The flooded city of Atlantis. Scientific and technological progress in Atlantis. In other literature

This article is about the lost continent of Atlantis.

Atlantis is one of the most dark mysteries modernity: the island that was not, or the island that sank?

« Atlantis (ancient Greek Ἀτλαντὶς) is a mythical island-state. H The most detailed description of Atlantis is known from the dialogues of Plato of Athens; mentions and comments by Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, Posidonius, Strabo, Proclus are also known.

The testimony of the ancients about the location of Atlantis is uncertain.

According to Plato, the island was located to the west of the Pillars of Hercules, opposite the mountains of Atlanta. During a strong earthquake, accompanied by a flood, the island was swallowed up by the sea in one day, along with its inhabitants - the Atlanteans. Plato gives the time of the catastrophe as "9000 years ago", that is, about 9500 BC. e.

Interest in stories about Atlantis emerged during the Renaissance. In modern science, questions about the existence of Atlantis are controversial. There is a doctrine of atlantology specially developed in the late 1950s. People involved in the search and generalization of any information about Atlantis are called atlantologists.

Atlantis is a popular subject in art."

There are NO reliable sources and evidence that Atlantis existed. There is evidence of those who lived in times not far from the life of Atlantis, there are suggestions, there are " undersea world”, cities in the ocean on the site of the alleged island (islands), there are thousands of theories and legends about how everything was and where the continent disappeared, but there is no unequivocal answer and convincing all the evidence that Atlantis was.

Phrases from the film “National Geographic: “We consider the arguments of adherents and skeptics on an equal footing ...”, “A place where many generations lived in abundance in equality”, “Then, within one night, the island, together with the inhabitants, sank to the bottom.”

It is believed that the continent was equal in size to Asia, consisted of fertile plains with a palace surrounded by moats in the middle. This island was a paradise created by the son of the Greek god Poseidon. The venerable inhabitants worshiped bulls, feasted on coconuts, walked with elephants. But the divine features were supplanted by human nature, and they became warlike and greedy. Then, within one day and one night, as a result of an earthquake and a flood, Atlantis sank to the bottom. This is a great legend, but how reliable is it? Some are sure of the existence of Atlantis.

The conviction of adherents of the idea of ​​the reality of the continent is not limited to the belief in the existence of Atlantis, someone also believes that the Atlanteans (the inhabitants of Atlantis) survived and later left a historical, architectural, cultural heritage in the form of various monuments.

The most likely assumptions that Atlantis was in the Mediterranean Sea, the location is indicated on the maps. The most common versions: the Strait of Gibraaltar, the bottom of the lake of the Dominican Republic, the Canary, Ozor Islands and, in principle, anywhere in the world ... The Atlantic Ocean - most capaciously fits the size of the island described by Plato (the central island is 3000 × 2000 stadia (530 × 350 km)), a number of researchers agree with this.

Plato does not give an exact answer about the existence of Atlantis, but describes the island in detail in the dialogues: Timaeus (briefly) and Critias (more detailed).

Legend of Atlantis. Ancient World: Atlantis - Myths and Scientific Hypotheses:

So, many versions, information, assumptions about the existence of Atlantis as a cornerstone rest on the search for a specific place where the island was, in search of evidence of the reality of the island. There are a lot of studies, theories, films, articles on this issue, but no one has yet established the exact location of Atlantis, and even more so, has not found irrefutable evidence of the existence of the island.

But the mythical raid, better to say - mystical - leaves an alluring trail of attraction, increases interest in one of the most global mysteries of modernity and the prehistoric period. legends, prototypes, unexplained phenomena, beautiful stories- that's what surrounds this island. What excites people so much and does not allow many people to go to the bottom of Atlantis in their memory and imagination?

The fact is that many unconditionally important things for humanity are connected with this continent (or connected by people themselves). Therefore, we will not talk further about the list of evidence of the reality of Atlantis, historical facts - why list what is described in thousands of articles and mentioned in millions of sources? We will talk about the philosophical aspect of the existence of Atlantis.

From the movie (link above): "A healthy dose of skepticism won't hurt us. Perhaps Plato invented Atlantis to show the political and ethical side of violence, aggression, greed ... but deep down I want to believe that Plato simply inspired the folk tales about the destruction of the high culture of the island of Thera.

Is Atlantis just a fantasy? But then why did they invent it? Probably because people, even according to well-known psychological facts, need faith in something mystical, globally historical, in the existence of a grandiose past (sunk in one day), a superior race, a superman, superpowers, treasures and chests with gold and noble relics under earth. Therefore, there are myths, legends, fantasy that inspire people with hope and support faith in all other legends. Bermuda Triangle, Mariana Trench, Atlantis, Golden Pyramids of Cheops…

“The most common opinion among historians and especially philologists is that the story of Atlantis is a typical philosophical myth, examples of which are full of Plato's dialogues. Indeed, Plato, unlike Aristotle and even more so historians, never set as his goal the communication to the reader of any real facts, but only ideas illustrated by philosophical myths. To the extent that the story is verifiable, it is not supported by all the available archaeological material.

Indeed, there is no trace of any advanced civilization in Greece or in the west of Europe and Africa, neither at the end of the glacial and post-glacial periods, nor in subsequent millennia.

As for the death of Atlantis, it is obvious that, having composed this country, Plato had to destroy it simply for external plausibility (to explain the absence of traces of such a civilization in the modern era). That is, the picture of the death of Atlantis is dictated entirely by the internal tasks of the text.

Atlantis, in addition to scientific, theosophical, philosophical, psychological reasons for its appearance, has more banal ones - we need Atlantis, we just need it, at the everyday and dreamy level.

“The myth of Atlantis gives a huge scope for imagination, we dream of an ideal society where people live peacefully and amicably ... We wonder why if people used to live like this, we can’t live the same way today?”

This island is a prototype of Paradise after the fall. Atlantis lived there - people with superpowers, they searched for the origins of a superior race, Atlantis is called the cradle of the world, world culture.

Sometimes there are suggestions that if in the end they found Atlantis and reliably established that it existed, everyone would be disappointed: you never know, maybe a couple of pegs and ruins stuck out at the bottom of the sea. And so - emptiness, abyss, everything and nothing - room for imagination and admiration.

Both fiction and the complete acceptance of the existence of the island are two extremes that essentially do nothing for mere mortals. What, for example, to the villagers today before Atlantis existed or not? As for the great cultural heritage to the population of the impoverished areas of Africa, where people are dying of hunger?

But in general, for the world (for the scientific, prosperous part of the population) - Atlantis is a separate planet, with values ​​\u200b\u200bthat you can’t find now, genius people lived there - Atlanteans, who made achievements and discoveries incomparable even with modern age, and the confirmation of the fact of the existence of Atlantis would radically change the whole story.

Therefore, according to the adherents of the idea of ​​the reality of the continent, to believe that the island was worth it, if only because it gives hope that in the future we will be able to achieve more than the Atlanteans.

None of us can neither refute nor confirm the existence of the island in the past. Therefore, different versions have the right to life - not only those that say that Atlantis is a fiction.

Helena Blavatsky saw in Atlantis far from being a myth; moreover, the island, according to Blavatsky, was considered a myth by people who were narrow-minded and uninitiated. And other followers of mystical teachings gave Atlantis a special place in world history:

"In the book of H. P. Blavatsky" Secret Doctrine It is stated that the evolution of the Fourth Root Race, which preceded modern humanity, took place in Atlantis.

In 1882, the famous Theosophist A. P. Sinnett claimed to have received from the Tibetan Mahatma K. H. the answer to his questions about Atlantis. K. H. wrote:

“The sinking of Atlantis (a group of continents and islands) began during the Miocene period - (as now, there is a gradual sinking of some of your continents) - and it culminated first in the final disappearance of the largest continent - an event coinciding with the rise of the Alps, then came turn of the last of the islands mentioned by Plato.

The Egyptian priests of Sais told Solon that Atlantis (the only large island left) had perished 9,000 years before their time. This was not a fictitious number, for they carefully guarded their achievements for millennia. But then, I say, they only mentioned Poseidonis, and would never reveal their secret chronology even to the great Greek legislator...

The great event - the triumph of our “Sons of Light”, the inhabitants of Shambhala (then an island in the Central Asian Sea) over the selfish - if not completely vicious - magicians of Poseidonis happened exactly 11,446 years ago. Read in this connection the incomplete and partly veiled explanation in Isis, Volume 1, and some things will become clearer to you.

Theosophists believe that the civilization of Atlantis reached its peak between 1,000,000 and 900,000 years ago, but collapsed due to internal contradictions and wars resulting from the illegal use of magical powers by the Atlanteans.

W. Scott-Elliot, in The History of Atlantis (1896), states that Atlantis eventually split into two large islands, one of which was called Daitya, and the other Ruta, which was later reduced to the last remnant known as Poseidonis.

Ch. Leadbeater claims that there is an occult museum in Tibet, which stores samples of the cultures of all civilizations that have ever existed on Earth, including the civilization of Atlantis.

The four maps of the continent, reflecting the history of its destruction, placed by Scott-Elliot in the "History of Atlantis", are copies of maps from the mentioned Tibetan museum.

