits of Atlantis if she were somewhere far away. Water and vast distances were an insurmountable obstacle.

“This barrier was insurmountable for people, because ships and shipping did not yet exist,” Plato narrates in his work Critias.

IN ancient Greek mythology, which arose many thousands of years later than the time of the death of Atlantis, the only (!) Hero Hercules (according to Homer in the XII century BC) performed a feat, according to legend, traveling to the farthest western point light to the edge of the Mediterranean.

“When the Atlas Mountains arose on the path of Hercules, he did not climb them, but made his way through, thus paving the Strait of Gibraltar and connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic. This point also served as a border for navigators in the ancient era, therefore, in a figurative sense, “Hercules (Hercules) pillars” is the end of the world, the limit of the world. And the expression to reach the pillars of Hercules "means" to reach the limit.

See picture The Strait of Gibraltar today is the place reached by the historical hero Heracles.

In the foreground is the Rock of Gibraltar on the edge of mainland Europe, and in the background on the coast of Africa is Mount Jebel Musa in Morocco.

What western limit of the earth reached Hercules (“end of the world”) was unattainable by other mortals. Thus, Atlantis was closer to the center ancient civilization She was in the Mediterranean. But where exactly?

Pillars of Hercules (according to Plato's story, behind which lay the island of Atlantis) in the Mediterranean Sea at that time there were seven pairs (Gibraltar, Dardanelles, Bosphorus, Kerch Strait, the mouth of the Nile, etc.). The pillars were located at the entrances to the straits, and all had the same name - Heracles (later Latin name - Hercules). The pillars served as landmarks and beacons for ancient sailors.

“First of all, let us briefly recall that, according to legend, nine thousand years ago there was a war between those peoples who lived on the other side of the Pillars of Hercules, and all those who lived on this side: we will have to tell about this war ... How we have already mentioned that it was once an island that exceeded the size of Libya and Asia (not their entire geographical territory, but rather the areas inhabited in antiquity), but now it has failed due to earthquakes and has turned into impenetrable silt, blocking the way for sailors who would try to swim from us to the open sea, and making navigation unthinkable. (Plato, Critias).

This information about Atlantis, which dates back to the 6th century BC. came from the Egyptian priest Timaeus from the city of Sais, located on the coast of Africa, in the western delta of the Nile. The current name of this village is Sa el-Hagar (see below the picture of the Nile River Delta).

When Timaeus said that the barrier from the remains of the sunken Atlantis blocked the way "from us to the open sea", then speaking about us (about himself and about Egypt), this clearly testified to the location of Atlantis. That is, it lies in the direction of travel from the Egyptian mouth of the Nile to the wide waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

In ancient times, the Pillars of Hercules were also called the entrance to the main navigable (western) mouth of the Nile, nicknamed the mouth of Heracles, that is, Hercules, where the city of Heracleum was located and there was a temple in honor of Hercules. Over time, silt and floating material from the sunken Atlantis it was blown across the sea, and the island itself went even deeper into the abyss.

“Since in nine thousand years there have been many great floods (namely, so many years have passed from those times to Plato), the earth did not accumulate in the form of any significant shoal, as in other places, but was washed away by waves and then disappeared into the abyss.” (Plato, Critias).

Crete

Next, we exclude other, impossible locations. Atlantis could not be located in the Mediterranean Sea north of the island of Crete. Today in that area there are countless small islands scattered over the water area, which does not correspond to the story of flooding (!), and by this very fact excludes the entire territory. But even this is not the main thing. There would not have been enough space for Atlantis (according to the description of its size) in the sea north of Crete.

Expedition of a famous explorer sea depths French scientist-oceanographer in the area north of Crete on the periphery of the islands of Thira (Strongel), Thera discovered the remains of an ancient sunken city, but from the above it follows that it belongs to a different civilization rather than Atlantis.

In the archipelago of islands Aegean Sea Earthquakes are known, catastrophes associated with volcanic activity, which led to local subsidence of the earth, and according to new evidence, they occur in our time. For example, recently sunk medieval fortress in the Aegean Sea near the city of Marmaris in a bay on the coast of Turkey.