In addition, a number of researchers speak of the cyclic nature of terrestrial processes and phenomena, of the patterns of certain events. For example, that earlier the percentage of land was much higher, many cities went under water, Atlantis also left. Also, Atlantis

the world during the global flood, like Sodom and Gomorrah and many other "sinful" areas with an accumulation of "corrupted" people - went under water precisely in order to punish them from above for their corruption.

After all, many say that the inhabitants of the island lost their human dignity, committed lawlessness, went crazy with power, subjugated the surrounding areas, wanted more, having so much - for which they paid. This story has both a moralizing and a philosophical meaning: people are always people, they are not perfect, money, wealth, power spoil everyone. And even the most beautiful paradise will always collapse, because at the root of human nature lies a deviation from the virtues.

An excerpt from the book "Atlantis Unveiled" by E. Blavatsky:

“These people [initiates] believed in the story of Atlantis, they knew that it was not a fable, and claimed that in various eras of the past, huge islands and even continents existed where now only desert water spaces rage.

In their sunken temples and libraries, an archaeologist would find, if he could research, materials to fill in the gaps in what we imagine as history.

It is said that in a distant epoch a traveler could cross what is now the Atlantic Ocean, almost its entire length by land, moving only by boat from one island to another, where at that time there were only narrow straits.

Atlantis has been described by many researchers as the most advanced of human civilizations. Some believe that the city was destroyed by one of the largest natural Disasters, known to man, while others are inclined to believe that it is nothing more than a mere figment of Plato's imagination. This article contains some "facts", conceptual images and videos. Let's dream a little together, plunging into the story of Atlantis.

The legend of Atlantis begins with two dialogues: Timaeus and Critias, written by the classical Greek philosopher, Plato. He describes the inhabitants of Atlantis as noble and strong people who lived on an island located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Greek myths tell us that Poseidon created a dwelling for the mortal woman Kleito, with whom he fell in love. To protect her, he surrounded the island with rings of water and earth.

Kleito soon gave birth to 5 pairs of twin boys who became the rulers of the country. Atlas became the first king. Atlantis was a thriving trading center due to its location and natural resources.


Unfortunately, as happened with all lost civilizations, greed and power began to corrupt the inhabitants of Atlantis. Zeus was outraged by the immorality of people and had to decide the fate of Atlantis by gathering other gods and determining punishment. At the peak of its greatness, Atlantis was swallowed up by sea waves after a terrible earthquake.


It is believed that the center of Atlantis was connected to the sea by an extremely large and deep channel - almost 9 km long, 100 m wide and 30 m deep. He was even deeper than Panama Canal, which reaches 18 meters at its deepest location.

At the very top central mountain A temple was built in honor of Poseidon. Inside was a statue of Poseidon on a chariot with winged horses (Pegases). The statue was usually surrounded by the senior rulers of Atlantis, who discussed laws here, made decisions and paid tribute to Poseidon.


The main city of Atlantis was located outside the 1st ring of water and covered 17 km of land. It was very densely populated, most of the inhabitants lived here. Outside the city were fertile fields and farms 530 km long and 190 km wide, surrounded by another canal used to collect water from rivers and mountain streams. Each year, the climate of Atlantis allowed 2 harvests. One in winter, which was fed by rains, and one in summer, which was fed by irrigation from canals.

High mountains surrounded the plain in the north of the 3rd circle. Small villages, lakes, rivers and grasslands covered most of this area. In addition to lush vegetation, the island was very rich in various metals (gold, copper, bronze, silver) and several types of stone. It is also believed that elephants lived here.


Due to the size of the army and navy, which consisted of approximately 1,200 ships, Atlantis was able to control lands far beyond its territory, including Egypt.


Today, there are few places in the world where you can experience a small fraction of the atmosphere of Atlantis: the Dubai Palm and Atlantic Paradise (Bahamas). Here are some photos of these places:










It's always interesting to see how other people feel and imagine Atlantis. Below are some artwork artists from different parts of the world. Enjoy! Mankind can only hope that soon Atlantis will become one of the new

In the works of some ancient Greek historians, geographers, mythographers, mathematicians, theologians and astronomers, there are references to one state that has sunk into oblivion: the legendary island of Atlantis. About two thousand years ago, Plato, Herodotus, Diodorus and other respected authors wrote about him in their writings.

Basic information about the lost Atlantis is contained in the writings of Plato. In the dialogues Timaeus and Critias, he talks about an island state that existed about 11,500 years ago.

According to Plato, the god Poseidon was the ancestor of the Atlanteans. He connected his life with a mortal girl who bore him ten sons. When the children grew up, the father divided the island between them. The best part of the land went to the eldest son of Poseidon: Atlan.

Atlantis was a powerful, wealthy and populous state. Its inhabitants built a serious system of defense against external enemies and built a network of circular canals leading to the sea, as well as an internal port.

Large cities were distinguished by amazing architectural structures and beautiful sculptures: temples made of gold and silver, golden statues and statues. The island was very fertile, with a varied natural world; in the bowels of the earth, people mined copper and silver.

The Atlanteans were a warlike people: the army of the state included a navy of 1000 ships, the number of crews was equal to 240 thousand people; The ground army consisted of 700 thousand people. The descendants of Poseidon fought successfully for many years, conquering new territories and wealth; so it was until Athens stood in their way.

The Athenians, in order to defeat the Atlanteans, created a military alliance with the peoples of the Balkan Peninsula. But on the day of the battle, the allies refused to fight, and the Athenians were left face to face with the enemy. The fearless courageous Greeks defeated the aggressor and liberated the peoples previously enslaved by him.

But early Greek warriors rejoiced at their achievements: the gods decided to intervene in the affairs of people, who had been watching the inhabitants of Atlantis for the last centuries. Zeus considered that the Atlanteans had become greedy, greedy, depraved and decided to punish them to the fullest extent by flooding the island along with its inhabitants and the Athenians who did not have time to celebrate the victory.

Here is what Plato writes about Atlantis in his two writings. At first glance, this is just a beautiful legend, an interesting fairy tale. There is no direct evidence for the existence of Atlantis in ancient times, nor any reference to authoritative sources.

But these two dialogues survived not only Plato himself, but also two millennia more - during this time many disputes and theories regarding the lost state arose.

Plato's student Aristotle, who listened to the speeches of the Platonist philosophers for about 20 years, eventually categorically rejected the existence of Atlantis, stating that the dialogues "Timaeus" and "Critias" are just an invention, the nonsense of an old man.

It was because of Aristotle that Atlantis was talked about reluctantly, in an undertone until the end of the 18th century. After all, this venerable philosopher enjoyed unquestioned authority in Europe, especially in the Middle Ages. All statements of Aristotle were perceived by Europeans as the ultimate truth.

So why was Aristotle so sure that Atlantis was fiction, because he did not have irrefutable evidence of this? Why was he so harsh in his judgments? Some sources claim that the philosopher simply did not like his mentor, so he decided in this way to spoil the authority of Plato in the eyes of his admirers and admirers.

Mentions of Atlanteans in the writings of other ancient authors

Other ancient authors wrote very little about Atlantis: Herodotus claimed that the Atlanteans had no names, did not see dreams and were defeated by troglodytes - cavemen; according to the stories of Diodorus, the inhabitants of Atlantis fought with the Amazons. Posidonius, who was interested in the causes of land subsidence, believed that Plato's story was plausible.

Proclus in his writings reports on one follower of the ancient thinker: an Athenian Krantor.

Allegedly, he specially went to Egypt 47 years after the death of the philosopher, in order to find evidence in favor of the existence of an island state; returning from a trip, Crantor said that in one of the ancient temples he saw columns with inscriptions retelling the historical events described by Plato.

Search for Atlantis

It is quite difficult to indicate the exact location of the lost Atlantis: there are many hypotheses about where the flooded state may be.

Plato wrote that a huge island was once in the ocean behind the Pillars of Hercules (i.e., behind Gibraltar). But his searches in the area of ​​the Canary, Balearic, Azores and British Islands did not lead to anything.

Some researchers suggest looking for the remains of the material culture of the Atlanteans in the Black Sea, linking the flooding of the island with the "Black Sea flood" that occurred 7-8 millennia ago - then the sea level in less than a year rose, according to various estimates, from 10 to 80 meters.

There is a hypothesis according to which Antarctica is lost Atlantis. Scientists who adhere to this theory believe that Antarctica in ancient times was shifted to south pole due to a lithospheric shift or a sharp displacement of the earth's axis as a result of the collision of our planet with a large cosmic body.

There is also an opinion that traces of Atlantis can be found in South America or Brazil. But most interpreters of Plato's dialogues are sure: the lost island should be looked for only in the Atlantic Ocean.

In recent decades, the lost state has been looking for many expeditions, most of which returned empty-handed. True, from time to time the whole world is disturbed by news about the found traces of a flooded island.

Have the Russians found Atlantis?

In 1979, a Soviet expedition, while testing a diving bell, accidentally discovered some objects in the Atlantic Ocean that looked like the ruins of an ancient city.

The action unfolded just behind the “Pillars of Hercules” indicated by Plato, 500 km from Gibraltar, above the Amper seamount, which protruded above the surface of the ocean many millennia ago, but then for some reason went under water.

Three years later, the Soviet ship "Rift" went to the same place to explore the ocean floor with the help of the Argus submersible. The aquanauts were amazed by what they saw; from their words, they opened the panorama of the city ruins: the remains of rooms, squares, streets.

But the expedition that took place in 1984 did not live up to the hopes of the researchers: an analysis of two stones raised from the ocean floor showed that it was just volcanic rock, solidified lava, and not the creation of human hands.

The opinion of modern scientists about Atlantis

Atlantis is a fantasy

Most modern historians and philologists are convinced that Plato's dialogues are just a beautiful legend, of which the philosopher has many. There are no traces of this state either in Greece, or in the west of Europe, or in Africa - this is confirmed by archaeological excavations.

The opinion of scientists that Atlantis is just a figment of the imagination is also based on the following: the philosopher writes about the network of canals built on the island, about the inner port, but such large-scale projects in ancient times were beyond the power of people.

Plato indicated the approximate date of the island's sinking into the ocean depths: 9000 years before he wrote the dialogues (i.e., approximately 9500 BC). But this contradicts the data of modern science: at that time, humanity was just emerging from the Paleolithic era. It is not easy to believe that somewhere in those days there lived a people who overtook the entire human race in their development by thousands of years.

Many scientists are convinced that Plato, when writing his works, took as a basis some of the events that took place during his lifetime: for example, the defeat of the Greeks when they tried to conquer the island of Sicily and the flooding of the town of Gelika as a result of an earthquake followed by a flood.

Other researchers believe that the basis for the works of the philosopher was the volcanic eruption on the island of Santorini, which subsequently hit the coast of Crete and other islands of the Mediterranean Sea - this disaster led to the decline of the developed Minoan civilization.

The version is supported by the following fact: the Minoans really fought against the Archeans who inhabited Greece in ancient times and were even defeated by them (just like the Atlanteans were defeated by the Greeks in the dialogues Timaeus and Critias).

In general, many researchers of the thinker's works believe that Plato, being a utopian idealist, with his writings only wanted to call his contemporaries to build an ideal exemplary humane state in which there would be no place for dictatorship, violence and tyranny.

However, the philosopher himself in the dialogues constantly emphasizes that Atlantis is not just a legend, but an island state that once really existed.

Plato doesn't lie

Some researchers nevertheless admit that there is a grain of truth in the writings of the ancient thinker. Excavations carried out in last years archaeologists, helped scientists gain new information about life and technical achievements our ancestors living 5-10 thousand years ago.

Modern archaeologists find the remains of grandiose structures created by ancient people everywhere: in Egypt, Sumer, Babylon. Tunnels for collecting groundwater, many kilometers of galleries, stone dams, man-made lakes- all these structures operated long before the birth of Plato.

Consequently, the philosopher's dialogues cannot be attributed to fiction only on the grounds that mankind 11 millennia ago was unable to build a network of canals and bridges: the last archaeological excavations prove the opposite.

In addition, since the works of Plato rewritten more than once have come down to us, it is likely that over the two millennia there has been a confusion with dates.

The fact is that in the system of Egyptian hieroglyphs, the number "9000" is indicated by lotus flowers, and the number "900" - rope knots; supporters of the existence of Atlantis believe that later scribes of dialogues could easily confuse characters so similar to each other, thus pushing historical event several thousand years ago.

On top of that, Plato, who belongs to one highly revered in Ancient Greece family, in his dialogues he refers to his ancestor: the wisest of the "seven wise men" legislator Solon. And the ancient Greeks were very kind to their roots, tried to protect the sacred memory of their relatives. Would Plato, given his moral qualities, refer to Solon in his works, because if the whole story with Atlantis is just a fiction, he would tarnish the name of the wisest representative of the family?

Afterword

Atlantis has been shrouded in a halo of mystery for many centuries. People have been trying to find the suddenly disappeared state for almost two thousand years: some - wanting to take possession of the treasures described by Plato, others - out of scientific interest, others - just out of curiosity.

In the 50s of the last century, even a doctrine called "Atlantology" appeared, its main task is to identify true information about Atlantis in historical sources and mythical legends.

The debate about whether the mysterious land once existed or the ancient Greek thinker simply invented it does not subside to this day. Various theories are born and die, conjectures appear and disappear. Some of them are backed by science, while others are more like beautiful fairy tale.

Perhaps our children or grandchildren will solve the riddle of Atlantis. But it may turn out that another two thousand years will pass, and the mystery lost island will remain undisclosed, and our descendants, just like we are today, will be tormented by conjectures and assumptions.

ARTICLE IN VIDEO FORMAT

It is not necessary to assume that only seas and lakes disappear and appear. In the same way, islands appear and disappear. The best example of this is history of Atlantis, an island that was larger than Libya and Asia combined.

History of the island of Atlantis

Atlantis Island

Of course, in the time of Plato, (more:) they represented the size of both Libya and Asia in a different way, but still Atlantis island was not small.

The Atlantis hypothesis begins with Plato's Timaeus and Critias. In them, the great ancient Greek scientist talks about a once-existing large island in the Atlantic Ocean, which was swallowed up by the abyss of water.

But what does Plato say? ancient legend or your own fantasy about a mythical island? Or maybe he reports the real facts of the existence of an ancient civilization, information about which came to him by chance? So what is this story of Plato - legend, hypothesis, reality? Since the first half of the 4th century BC, attempts have been made to answer this question. But there is still no definitive answer.

Legends of Atlantis

Legends of Atlantis inspired many writers and poets.

• Think of Julverne's Captain Nemo, who, with his arms crossed over his chest, looks at the beautiful city, illuminated by an underwater volcanic eruption. Before him is the dead Atlantis...
• From the golden top giant pyramid take off like huge cosmic eggs aircrafts to carry away the last Atlanteans from the raging elements to distant Mars. And the waves of the ocean are already licking its foot, and the tremors of a raging earthquake are absorbing the legendary “City of a Hundred Golden Gates”. You probably remember this picture, it was painted in Aelita by Alexei Tolstoy.
• And here's another thing: Aksa Guam, a priest who rebelled against the almighty priests on the pages of Alexander Belyaev's story "The Last Man from Atlantis", steps on the rocky coast of Europe.

And this list could be continued almost endlessly, a list of beautiful fictions generated by an ancient legend.

Atlantis in scientific literature

There are about Atlantis literature and others. No less fantastic in content, but claiming the right to be called scientific literature.

One of these books was rather self-confidently called "The History of Atlantis".

And the author of the other was Schliemann - the grandson of a man who discovered the stones of the legendary Troy from under the layers of many centuries. Shamelessly speculating on the name of his famous grandfather, he titled the book rather pretentiously: "How I found the lost Atlantis." Both of these books are from the current of the so-called "occult literature", which shrouded the problem of Atlantis in such a thick mystical fog that for other scientists it still obscures scientific significance this problem.
However, real science is interested in the problem of Atlantis, because it has countless questions waiting to be solved:

• Here, it would seem, is a science very far from the problem of Atlantis - botany. Where is the birthplace of the banana - a plant cultivated so long ago that it can now only be propagated by cuttings? How did bananas end up in the number cultivated plants in America and Africa?
• Where is the birthplace of maize - a plant that is now included in the famous "troika" of the main breads of mankind along with wheat and rice? Modern corn is completely incapable of propagating by self-sowing, and plants that could be considered its ancestors have not been found. Meanwhile, corn has long been known not only in America, but also in Africa. So where did this plant come from in the cultivated cereals of the two continents?
• Here is comparative linguistics. How did the roots of Greek words get into the Mayan language - one of the Indian peoples that inhabited Central America?
• How did the word "atlas" get from America to Europe? From North Africa, this word passed into the name of the Atlantic Ocean. Meanwhile, it has nothing to do with European languages, but in the Pagua language, which has long lived in Mexico, words with the same root mean "water", "sea", "death".
• Why did the myths of the American continent preserve stories about the death of the land located across the ocean in the east, and in the legends of European peoples about the sunken land across the ocean in the west?
• History of culture. Why were ancient sculptures of lions and other animals not living in America found in Peru, and no less ancient images of saber-toothed tigers that died out here about 300 thousand years ago in Europe?
• Why was the custom of making mummies widespread not only in Egypt, but also among the Maya in Central America?
• Ethnography. Why do Cro-Magnons, the ancient ancestors of Europeans and some Indian tribes have a close anthropological resemblance?
• Zoology. Why do eels from the rivers of Western Europe go to spawn in the Sargas Sea, whose algae are related to the Mediterranean?
• Wild horses were known in Europe during the Paleolithic era, they were used as a hunting item by cavemen. Then their traces disappear, and in the Bronze Age, a domestic horse appears. Who carried out this domestication?

It seems that these and many other questions do not give the right to an unconditional denial of the existence of Atlantis, although they do not give the right to assert that Atlantis existed. Therefore, again and again, researchers turn to the primary source of information about the sunken mainland, to two dialogues of Plato.

The history of Atlantis in Bryusov's poem

One of the first in modern times made an attempt to investigate the history of Atlantis by a remarkable Russian poet.

He was an amazing person, a poet, writer, mathematician, a great connoisseur of ancient history, an expert in research in various fields of the natural sciences. The problem of Atlantis interested him literally from childhood. In his youth he worked on poem "Atlantis".