Between Cyprus, Crete and Africa

Narrowing the search circle, we come to the conclusion that only one thing remains - Atlantis could only be in one place opposite the mouth of the Nile - between the islands of Crete, Cyprus and north coast Africa. She is there today at a depth and lies, having fallen into a deep basin of the sea.

The failure of an almost oval water area with influx from the coast, horizontal wrinkling (from sliding) of sedimentary rocks to the center of the "funnel" is clearly visible from the Internet survey of the seabed from space. The bottom in this place resembles a pit, sprinkled with soft sedimentary rock on top, there is no solid "crust of the continental mantle" under it. Only visible on the body of the Earth is a hollow inside that is not overgrown with firmament.

The Egyptian priest Timaeus, in his story about the location of the silt from the flooded Atlantis, gives a link to the Pillars of Hercules (it was logical for him to say - closest to him), located at the mouth of the western Nile.

In another case (later already in Greece), when Plato described the power of Atlantis, we are already talking about other pillars, as mentioned above, there were seven of them in the Mediterranean at that time. When Plato expounded the text of the work (according to the retelling of Solon and Critias), the Egyptian priest Timaeus (the primary source of the story) had not been there for 200 years by that time, and there was no one to clarify the information about which pillars they were talking about. Therefore, the subsequent confusion arose with the location of Atlantis.

“After all, according to our records, your state (Athens) put an end to the insolence of countless military forces that set off to conquer all of Europe and Asia, and kept their way from the Atlantic Sea. […] On this island, called Atlantis, there arose a kingdom amazing in size and power, whose power extended to the whole island, to many other islands and to part of the mainland, and moreover, on this side of the strait they took possession of Libya (northern Africa ) as far as Egypt and Europe as far as Tirrenia (west coast of Italy). (Plato, Timaeus).

The sea that washed the island of Atlantis (between Crete, Cyprus and Egypt) was called the Atlantic in ancient times, it was located in the Mediterranean Sea, as well as modern seas: Aegean, Tyrrhenian, Adriatic, Ionian.

Subsequently, due to an error in tying Atlantis not to the Nile, but to the Pillars of Gibraltar, the name "Atlantic" Sea automatically spread to the ocean beyond the strait. The once inland Atlantic Sea, due to the inaccuracy of the interpretation of the story of Timaeus and the description (Plato, Critias or Solon), became the Atlantic Ocean. As the Russian proverb says: “We got lost in three pines” (more precisely, in seven pairs of pillars). When Atlantis went into the abyss of the sea, the Atlantic Sea disappeared with it.

Timaeus, narrating the history of Atlantis, noted that the victory of Athens brought freedom from slavery to all other peoples (including the Egyptians), who had not yet been enslaved by the Atlanteans - "on this side of the Pillars of Hercules", speaking about himself - about Egypt.

“It was then, Solon, that your state showed the whole world a brilliant proof of its valor and strength: all, surpassing all in fortitude and experience in military affairs, it first stood at the head of the Hellenes, but because of the betrayal of the allies, it turned out to be left to itself, met alone with extreme dangers and yet defeated the conquerors and erected victorious trophies. Those who were not yet enslaved, it saved from the threat of slavery; all the rest, no matter how much we lived on this side of the Pillars of Heracles, it generously made free. But later, when the time came for unprecedented earthquakes and floods, in one terrible day, all your military strength was swallowed up by the cracked earth; likewise, Atlantis disappeared, plunging into the abyss. After that, the sea in those places has become unnavigable and inaccessible to this day due to the shallowing caused by the huge amount of silt that the settled island left behind. (Plato, Timaeus).

Description of the island

You can even more clarify the place of Atlantis from the description of the island itself.

“Poseidon, having received the island of Atlantis as his inheritance ..., approximately in this place: from the sea to the middle of the island, a plain stretched, according to legend, more beautiful than all other plains and very fertile.” (Plato, Timaeus).

“This whole region lay very high and steeply cut off to the sea, but the whole plain that surrounded the city (capital) and itself surrounded by mountains that stretched to the sea, was a flat expanse, three thousand stadia long (580 km.), And in the direction from the sea to the middle - two thousand (390 km.). All this part of the island was turned to the south wind, and from the north it was closed by mountains. These mountains are praised by legend because they surpassed all the present ones in their multitude, size and beauty. The plain ... was an oblong quadrangle, mostly rectilinear. (Plato, Critias).

So, following the description - approximately to the middle of the island of Atlantis stretched a rectangular plain measuring 580 by 390 kilometers, open to the south and closed from the north by large and high mountains. Fitting these dimensions into a geographical map north of the mouth of the Nile, we get that the southern part of Atlantis could completely adjoin Africa (near the Libyan cities of Tobruk, Derna and Egyptian cities on the coast west of Alexandria), and its northern mountainous part could be (but not a fact) - the island of Crete (in the west), and Cyprus (in the east).

In favor of the fact that Atlantis in earlier times (than its mention in the ancient Egyptian papyri), namely tens of thousands of years ago, was connected with Africa - says the story of the animal world of the island.

“Even elephants were found on the island in great numbers, for there was enough food not only for all other living creatures that inhabit the swamps, lakes and rivers, mountains or plains, but also for this beast, of all the animals, the largest and voracious.” (Plato, Critias).

It should also be taken into account that with the end ice age with the beginning of the melting of the northern glaciers, the level of the world ocean rose by 100-150 meters and, probably, the part of the land that once connected Atlantis and the mainland was gradually flooded. Elephants and the inhabitants of the island of Atlantis (named after their king Atlanta), who came here earlier from the depths of Africa, remained on a large island surrounded by the sea.

Atlanteans were ordinary people modern look, and not four-meter giants, otherwise the Hellenes from Athens would not have been able to defeat them. The insular, isolated position of the inhabitants prompted civilization to a separate active, ahead of external warring barbarians, development (fortunately, everything needed was on the island).

On Atlantis (in its capital, similar to a hill extinct volcano) hot springs flowed from the ground mineral water. This indicates a high seismic activity of the territory located on the "thin" mantle of the earth's crust... "a spring of cold and a spring of hot water, which gave water in abundance, and, moreover, amazing both in taste and in healing power." (Plato, Critias).

Immersion under water

I will not now assume what caused the internal "hiccups" of the Earth, as a result of which Atlantis sank into the basin of the Mediterranean Sea in a day, and then even deeper. But it should be noted that exactly in that place along the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea there is a fault boundary between the African and European continental tectonic plates.

The depth of the sea there is very large - about 3000-4000 meters. It is possible that a powerful impact of a giant meteorite in North America in Mexico, which, according to the US National Academy of Sciences, occurred 13 thousand years ago (about the same time) and caused an inertial wave and plate movement in the Mediterranean.

Just like continental plates, crawling on top of each other, breaking edges, uplift mountains - the same process, but in the opposite direction, when diverging, it forms subsidence and deep depressions. The African plate slightly moved away from the European one, and this was quite enough to lower Atlantis into the abyss of the sea.

The fact that Africa in the history of the Earth has already moved away from Europe and Asia is clearly evidenced by the huge intercontinental fault that runs through the Mediterranean Sea. The fault is clearly visible on the geographical map along the lines (seas) of the split in the earth's crust, which go in the directions - the Dead Sea, the Gulf of Aqaba, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Persian and Oman.

See the picture below, how the continent of Africa moves away from Asia, forming the above seas and bays at the break points.

Crete - Atlantis

It is possible that the current island of Crete was earlier that very northern, high mountainous part of Atlantis, which did not fall into the abyss of the sea, but, having broken away, stayed on the "European continental cornice". On the other hand, if you look at Crete on a geographical map, then it does not stand on the very cliff of the mantle of the European mainland, but about 100 kilometers from the basin of the Mediterranean (Atlantic) Sea. This means that the catastrophic rupture of Atlantis by the current coastline Crete was not.

But here we must also take into account the fact that since then the sea level has risen by 100-150 meters (or more) due to the melting of glaciers. It is possible that Crete and Cyprus, as independent units, were part of the archipelago of the island Atlantis.

Historians and archaeologists write: “Excavations in Crete show that even four or five millennia after the alleged death of Atlantis, the inhabitants of this Mediterranean island sought to settle away from the coast. (Memory of ancestors?). Unknown fear drove them to the mountains. The first centers of agriculture and culture are also located at some distance from the sea”…

The former proximity of the location of Atlantis to Africa and to the mouth of the Nile is indirectly evidenced by the extensive Kattara depression in North Africa in the Libyan desert, 50 km from the Mediterranean coast, to the west Egyptian city Alexandria. The Qattara depression is minus 133 meters below sea level.