In the years of creative maturity, he wrote a cycle of poems dedicated to the same problem. He published a large scientific work "Teachers of teachers". The poet-scientist called the ancient inhabitants of Atlantis, in which

all knowledge originated

and in which

everything that is possible, comprehended the first children of the Earth.

(lines from the "Atlantic" cycle of Bryusov's poems are in quotation marks). He made an attempt to trace their influence on the most ancient peoples of the world, and first of all on the Cretan-Mycenaean culture.

After analyzing the stages of development of ancient cultures, including the Egyptian and Aegean, Bryusov comes to the conclusion that their initial stages are strange and incomprehensible.

Egyptian culture begins mysteriously: the most ancient pyramids are also the highest. The origins of their arts are unclear, they suddenly appear before the astonished world, like Pallas Athena, who arose in dress and weapons from the head of Zeus.

Bryusov also sees something similar in the Cretan-Mycenaean culture. The legendary labyrinth appears as if suddenly. Before him, only the remains of people who had not yet left the Stone Age could be found on the island. Shouldn't this leap be explained by someone's influence that spread to the culture of peoples living on different continents? Does not all this testify to the existence in ancient times of a people who became a universal teacher,

teacher of teachers?

It was after these arguments that the poet-scientist moved on to that culture that could claim the honor of being called

teachers teachers.

Tradition prompted him the right name - Atlantis. And in search of an answer, Bryusov turns to Plato's Dialogues.

Based on contemporary data about Atlantis, analyzing the messages of Plato, Bryusov comes to the conclusion (lines from the work "Teachers of Teachers"):

If we assume that the description of Plato is a fiction, we will have to recognize Plato as a superhuman genius who managed to predict the development of science for thousands of years to come, to foresee that someday learned historians will discover the world of Aegeia and establish its relations with Egypt, that Columbus will discover America, and archaeologists will restore the civilization of the ancient Mayans, etc.

Needless to say, with all our respect for the genius of the great Greek philosopher, such insight seems impossible to us and that we consider another explanation simpler and more plausible: Plato had at his disposal materials (Egyptian) that came from ancient times.

The method adopted by Valery Bryusov is simple and logical: he read Plato's dialogues and compared them with the objective level of knowledge of the ancient philosopher as a man of his time. Based on this, the poet comes to the conclusion that Plato could have obtained most of the information contained in the Dialogues only from people who knew about the existence of Atlantis. Well, for example,

Plato, like all Greeks, knew nothing of the Aegean kingdoms, which preceded the Hellenic on Greek soil. Therefore, Plato could not have had any reason to imagine a strong state in Attica many centuries before the beginning of Greek history.

Plato writes that Atlantis was located on the islands beyond the Pillars of Hercules (i.e., beyond the Strait of Gibraltar) and from it it was possible, sailing further west, to get to another "opposite" mainland. But the ancient Greeks knew nothing about America! Does this not indicate that these data also reached Plato from some competent source?

Having established in such a way that on the very first pages of his dialogues Plato makes two brilliant discoveries in different fields of science - in history and geography, Bryusov is convinced that Plato is surprisingly close to the truth even in seemingly insignificant details. This applies, say, to the unknown metal orichalcum. After there was no place for him in the periodic table, his very existence became doubtful.

Bryusov believed, however, that this unknown metal could be aluminum. True, to obtain it, an electric current is used, which the Atlanteans did not know about. Or maybe they knew another method for obtaining aluminum?

To this we can add a historical fact reported by the ancient historian Pliny: in the first years of our era, an unknown master brought a metal bowl that shone like silver, but extremely light, to the Roman emperor Tiberius. The master said that he received this metal from clay earth. Tiberius, fearing that the new metal would devalue his reserves of gold and silver, ordered the master's head to be cut off. It is quite possible that we are also talking about aluminum.

Scientists believe that orichalcum could be a natural alloy of copper and zinc, according to modern brass. Occasionally there are ores containing both of these metals at once. Such an alloy also corresponds to the color of orichalcum - "red, having the color of fire." In Plato's "Dialogues" we learn about the flora and fauna of Atlantis. They are amazingly realistic.

Apparently, the most fantastic in the fauna of Atlantis can be considered elephants and horses. According to Plato, the Atlanteans had horses and elephants in their colonies in Africa and America. But this does not contradict the truth at all: both horses and elephants in America died out relatively recently.

In "Teachers of Teachers" Bryusov, getting acquainted with the description of the capital of Atlantis - the City of the Golden Gate, believes that he

also does not go beyond the scope of the possible ... The statue of Poseidon, described by Plato, was huge, but even it approaches in size the statue of Olympian Zeus, sculpted by Phidias ... And in general, in the whole description there is not a single feature that would reveal deliberate fiction ...

Bruce writes. Does Plato's description of Atlantis correspond to new scientific data? After Bryusov, scientists returned to this issue more than once, who found new amazing coincidences. Well, for example, two keys supplying Plato's Atlantis - hot and cold water- really could be on the island associated with the active activity of volcanoes. Scientists also found a mysterious, maybe even for Plato himself, a tree,

which gives drink, and food, and ointment.

It could be a coconut palm, which really gives both "drink" - coconut milk, and "food" - the pulp of a nut, and "ointment" - semi-liquid coconut oil. Even Plato's remark that the walls and towers of the City of the Golden Gate were built of stone of three colors: white, black, red - found interesting confirmation: it is from such stones that the cities on the Azores are built; they are sometimes considered the mountain peaks of the sunken Atlantis.

Studies carried out in recent years have confirmed the date indicated by Plato. tragic disaster when the remains of a giant transatlantic island that once connected two great continents sank to the bottom of the ocean. What does not confirm such an ancient date? Changing currents?

Ocean currents to one degree or another determine the climate of the continents. Perhaps their appearance and disappearance is the rocket, at the signal of which the glaciers begin their movement? As the glaciers melt, they expose the earth's surface, leaving giant blocks of boulders, as if abandoned in a panic of retreat. Well, why do sea currents arise and disappear?

Atlantologist E. F. Hagemeister suggested that the end of the last ice age was caused by the breakthrough of the warm Gulf Stream into the cold North Arctic Ocean. And it happened, she believes, this is because

Atlantis sank to the bottom of the ocean and opened the way for the Gulf Stream.

Academician fully agreed with this assumption. V. A. Obruchev. He wrote:

The sinking of Atlantis again cleared the way for the Gulf Stream, and in the north, its warm waters gradually stopped glaciation around the North Pole.

The remains of living beings found in the sediments at the bottom of the ocean can tell a lot. Here, for example, is what foraminifers testify to. The coils of foraminiferal shell spirals are twisted to the left in heat-loving forms, and to the right in cold-loving forms. Studying the soil columns taken in the North Atlantic, scientists came to the conclusion that about 10-13 thousand years ago, the waters of the North Atlantic warmed sharply. This is also associated with the breakthrough of the warm waters of the Gulf Stream.

But when did it happen? Russian hydrogeologist , examining soil samples from the bottom of the polar seas, found that for the first time the hot flow of the Gulf Stream penetrated into northern seas about 12 thousand years ago. This was shown by radioisotope analysis.

Similar results were obtained by American scientists. They studied volcanic ash found in sediments at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. And it turned out that he appeared here about 12 thousand years ago. This once again confirmed the legendary date of the death of Atlantis: the island sank to the bottom of the ocean under the thunderous fireworks of volcanic eruptions.

Most of Bryusov's work is devoted to the connections between the most ancient civilizations of our planet. Special attention gives the poet-scientist Cretan-Mycenaean culture. His book was published when the excavations in Crete had not yet been completed. This gave her an additional interest, which the author could not ignore. Well, today, does science confirm the existence of such connections?

The oldest civilizations of our planet

It is the question our oldest civilizations the planet is dedicated to the book of A. A. Gorbovsky “Riddles ancient history". Some of Gorbovsky's conclusions may be questioned, but the facts he cites are, as a rule, accurate. And they most often relate to the most ancient ideas about the structure. Well, for example:

1. The idea of ​​a plurality of inhabited worlds, for which Giordano Bruno was burned. It turns out that Egyptian texts, the sacred books of ancient India and Tibet, expounded it as an indisputable truth. Gorbovsky quotes the ancient Sanskrit book Vishnu Purana:
   

   Our Earth is only one of thousands of millions of inhabited worlds similar to it, located in the Universe.

   The idea that creatures like people live on distant stars was also common in ancient Peru.

2. Another example - The ancient Egyptians knew about it.
   

   "The earth was in front of me like a round ball"

   This quote is from the Leiden Demotic Papyrus. The Aztecs depicted the planets as small circles or balls played by the gods.

3. In the Middle East, in ancient Egypt and India, the year was divided into 12 months. But why did the same subdivision exist in South America? Why was the ancient Mayan year, which had 360 days, still used in ancient Egypt, Babylon and India?
4. The ancient Greeks, Indians, Celts, Mayans divided the history of mankind into four periods, and each of them was considered to be colored with a special paint. Surprisingly, they all considered the last, fourth, period to be painted with black paint.
5. Another example. The biblical myth about the construction of the Tower of Babel and the subsequent confusion of languages ​​is well known. It is not surprising that the Babylonians have a similar story: the creators of the Bible simply stole it. But where did this legend come from in ancient Mexico? And they talk about it like this:

They built high tower... But their languages ​​suddenly mixed up, they could no longer understand each other and went to live in different parts of the Earth.