See the picture above - the huge Qattara depression near the Mediterranean coast in Egypt.

There is also another lowland on the tectonic fault line - this is the Dead Sea (minus 395 meters) in Israel. They testify to a once-completed territorial catastrophe, common to all, associated with the subsidence of large tracts of land from the divergence in different directions of the European and African continental plates.

What gives the establishment of the exact location of Atlantis

Mediterranean depression in place former Atlantis too deep. At first, the silt that rose and then settled to the bottom and subsequent sedimentary deposits somewhat covered Atlantis. The golden capital with its countless treasures in the temple of Poseidon turned out to be at great depths.

The search for the capital of Atlantis in the southern part of the Mediterranean Sea in the "triangle" between the islands of Crete, Cyprus, the mouth of the Nile will bring a useful result to the "treasury" of the world history of mankind, but this requires research by deep-sea vehicles.

There are guidelines for the attentive reader to search for the capital... There are two Mir underwater stations in Russia that could survey and study the bottom.

For example, Italian explorers-oceanographers in the summer of 2015 on the shelf of the island of Pantelleria, located approximately in the middle between Sicily and Africa, at a depth of 40 meters at the bottom of the sea found a giant man-made column 12 meters long, weighing 15 tons, broken in half. Traces of drilling holes are visible on the column. Its age is estimated at about 10 thousand years (comparable to the era of the Atlanteans). Divers also found the remains of a pier - a ridge of stones half a meter in size, laid out in a straight line, protecting the entrance to the ancient ship harbor.
These findings suggest that the search for the capital of Atlantis is not hopeless.

It is also encouraging that the confusion with the "Pillars of Hercules" has been successfully resolved and the location of Atlantis has finally been established.

Already today, for the sake of historical truth, the Mediterranean basin, at the bottom of which lies the legendary island in memory of Atlantis and its inhabitants, can and must be returned ancient name— the Atlantic Sea. This will be the first important world event in the search and discovery of Atlantis.

The debate about whether the existence of Atlantis was a reality or a beautiful legend has not subsided for many centuries. On this occasion, a large number of the most controversial theories were put forward, but they were all based on information obtained from the texts of ancient Greek authors, none of whom personally saw this mysterious island, but transmitted only information obtained from earlier sources. So how true is the legend of Atlantis and where did it come from in our modern world?

An island sunk into the sea

First of all, let us clarify that the word "Atlantis" is commonly understood as some fantastic (since there is no direct evidence of its existence) island located in the Atlantic Ocean. Its exact location is unknown. According to the most popular legend, Atlantis was located somewhere near the north west coast Africa, bordered by the Atlas Mountains, and close Pillars of Hercules framing the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar.

It was placed there in his dialogues (works written in the form of a conversation of historical or fictional persons) by the famous ancient Greek philosopher Plato. On the basis of his works, a very popular legend about Atlantis was subsequently born. It says that around 9500 BC. e. in the above area there was a terrible earthquake, as a result of which the island forever plunged into the abyss of the ocean.

On that day, an ancient and highly developed civilization, created by the islanders, whom Plato calls "Atlanteans", perished. It should be noted right away that, due to similar names, they are sometimes mistakenly identified with the characters of ancient Greek mythology - mighty titans holding the vault of heaven on their shoulders. This mistake is so common that when looking at the sculptures by the outstanding Russian sculptor A. I. Terebenev (see photo below), decorating the portico of the New Hermitage in St. Petersburg, many people associate with heroes who once sunk deep into the seas.

A mystery that excites the minds of people

During the Middle Ages, the works of Plato, as well as most other ancient historians and philosophers, were forgotten, but already in the XIV-XVI centuries, which received the name of the Renaissance, interest in them, and at the same time in Atlantis and the legend associated with its existence , increased rapidly. It does not weaken to this day, giving rise to heated scientific discussions. Scientists around the world are trying to find real evidence of the events described by Plato and a number of his followers, and to answer the question of what Atlantis really was - legend or reality?

An island inhabited by people who created the highest civilization at that time, and then swallowed up by the ocean, is a mystery, exciting minds people and encouraging them to look for answers outside the real world. It is known that even in Ancient Greece the legend of Atlantis gave impetus to many mystical teachings, and in modern history it inspired theosophical thinkers. The best known of these are H. P. Blavatsky and A. P. Sinnett. The authors of various kinds of near-scientific and simply fantastic works of various genres, which also turned to the image of Atlantis, did not stand aside.

Where did the legend come from?

But let us return to the writings of Plato, since they are the primary source that aroused centuries-old disputes and discussions. As mentioned above, the mention of Atlantis is contained in two of his dialogues, called Timaeus and Critias. Both of them are devoted to the issue of the state system and are conducted on behalf of his contemporaries: the Athenian politician Critias, as well as two philosophers - Socrates and Timaeus. We note right away that Plato makes a reservation that the primary source of all information about Atlantis is the story of the ancient Egyptian priests, which was passed down orally from generation to generation and finally reached him.

The troubles that befell the Atlanteans

The first of the dialogues contains a report by Critias about the war between Athens and Atlantis. According to him, the island, with the army of which his compatriots had to face, was so large that it surpassed all of Asia in size, which gives reason to call it the mainland with full right. As for the state formed on it, it amazed everyone with its greatness and, being unusually powerful, conquered Libya, as well as a significant territory of Europe, stretching up to Tirrenia (Western Italy).

In 9500 B.C. e. Atlanteans, wanting to conquer Athens, brought down on them all the power of their previously invincible army, but, despite the clear superiority of forces, they could not succeed. The Athenians repulsed the invasion and, having defeated the enemy, returned freedom to the peoples who until then had been in slavery to the islanders. However, the troubles did not recede from the prosperous and once prosperous Atlantis. The legend, or rather, the story of Critias, which is based on it, tells further about a terrible natural disaster that completely destroyed the island and forced it to sink into ocean depths. Literally within a day, the raging elements wiped out a huge continent from the face of the earth and put an end to the highly developed culture created on it.

Commune of Athenian rulers

The continuation of this story is the second dialogue that has come down to us, called Critias. In it, the same Athenian politician tells in more detail about the two great states of antiquity, whose armies met on the battlefield shortly before the fatal flood. Athens, according to him, was a highly developed state and so pleasing to the gods that, according to legend, the end of Atlantis was a foregone conclusion.

The description of the system of government that was arranged in it is quite remarkable. According to Critias, on the Acropolis - a hill, and still towering in the center Greek capital- there was a certain commune, partly reminiscent of those that the founders of the communist movement imagined in their imagination. Everything in it was equal and everything was enough in abundance. But it was not inhabited ordinary people, but by rulers and warriors who ensured the maintenance of the order they desired in the country. The laboring masses were only allowed to reverently look at their shining heights and fulfill the plans descended from there.

Arrogant descendants of Poseidon

In the same treatise, the author contrasted the humble and virtuous Athenians with the high-proud Atlanteans. Their ancestor, as is clear from the work of Plato, was the god of the seas Poseidon himself. Once, having witnessed how an earthly girl named Kleito did not live her young body in the waves, he was inflamed with passion and, having evoked reciprocal feelings in her, became the father of ten sons - demigods, half-humans.

The eldest of them, named Atlas, was put in charge of the island, divided into nine parts, each of which was under the command of one of his brothers. In the future, not only the island inherited his name, but even the ocean on which he was located. All his brothers became the founders of dynasties that lived and ruled in this fertile land for many centuries. This is how the legend describes the birth of Atlantis as a powerful and sovereign state.

Island of abundance and wealth

In his work, Plato also gives the dimensions of this legendary mainland island known to him. According to him, it was 540 km long and at least 360 km wide. The highest point of this vast territory was a hill, the height of which the author does not specify, but writes that it was located about 9-10 km from the seashore.

It was on it that the palace of the ruler was built, which Poseidon himself surrounded by three land and two water defensive rings. Later, his Atlantean descendants threw bridges over them and dug additional channels through which ships could freely approach the piers located at the very walls of the palace. They also erected many temples on the central hill, richly decorated with gold and decorated with statues of celestials and earthly rulers of Atlantis.