And more, and more... You can often read that the legends of the "global flood" are common only among coastal peoples and that these are memories of previous floods. In fact, there is no such ancient people who would not have this tradition.

Everyone knows the story of the Bible. Many people know that it is borrowed from the ancient Sumerian epic of Gilgamesh. But the English ethnologist reports that of the 130 Indian tribes of North, Central and South America, not one does not have a myth of a great catastrophe.

In the fifty post-Bryusov years, this list has lengthened almost to infinity.

It would be fair to consider that the work of Valery Bryusov "Teachers of Teachers" summed up the first period of studying the problem of Atlantis, turning the legend set forth in Plato's dialogues into a scientific document. Approximately this is how the author himself assessed the result of his work: “From now on, the “problem of Atlantis” goes out of the realm of fortune-telling, becomes a certain historical hypothesis and must share the usual fate of scientific hypotheses, depending on whether the newly discovered facts will refute or confirm it.”

And yet, it would not be entirely fair if, having paid tribute to the merits of Bryusov's work, we keep silent about its fatal flaw: carried away by a charming legend, he recklessly considered the culture of the Atlanteans to be super-high.

Over the course of millennia, their power increased and their culture developed, reaching a height that, perhaps, was not reached by any of the earthly peoples after that.

This assessment, obviously, was also facilitated by the influence of the books of the occultists, who believed that the Atlanteans knew aeronautics, rocketry, etc.

Scientists in particular N. F. Zhirov, have carefully analyzed the question of how high culture Plato describes.

What metals is Plato talking about? About gold, silver, lead, iron, about the mysterious orichalcum? But gold and silver are found in native form, and their abundance in the capital of the Atlanteans does not indicate that these metals were widely used in the life of the city. Iron, which is mentioned only once in Plato, was probably meteoric.

Indeed, in the "Dialogues" there is no mention of iron or bronze weapons or tools. Metals were used only for facing giant stone walls or for decorating temples. All this cannot be considered evidence of the onset of the copper or, even more so, the bronze age. Both weapons and tools, say, for cultivating the land, and household products were made only of stone and bone, which is quite consistent with the Stone Age.

Plato does not mention lime, cement, gypsum as binding building materials. To fasten the blocks of walls, obviously, metals were used, primarily copper. This also corresponds to the first period of the transition from stone to Bronze Age. There is nothing contradictory in Plato's story about giant size temples. It is at this stage of development that many peoples of the world gravitate towards gigantism in architecture.

A number of authors associate with the culture of the Atlanteans megalithic buildings scattered throughout almost all sea ​​coasts the globe. Especially a lot of them in the west of Europe. Megaliths are structures made of unhewn or semi-hewn giant blocks of stone, laid in rows or circles. They were built so long ago that even the legends about it are silent. But they are known in Europe, South America, Palestine, Ethiopia, India, Japan, Madagascar. There is only one doubt - these structures were supposed to be built by people of the Stone Age.

The high culture of agriculture, by no means, does not contradict the general assessment of the level of development of the people of Atlantis, given by N. F. Zhirov. By the way, agriculture, apparently, arose 30-20 thousand years ago, which coincides with the date of the heyday and death of Atlantis.

The Russian scientist, Doctor of Chemical Sciences N. F. Zhirov, can rightly be considered the greatest atlantologist. He appeared with articles in newspapers and magazines, on radio and television, and published several books. The last of these, Atlantis, came out in 1964, a few years before his death. According to N. F. Zhirov, the question of the existence of Atlantis should be solved by science. In particular, oceanology has the final say here. It is she who must answer whether there could be and whether there was a sufficiently large island in the Atlantic Ocean, opposite Gibraltar, several millennia ago.

Yes, N. F. Zhirov answers these questions. Atlantis could exist. The data of modern science indicate that in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean there is an underwater North Atlantic Ridge, which could exist subaerially (above the surface of the water) at times close to those indicated by Plato in his legend. It is possible that some of these areas of land existed until historical time. So, maybe it makes sense to look for traces of Atlantis on these islands?

The islands of the Atlantic Ocean have long attracted the attention of atlantologists. Unfortunately, there was nothing like a large complex expedition that would conduct thorough archaeological excavations, record everyday rituals and legends, study flora and fauna in detail, etc., on these islands. Although, according to many assumptions, it is here that the key to Atlantis should be sought.

Curious legends are associated with some of the Azores.

• So, on the island of Corvo, an equestrian statue was allegedly found. The person depicted on it extended his hand to the west. This fact is reported, in particular, by the German scientist R. Hennig.
• On other islands, gravestones were found with inscriptions in an unknown language.
• On one of the islands of Cape Verde, a dolmen and rock inscriptions in the Berber language were found.
• Some experts consider the population of the Canary Islands to be direct descendants of the Atlanteans. After a brutal war waged by the Spaniards against the population of the islands, who did not know any metal, let alone firearms, the twenty thousandth population of the islands was destroyed. By 1600, not a single purebred native remained alive. Palaeanthropological studies have shown that the natives belonged to various ethnic groups. These conclusions were made by the French scientist R. Vernot, who excavated the corresponding burials. The Guanches, as it is customary to call the inhabitants of these islands, spoke languages ​​of Berber origin. Two types of rock inscriptions have also been found. It is believed that one of these types is related to the hieroglyphs of Crete. But not a single inscription has yet been deciphered or read. During one of the first visits to the islands by the Portuguese, a statue of a man holding a ball was discovered here. She was taken to Lisbon, but her whereabouts are now unknown.

Not a little interesting conceals the bottom of the ocean.

• A Swedish oceanographic expedition aboard the Albatross discovered freshwater diatoms in one of the columns of soil west of Africa raised from the bottom. Maybe they were washed into the ocean by the waters of the Congo or Niger River? But in this case, freshwater species would be mixed with marine ones. It is more logical to assume that the soil column was taken where a freshwater lake was once located.

Unfortunately, so far, scientists have not been able to raise any statues of Poseidon, or even a fragment of his trident, from the site of the death of Atlantis. However, there have been findings...

• In the mid-1950s, a sea dredge raised about a ton of very strange formations from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean south of the Azores. These were limestone discs with a recess on one side, which gave them the appearance of plates. On average, the diameter of these discs reached 15 centimeters, and the thickness - 4 centimeters. Their outer side was relatively smooth, but the inside of the depressions was rough. The strange shape of these formations testifies to their artificial origin. It was possible to establish the age of these "sea biscuits". It turned out to be equal to 12 thousand years, which corresponds to the date of the death of Atlantis. It was possible to establish something else: the "biscuits" were made in atmospheric conditions. By whom? For what? How did they get to the top of the seamount?

N. F. Zhirov in his book mentions the custom that existed among some Caucasian peoples to sacrifice food to the spirits on the tops of the mountains. Maybe the found "sea biscuits" - plates for similar sacrifices made by the inhabitants of Atlantis?

These are the few pieces of evidence for the existence of Atlantis. They could have been cited incomparably more.

Well, in general, what can be said about the problem of Atlantis from the level of modern knowledge?

• First of all, the mountain range located in the center of the Atlantic Ocean is the center of numerous earthquakes. This indicates a high seismic activity in the area.
• In the Atlantic Ocean there are a number of areas that were relatively recently dry land, and
  

  for all these places

  Notes N. F. Zhirov, -

  we do not exclude the possibility of the existence of islands even in historical time; some of them may have been inhabited.

• The scientist compares information about the islands that existed in historical times, which are available on modern maps. Surprisingly, they are identical. However
  

  there is every reason to assume the possibility of subsidence of individual islands and banks of the North Atlantic in our historical time, which had the character of a cataclysm.

  By this Zhirov explains the impossibility of carrying out such an identification in a number of cases.

• However, according to Plato, there is a lot of evidence of the existence of Atlantis exactly where it should be expected. Thus, relatively recently, a piece of coral was lifted aboard the ship Mikhail Lomonosov from one of the peaks of the North Atlantic Ridge. As you know, corals live only at relatively shallow depths. And since the coral was raised with a piece of bedrock from a depth of two and a half kilometers, it remains to be assumed that the mountain range has recently sunk at least two kilometers into the depths of the ocean here.
• And although many scientists categorically deny the possibility of the existence of large areas of land in the Atlantic Ocean in historical time, there are specialists who assert with equal conviction: yes, Atlantis could have existed and disappeared precisely in the time period that Plato spoke of, i.e., about 12 thousand years ago. In any case, it was precisely at this time that serious changes took place in the Atlantic Ocean, accompanied by breaks in the earth's crust, volcanic eruptions, a change in ocean currents, perhaps the warming of the entire northern hemisphere, which caused the end of the ice age.

More than half a century has passed since Bryusov wrote the work “Teachers of Teachers”. Unfortunately, even today the general attitude of scientists to this issue has not essentially changed. Most still treat Plato's story as unsubstantiated fiction. Evidence of this is that "such fabulous tales, as you know, are full of narrations of ancient writers." There have been no new confirmations of this over the past years. And the quotation given here refers to the very beginning of our century. Often there is an impression that the "opponents of Atlantis" did not read the works of Bryusov. However, this is also possible.

Bryusov's work was published only once, in 1917, in a magazine that was published in an insignificant circulation. Time did not contribute to his fame either: the world then shook World War. Russia stood on the eve of the revolution. The liveliest problems of modern life were incomparably more important than the history of the mainland that drowned thousands of years ago. And very soon the article "Teachers of teachers" became a bibliographic rarity. And she did not have the opportunity to convince readers that a particular "fabulous tale" contains too much information that Plato could not have, and this requires a more condescending attitude towards him. It remained the property of only specialist atlantologists who came to the same conclusion in their own ways.

But we must not forget another. The world has entered the era of the scientific and technological revolution, capturing ever new areas of knowledge. The ocean succumbed to this irrepressible pressure of science. Researchers have already reached its limiting depths in bathyscaphes. Yes, and without descending into the abyss of the ocean, scientists can already study its bottom in order to find the ruins of giant temples, the remains of city walls and surrounding canals. There is almost no doubt that these search for Atlantis will be undertaken in the near future.

What machines, devices, devices will they work with? Of course, clumsy, clumsy bathyscaphes are not very suitable for working on the ocean floor. But, perhaps, bathyscaphes will not be needed for this. Perhaps the search for Atlantis will be carried out by atlantologists-scuba divers.

Atlantologists scuba divers?! At a depth of more than 3 thousand meters?! Are such depths available for scuba diving? Or will they be available?

It is difficult to answer this question. After all, scuba gear as a means of underwater work appeared quite recently, in 1943, J.I. Cousteau believed at first that this invention of his would help a person master a maximum of two to three tens of meters of water. But…

Here are the record dives for the post-war 30 years. It must be said that in our time, today's record becomes a public value tomorrow. This can be confirmed, say, by an increase in the speeds of cars and airplanes. Probably, everyone remembers the story of overcoming the sound speed by aircraft. Was it a long time ago?! And today, supersonic passenger aircraft have become an everyday reality in many countries of the world. The same thing happens with the records of the diving depth achieved by scuba divers.

So, the first tens of meters are available for an amateur scuba diver who has put on an aqualung for the first time. But it is necessary not to cross the permissible physiological threshold. This threshold is breathing with highly compressed air. In this case, the blood is supersaturated with oxygen and nitrogen dissolved in it. Oversaturation with oxygen causes convulsions, and with nitrogen - intoxication and leads to decompression sickness. At the same time, nitrogen dissolved in the blood begins to be released directly in the veins and arteries. And people often die.

To prevent this from happening, divers rise from the depth extremely slowly, and then the blood has time to free itself from excess nitrogen. At the same time, the ascent from a depth of a hundred meters is delayed for 5-6 hours.

The witty idea of ​​a Swiss scientist helped to defeat decompression sickness Hansa Keller A. The essence of this idea is to use when lifting from great depth various gas mixtures. Once, while testing his idea, he rose from a depth of 222 meters in just 53 minutes! But the record for diving in a diving suit was only 180 meters, and the ascent from this depth took 12 hours.

Keller descended to a depth of 400 meters. It was in 1960-1962.

In 1970, English scuba divers descended to a depth of 457 meters. But at the end of the same year, the French moved it beyond the half-kilometer mark, they reached 520 meters! And in 1972, an even greater depth was taken - 565 meters.

The next step is striking in courage and magnitude. Four American volunteers descended to a depth of 1520 meters, spent 4 hours at the indicated depth and rose to the surface without any harm to themselves. True, the last experiment was carried out in a pressure chamber, but the essence of the matter does not change from this.

Depth reached!

It remains to double, triple it, and the depths of Atlantis will be in the power of scuba divers. They will be able to search for sunken land and, without returning to the surface of the ocean, relax in special underwater houses. Today, underwater houses of various designs are being tested in the USA, Holland and Italy, Japan and Cuba.

Furious disputes, measured discussions, assumptions, myths and versions - all this has been disturbing mankind for many centuries. Mysterious land called Atlantis, haunts neither pundits nor researchers who love to dream up. Didn't miss Atlantis lost World, and the common man. It seems that today every second person has heard about it. mysterious island, that in ancient times there was a lost Atlantis, a civilization that knew no equal in technological and scientific development, in the culture of life. The Atlanteans inhabited it, a free people, but not devoid of human vices, which, in the end, destroyed the mysterious empire. It is believed that the secrets of Atlantis lie somewhere at the bottom of the oceans. Let's try to figure out if this is true or not.

Atlantes and their appearance on the pages of history.

In 428 BC, in a rich and noble family, in the city-state of Athens, a seemingly ordinary boy was born, who received the name Plato. The father of the child was Ariston. His family originates from the legendary king Kodru. Mother - Periktiona, great-great-granddaughter of no less great Solon. Not Atlanteans, of course, but very revered and important people, both by the standards of Athens and by historical canons.

The child grew alive in every sense; he was sociable, cheerful and inquisitive. Surrounded by all sorts of blessings, he did not know what hard work and want were, spending most of his time on physical exercises and education. Having matured, the young man wished to give development not only to his body, but also to his mind. You and I know that the result of this decision will be the Atlanteans and many other discoveries no less important for history, philosophy and other sciences. However, the guy had yet to figure out his own thoughts, ideas and designs. At the age of 20, fate gave the young Plato a chance to answer many questions that tormented him, among which were the Atlanteans: at this time, Plato met Socrates, the greatest philosopher of antiquity, fell under the influence of his ideas and became his faithful student and follower.

All these events, which subsequently gave birth to the Atlanteans, take place against the background of the Peloponnesian War, which shakes the ancient world, starting from 431 BC. The last battle of this long war took place already in the year 404, when the troops of Sparta entered Athens. Power in the city is seized by thirty tyrants; freedom of speech, democracy and the right to choose disappear from the lives of local residents. But only a year passes, and the hated regime of tyranny collapses. The invaders are driven out of the city in disgrace, restoring its independence. Having defended their freedom and independence, Athens, the city where they first started talking about the Atlanteans, regains strength and influence among other Greek settlements.

The victory is given to Athens, the city where the Atlanteans were “born”, with heavy losses: many famous, noble and courageous men perish. Among the dead are many friends of Plato, the “father” of the Atlanteans, a future figure, thinker and activist. The young man hardly survives the loss, and promises himself to change this cruel world. In order to recover and escape from the darkness of days alone, Plato, who discovered the “Atlanteans” to the whole world, sets off on a long journey. He goes to Syracuse, then he visits the colorful villages and cities of the Mediterranean. At the end of his journey, our hero, who discovered the Atlanteans to the world, ends up in Egypt. Plato has a special interest in this country and its people - his great ancestor, Solon, studied here for many years.

The excellent upbringing, manners and education of the young Plato, the man to whom the Atlanteans owe their fame, impress the local elite. Some time later young man acquaint with representatives of the highest priestly caste of Egypt. It is difficult to say exactly how this acquaintance influenced the views of the future great philosopher, to whom the Atlanteans owe their place in history, but Plato returns to Athens a completely different person. It is quite possible that it was in Egypt that Plato learned who the Atlanteans were and how human civilization actually developed. By the way, the priests of Ancient Egypt were revered not only by the local people, but by all ancient world, as the keepers of the most valuable information about the distant past and the peoples who inhabited the Earth. Who knows, maybe the Egyptians really knew who the Atlanteans were, how they lived, and how their story ended.

Long decades pass, but Plato did not tell in one of his works what the great priests of the pyramids told him, whether they told about the Atlanteans or discovered some other secrets of the ancient world. Plato's teacher, Socrates, has long gone to another world, and the philosopher himself has grown old, covered with gray hair and has become much wiser than in his youth. During this period, he already introduced his own philosophy and opened the corresponding school, which eventually turned into an academy. However, the Atlanteans are still not open to the scientific world. Plato's influence on the minds of young men and even old men is inestimable, he is revered as one of the greatest minds that ever lived in Athens and Greece. But the philosopher is tormented by internal conflicts. He struggles with the desire to tell the whole world about what ancient Atlantis is, to discover the true history of the human race. And now, half a century after visiting Egypt, Plato writes two of the most important dialogues in his life - Critias and Timaeus. A similar unique genre of philosophical treatises was introduced by Plato himself. He asks questions and answers them himself. This method, in which the Atlanteans will be opened to the world, better reveals the whole essence of the doubts tormenting a person and the inconsistency of judgments.

Atlantes are finally becoming a world-famous phenomenon. It is in Critia and Timaeus that Plato talks about the mysterious land that existed about 9 thousand years ago, about the land that the Atlanteans inhabited, about the land that does not exist now. It is a huge island with a mountainous terrain. The mountains encircled the perimeter, which was once inhabited by the Atlantean people, their land smoothly turned into gentle foothills, and those, in turn, into the widest plain. It was here that the Atlanteans lived, it was here that they built their way of life, science and civilization.

Atlantis is the land of great minds and no less great wonders.