Myths and legends, born on the basis of the writings of Plato, are full of descriptions of the treasures owned by the descendants of the sea god, as well as the richness of nature and the fertility of the island. In the dialogues of the ancient Greek philosopher, in particular, it is mentioned that, despite the densely populated Atlantis, wild animals lived very freely on its territory, among which there were even not yet tamed and not domesticated elephants. At the same time, Plato does not disregard many of the negative aspects of the life of the islanders, which caused the wrath of the gods and caused the catastrophe.

The end of Atlantis and the beginning of the legend

Peace and prosperity that had reigned there for many centuries collapsed overnight through the fault of the Atlanteans themselves. The author writes that as long as the inhabitants of the island put virtue above wealth and honors, the celestials were favorable to them, but turned away from them as soon as the glitter of gold eclipsed spiritual values in their eyes. Looking at how people who had lost their divine essence were filled with pride, greed and anger, Zeus did not want to restrain his anger and, having gathered other gods, gave them the right to pass their sentence. This is where the manuscript of the ancient Greek philosopher ends, but, judging by the catastrophe that soon befell the wicked proud, they were considered unworthy of mercy, which ultimately led to such a sad outcome.

The legends of Atlantis (or information about real events - this remains unknown) attracted the attention of many ancient Greek historians and writers. In particular, the Athenian Hellanic, who lived in the 5th century BC. e., also describes this island in one of his writings, however, calling it a little differently - Atlantiad - and not mentioning its death. However, modern researchers, for a number of reasons, believe that his story is not related to lost Atlantis, but to Crete, which has successfully survived the centuries, in whose history the sea god Poseidon also appears, who conceived a son from an earthly maiden.

It is curious that the name "Atlantes" was applied by ancient Greek and Roman authors not only to the islanders, but also to the inhabitants of continental Africa. In particular, Herodotus, as well as a no less famous historian, so called a certain tribe that lived in the Atlas Mountains near the ocean coast. These African Atlanteans were very warlike and, being at a low stage of development, waged constant wars with foreigners, among whom were the legendary Amazons.

As a result, they were completely exterminated by their neighbors, the troglodytes, who, although they were in a semi-animal state, still managed to win. There is an opinion that Aristotle said on this occasion that it was not the military superiority of the savages that led to the death of the Atlantean tribe, but the creator of the world, Zeus, killed them for their iniquities.

A product of fantasy that survived the ages

Attitude modern researchers to the information presented in the dialogues of Plato and in the writings of a number of other authors, is extremely skeptical. Most of them consider Atlantis a legend with no real basis. Their position is explained primarily by the fact that for many centuries no material evidence of its existence has been found. It really is. There are no archaeological data on the existence at the end of the Ice Age, as well as the nearest millennia to it, such advanced civilization V West Africa or Greece.

It is also bewildering that the story allegedly told to the world by the ancient Greek priests and then passed down to Plato in oral retelling was not reflected in any of the written monuments found on the banks of the Nile. This involuntarily suggests that the ancient Greek philosopher himself composed tragic story Atlantis.

He could well borrow the beginning of the legend from the rich domestic mythology, in which the gods often became the founders of entire nations and continents. As for the tragic denouement of the plot, he needed it. The fictitious island should have been destroyed to give the story an external credibility. Otherwise, how could he explain to his contemporaries (and, of course, to his descendants) the absence of traces of his existence.

Researchers of antiquity also pay attention to the fact that when talking about the mysterious continent located near the western coast of Africa, and about its inhabitants, the author cites only Greek names and geographical names. This is very strange and suggests that he himself invented them.

tragic mistake

At the end of the article, we will cite some very amusing statements that zealous supporters of the historicity of the existence of Atlantis come out with today. As mentioned above, today it has been raised to the shield by many supporters of the occult movements and all sorts of mystics who do not want to reckon with the absurdity of their own theories. Pseudo-scientists are not inferior to them, trying to pass off their fabrications as discoveries allegedly made by them.

For example, in recent years, articles have repeatedly appeared on the pages of the press, as well as on the Internet, that the Atlanteans (the existence of which the authors did not question) have made such a high progress that they have carried out extensive research activities in the field of nuclear physics. Even the disappearance of the continent itself is explained by the tragedy that occurred as a result of their unsuccessful nuclear test.