The secret city, at one time opened only to the Egyptian priests and the young Plato, was called Atlantis. The people who inhabited it descended from the very god of the seas and oceans, Poseidon. It is believed that the progenitor of Atlantis, Poseidon, allegedly once turned to Zeus for help, he asked the supreme god to give him a place on earth. The king of all the gods favorably reacted to the request of the god of waters and allowed him to settle on huge island, Atlantis, with a favorable climate, but to a greater extent with stony and infertile soil for crops.

Here Poseidon met locals, Atlanteans. First, he met a small people who inhabited the great and mountainous Atlantis, and then, in peace and tranquility, he took up sheep breeding. At first, he suffered from loneliness, but soon a daughter grew up in one of the neighboring families of Atlantis. She turned out to be a girl of extraordinary beauty and intelligence, her name was Kleito. God took her as his wife, and after a while they had five twins, all boys, beautiful, smart and healthy, like gods. What else could be expected from a girl for whom Atlantis was her home, and from the almighty god of the seas, oceans and waters.

When the children grew up, the island, Atlantis, was already divided into ten parts. Each son got a small part of the land, on which he became the ruler. The best piece of land went to the eldest son and at the same time the wisest - Atlan. It was in his honor that the ocean surrounding Atlantis on all sides was named the Atlantic.

Very soon, the island, or rather its seventh and largest part, the lost city, Atlantis, turned into a densely populated state, an empire. The people who inhabited this state, Atlantes, built huge cities With amazing architecture, created magnificent examples of sculpture, embodied luxurious temples in reality. The most majestic of them was the temple of Kleito, dedicated to the father of Atlantis, Poseidon. It was located in the center of the island, on a hill, and was surrounded by a wall made of gold.

To protect themselves from external enemies, the Atlanteans built a serious defense system. The plain was surrounded by two water rings and three earthen ones. Numerous canals were dug through the entire island, Atlantis, connecting the ocean waters with central part sushi. The main, widest channel ended near the marble steps of Atlantis, which led to the top of the hill, that is, to the temple of Poseidon.

Having strengthened and strengthened, the population of Atlantis created the strongest army in the history of mankind. This army consisted of 1200 ships with a crew of 240 thousand people, whose homeland was Atlantis, and a ground force of 700 thousand people. For comparison, this is twice as much as the world average today. All these people Atlantis had to somehow feed, clothe and shoe. In most cases, funds were sought on the side: the Atlanteans built their economy and politics on constant and bloody wars that could bring profit.

Successful conquests further strengthened the city-state; Atlantis has become stronger than ever. It seems that not a single enemy could be found who would be able to offer worthy resistance to the aggressor. But the universe does not like the proud, it did not forgive pride and Atlantis: proud Athens stood in the way of the island people.

Plato wrote that 9 thousand years ago Athens was a powerful state that could not be compared with the current state of affairs. However, Civilization-Atlantis was strong and it was impossible to defeat such a large army alone. The ancient ancestors of the philosopher turned for help to neighboring states that inhabited at that time Balkan Peninsula. An unprecedented military alliance was created, the main task of which was the destruction of Atlantis, or at least the weakening of its military power, in order to conclude a peace treaty.

On the decisive day of the battle, the allies opposed by Atlantis were afraid to enter the battle, betraying their neighborly alliance. The Athenians were left alone with the millionth army of the Atlanteans, whose number continued to grow and grow. Courageous Greeks without fear and looking back rushed into battle and in an unequal struggle still lost to the aggressor. It seems that everything, here it is a victory, Atlantis won, and it is time to blow the horn victoriously, but then the gods intervened in human affairs. The great and immortal did not want Atlantis to become higher than the land of Greece subject to and guarded by them.

Zeus and his closest associates have been closely watching Atlantis and the people that inhabited this land for centuries. If at the beginning local population did not cause negative emotions among the celestials, then centuries later, the situation changed radically. Atlanteans from noble, highly spiritual and moral people gradually turn into selfish, greedy, greedy for power and gold, depraved individuals, brazenly and shamelessly ignoring basic human laws and values. The lifestyle and the general situation in which Atlantis found itself, thousands of years after its settlement, caused a sharp negative reaction among those who, according to their status, were supposed to monitor the purity and morality of human civilization.

Atlantis was on the brink of an abyss. Today, in our humane and progressive 21st century, fallen and low personalities are treated quite tolerantly, for many of us such behavior has become the norm, but in those distant times the mentality was completely different. The pantheon of supreme gods and demigods decided to destroy the whole continent, Atlantis was to be wiped off the face of the Earth. Which was done by the celestials - quickly and imperceptibly for most people.

Atlantis was sinking, both in its own greed and literally. The earth opened up, stormy ocean waters poured onto land. The mysterious island plunged into the eternal abyss. No luck and proud Athens. The wrath of the gods, who did not forgive their wards for the loss, was no less cruel than the fate that Atlantis, a once mighty and beautiful civilization, was doomed to. The gods brought down a catastrophe on Greece and neighboring Earths, the state of Athens was just as erased from the map as Atlantis , wallowing in their own sins. There were no Athenians left capable of celebrating the fall of the aggressor, Atlantis, everyone fell, everyone died.

Secrets of Atlantis, a civilization that has disappeared from the pages of history.

This information can be gleaned from two extensive dialogues that reveal the secrets of Atlantis, and written by Plato at the very end of his life. It seems nothing special - there is no direct evidence based on serious scientific research, no references to any ancient manuscripts or authoritative sources. At first sight secrets of Atlantis, like the ancient civilization itself - a funny myth, a fairy tale. However, in spite of everything, the secrets of Atlantis and the legends about this civilization survived not only the philosopher himself, they survived centuries, millennia, giving rise to a huge number of discussions, theories and assumptions.

The main opponent who opposed the existence of this nation and dispelled the secrets of Atlantis was Aristotle, who lived in the period from 384 to 322 BC. Aristotle was the teacher and mentor of Alexander the Great. He was one of the main students of Plato, who began his studies at the Academy in 366 BC and completed it in 347.

For almost 20 years, this venerable man, who in every possible way unraveled the secrets of Atlantis, listened to the speeches of philosophers, himself preached the theory of eternal good, and treated with great respect both the works and the statements of his mentor. As a result, Aristotle expressed disagreement with Plato's dialogues, calling them the delirium of an old man. Allegedly, the secrets of Atlantis are not secrets at all, but a rebellion of fantasy and imagination of an honorary elder.

Such a negative reaction had its continuation. IN Western Europe in the middle of the century, Aristotle had unquestioned authority. His judgments and theories were taken as the ultimate truth. Therefore, one can imagine that until the end of the 8th century, the beginning of the 9th century, the mysterious land, the secrets of Atlantis, although they spoke, were spoken with reluctance, with an eye on representative adherents of the philosophical concepts of Aristotle, one of the greatest, if not the most important philosopher of ancient Greece.

What is the reason for such an attitude to the mystery of Atlantis, to the existence of this civilization? Why did Plato's honorary student, Aristotle, categorically reject the possibility that city ​​of Atlantis existed and flourished for several millennia? Maybe he had irrefutable evidence at his disposal that did not leave a trace of the secret of Atlantis? But there is nothing in the writings of the venerable man to point to these proofs. On the other hand, it is also impossible to dismiss the judgments of Aristotle. As a man and philosopher, he was too authoritative to turn a blind eye to what he said and wrote.

In order to understand everything, you need to imagine the pundits of the past, shrouded in dreams and an unclouded look directed to the future, as ordinary mortals, people who are characterized by envy, greed, selfishness and other things that do not fit with philosophers and such respectable men things.

Who was Plato, who gave rise to the mysteries of Atlantis, disturbing the minds of even modern scientists? Plato was the darling of fate, the favorite of fortune. He was born into a wealthy family, from childhood he did not know worries, lack of attention and need for money. Due to his origin, he received all the blessings of life easily, with a wave of his hand. Without any effort, he created the Academy, surrounded himself with admirers and people who sincerely revere him. All doors were open for him in Athens. He could shout at the top of his voice that the sunken city, Atlantis, exists, and he would be believed. Today, such people are usually called the masters of life, golden youth and oligarchs, earlier, such concepts did not exist, however, a biased attitude towards the rich and wealthy of this world can be traced even before our era.

And who was Aristotle, who did everything possible to dispel the secrets of Atlantis, introduced by his mentor? The son of an ordinary doctor at the court of the Macedonian ruler, already by birth doomed to a miserable existence in poverty and social helplessness. From childhood he knew, if not need, then at least the need for money and livelihood. Each new step upward was given to him with great difficulty. Only thanks to his perseverance, willpower, determination and hard work, which the Atlanteans themselves would envy, this man achieved everything that he deserved: money, fame, respect.

Carefully concealed hostility and envy for a prosperous and kindly mentor, in the end, played with Aristotle the worst joke that the human mind and fate are capable of. Atlantis, the lost civilization, became his Achilles' heel. He forgot all the good and good that the mentor did for him, he, if he did not betray Plato, then certainly defiled his eternal memory with his doubts and distrust. After all, in the end, the secrets of Atlantis might not have interested Aristotle at all, however, he did not just turn his attention to them, he considered it his duty and duty to refute the latest works of Plato. God be his judge, the truth is that, with all his striving, Aristotle did not have more than one fact that could refute the statements of the mentor. Atlantes remained unproven, but not refuted, no matter how hard the envious student tried.

Lost Atlantis and the mystery of its existence.

For two millennia, the question of the mysterious continent either came to life in the minds of individual researchers, or died out under the influence of militant antagonists of Plato's instructions. The most serious opponent, parrying any evidence of the presence of the mystical and lost Atlantis on earth, has long been the church. The servants of the Lord considered the official date of the creation of the world to be 5508 BC. Plato, in his theories, climbed into the darkness of centuries, indicating a time interval of 9 thousand years, when, according to the church, neither the Earth, nor people, nor the universe, much less some kind of lost Atlantis could not physically exist.

Only in the second half of the 9th century, when the church split and its influence began to wane, did lost Atlantis may exist, they spoke again, and then in a whisper. The first who again loudly began to talk about the possibility that the lost Atlantis took place in the history of human civilization was Elena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891) - theosophist, explorer, writer and famous traveler. Being a gifted, talented nature, no matter how you look at it, a bright and outstanding personality, this amazing woman categorically asserted that the lost Atlantis existed, and Plato was not mistaken when talking about this mysterious island. True, there were discrepancies in her theories with the Platonic version of Atlantis, the researcher assigned two continents to her at once - one in the Pacific, and the other, located in the Atlantic Ocean. The remains of the once great and ancient empire appeared in her understanding of the islands of Madagascar, Ceylon, Sumatra, individual islands of Polynesia and famous island Easter.

Many other researchers followed Blavatsky, arguing furiously about where the lost Atlantis is located, and about the very fact of its existence on the map of antiquity. However, the researchers could not present anything specific, evidence-based and definite to the scientific community.

Beautiful, but as it seemed to many a mythical legend, the world of Atlantis came to life and received rapid development only at the very end of the 19th century. This is the period of the beginning of powerful progress, both scientific and technical. It is no wonder that it was in this era, when more and more new resources appeared at the disposal of people, that interest in adventure arose again in the minds of many. And the lost Atlantis in their eyes became just that adventure. In fact, humanity has just entered a new phase of its existence. Heavy and light industry developed by leaps and bounds, science showed tremendous interest in what this lost Atlantis really was, technology, finance - all this required more and more advanced means of communication not only between individual cities and countries, but also between entire cities. continents.

In 1898, a landmark event in history took place around the lost Atlantis and research aimed at finding it. This year, from Europe to America, they pulled under water telegraph cable. And suddenly, for some obscure technical reasons, it broke off; as a result of which one of the ends sank to the very bottom of the ocean. They lifted it as is customary with steel crampons. Surprisingly, along with the cable, an unexpected surprise was also pulled out of the water, presumably related to the lost Atlantis: These were small pieces of vitreous lava stuck between the paws of the mechanisms used to lift the cable.

Good luck or not, but at that moment there was a geologist on the ship, and a very, very experienced specialist. In addition, he was familiar with what the underwater city of Atlantis was and knew firsthand about the hype around it. He took pieces of a strange rock, the origin of which was almost immediately associated with such a phenomenon as the lost Atlantis, and took them to Paris to his colleague, the French geologist Termier. He carefully studied the samples presented, and soon made a detailed report at the Oceanographic Society, in the capital of France.

As you might guess, his speech was truly sensational and the main topic of this speech was the lost Atlantis, which at that time was the main bone of contention in the research world. In fact, Termier stated with all responsibility that lava takes this form only when it hardens in air. At underwater eruption it would be completely different and would not have a vitreous, but rather a crystalline structure. Thus, the conclusion suggested itself that once, in the boundless waters of the Atlantic, somewhere between Iceland and the Azores, there was land, it is obvious that this is not about some unknown island, but about such a phenomenon as the lost Atlantis, which disappeared in the depths of the oceans.

It seemed that the question of the presence and location of the mysterious mainland should be resolved by itself. It would be time to open a bottle of expensive champagne and celebrate such a serious and important discovery for science as the lost Atlantis, but that was not the case. To make it clearer what exactly is the snag, it is worth going in from afar and telling about everything in order.

Atlantis is a lost world, a bone of contention for the scientific community.

The status of a discoverer in that era was almost the main, cherished dream of the whole life of every respectable man of science. So, in 1900, an English archaeologist named Evans excavates in the Cretan city of Knossos and, surprisingly, finds traces of the most ancient civilization in the entire Mediterranean. He calls it Minoan, but at the same time claims that Atlantis, the lost world, famous in scientific circles, and his Minoan are one and the same.

In his research, the archaeologist refers to a layer of ash found in the sea soil, which is more than three thousand years old. Santorini Island is located 120 kilometers from Crete. It was here, according to the assurances of Arthur Evans, was Atlantis, the lost world, famous in scientific circles. In 1400 BC the Santorini volcano exploded. The entire middle of the island sank to the bottom of the sea, destroying Atlantis, the lost world that haunts the minds of scientists. But what about the fact that Plato's writings speak of the age of Atlantis, the lost world, which is at least 5 thousand years older than the age of the remains of the civilization discovered by Evans. It's simple, according to Evans, Plato simply made a mistake, indicating 9 thousand years instead of 900 years.

Throughout the century, scientists from various countries have tried to seize the palm from each other, competing in their inventions, ingenuity of the mind, and pseudo knowledge about ancient world. Wherever the tireless search took them. mysterious Atlantis, the lost world, famous in scientific circles, has been found in the Canary Islands, and off the coast of Iceland, and predictably in the central waters of the Atlantic Ocean. But all to no avail. No one has been able to point to the specific location of the mysterious ancient continent. Atlantis, the lost world, has not been discovered, but what is there, the researchers failed to find even a single piece of evidence or clues that could indicate the location of the mysterious island.

Disputes about the mysterious Earth, about what is lost city- Atlantis, do not subside and today is the day. Theories appear and disappear, legends are born and die, and with them more and more scientists, archaeologists and historians climb the research Olympus, and then fall from it. Some of their assumptions are very similar to the truth, others are more like a fantastic story or a good invention of a sick mind. One of these is this story: the basis of everything in Atlantis, the lost world, was a huge crystal that accumulates and transforms the energy of the universe into a more familiar earthly one. Was this crystal artificial or natural origin- unknown, or maybe deliberately kept silent. This source of endless energy was kept in the central temple of Poseidon under the watchful eye of the best, chosen warriors.

The crystal completely satisfied all everyday and not only the needs of people whose homeland was Atlantis, the lost world, but they did not want to be content with little. Being aggressive and warlike by nature, the inhabitants of the ancient empire used it as a powerful weapon, destroying and burning the lands of their enemies.

Nowhere and no one around had such a means of protection that could protect them from the power of the crystal, and very soon all neighboring states were enslaved by power-hungry invaders. The mysterious Atlantis, the lost world, turned into a magnifying empire, its borders expanded and expanded until they ran into endless steppes, behind which lay no less boundless China.

Atlantis is the birthplace of the conquerors.

The process of capturing a new, unknown country and race was slow, and ancient atlantes decided to send a powerful beam of energy across the planet. Choking with impatience and greed, people who believed that Atlantis was their home, in a hurry went to the crystal and the main keeper activated the energy weapon.

A pillar of hellfire struck the rocky ground. But instead of piercing the earth like a knife through butter, he split Atlantis itself into several parts. The foaming waters of the ocean quickly poured onto the island, sweeping away everything living and inanimate in its path. Ancient city, Atlantis, in the blink of an eye sank to the bottom of the ocean. All the Atlanteans perished with her, taking into oblivion the greatness and heritage of their civilization. This is such a colorful legend. It is clear that it is based on real facts. All this, most likely, is an invention of some researcher tired of fruitless searches.

Centuries and millennia have passed, but the question of whether the ancient civilization of Atlantis existed or not is still unanswered? Perhaps the most serious and evidence-based theory was put forward by Thor Heyerdahl, the famous Norwegian traveler. He turned his attention and the attention of the scientific world to the similarities between the ancient cultures of Asia Minor, Egypt, Crete and the ancient civilizations that inhabited Central America. Indeed, if we reject skepticism and look at all this from the outside, these cultures have many similarities. Atlanta, or rather their empire, was a state where the cult of the sun occupied no less important position in society than the cult of Poseidon, who was the father of the inhabitants of this city. We can observe the same thing in Central America, Asia Minor and Crete. They also worshiped the god of the sun, practiced marriages between family members to preserve the purity of the family. We do not know what the ancient language of Atlantis was, but we can see that the writing of the cultures of Crete, Central America and Egypt is like two drops of water.

An important similar factor are the pyramids, sarcophagi, mummification, masks. These pagan symbols and pieces of art, uncharacteristic of European states, were often found in Egyptian, Asian and American settlements. Again, we do not know if Atlantis was proud of the pyramids, we only find common features between seemingly different ancient empires. In addition, it has long been proven that sometime between the American and European continents there was a connection. We all once lived on the same big continent, why shouldn't it be the same Atlantis that researchers have been unsuccessfully looking for for two thousand years already?!

Could it be that Atlantis was not destroyed, but simply reborn in the Egyptian pyramids and in American counterparts? Who knows?! Perhaps we will get an answer to this question in the very near future. Now we, like all scientific world, we can only assume that Atlantis existed, and was not an invention of the old mind of one philosopher from Athens.