The myth of Atlantis in brief. Legends of Atlantis. The search for Atlantis was and is being conducted everywhere - all over the globe

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.

Big cities were 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, it's simple beautiful legend, interesting story. 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 arose regarding lost state.

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

Specify exact location the location of the lost Atlantis is quite complicated: there are many hypotheses about where the flooded state may be.

Plato wrote that huge island was once in the ocean behind the Pillars of Hercules (i.e., beyond Gibraltar). But his search in the Canary, Balearic, Azores and british isles led to nothing.

Some researchers suggest looking for remains material culture 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 soviet expedition when testing a diving bell, she accidentally discovered some objects in the Atlantic Ocean that looked like ruins 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 modern science: at that time, mankind 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 collapsed on the coast of Crete and other islands. mediterranean sea tsunami - this catastrophe 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 actually existed once. Island state.

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 adits, 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 the later scribes of the dialogues could easily confuse symbols so similar to each other, thus pushing back the 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, a doctrine called atlantology even appeared, its main task is to identify true information about Atlantis in historical sources and mythical traditions.

Debate over whether there ever was mysterious land or the ancient Greek thinker simply invented it, do 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 of the lost island will remain unsolved, and our descendants, just like we today, will be tormented by conjectures and assumptions.

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On the island of Crete, located in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea, the Greeks have long lived. “All European art in the broadest sense of the word is rooted in the Greek tradition: everything that European artists, writers, thinkers have achieved bears the deep stamp of the amazing successes of a small ancient people,” writes the English scholar John Chadwick.

The great discoveries of the 20th century in archeology have called into question many established views regarding the Greeks. In 1900, the Englishman Arthur Evans began archaeological excavations on the island of Crete. In the north of the island, near the city of Knossos, near Mount Yuktas, Arthur Evans unearthed the remains of a huge palace of a hitherto unknown culture.

The palace had two or three floors, not counting the basements, which contained cellars, workshops, food stores, weapons, and dungeons. The ceremonial premises of the palace consisted of large and small throne rooms and rooms cult purpose. In the alleged female part of the palace there were a reception room, a bathroom treasury and various other rooms. A wide sewer network of clay pipes of large and small diameters was laid in the palace, serving the pools, bathrooms and latrines. More than 2 thousand clay tablets with various records were found in the palace. The rich decoration of some rooms, a huge number of products made of precious metals, highly artistic wall paintings, frescoes, spacious warehouses - all this indicates that the palace was the seat of the kings - the rulers of Knossos and all of Crete. total area the palace is 16 thousand square meters. m.

At Mallia, Gournia, Phaistos, and elsewhere in Crete, Evans and his students also excavated ancient palaces. Archaeological discoveries have also been made on other islands. Aegean Sea. Thus, the world learned that before the Greeks, another people, unknown in history, lived and left a great culture. This culture in scientific literature called Cretan (Minoan) or Aegean-Minoan.
Evans divides the Cretan culture into three periods. Most ancient period accounts for 3000-2000 years. BC e., and the latest - for 1600-1100 years. BC e. In other words, the earliest period of the Cretan (Minoan) civilization, according to Evans, began five thousand years ago. As we know from history, in the same period there were centers of world culture - Sumer and Egypt.

“The civilization of Crete was incomparably older than the Greek. And even in the Late Bronze Age, Cretan culture surpassed that of classical Greece. The legend tells that Athens obeyed Minos, the king of Crete. A foreign people lived here, who kept the Greeks in fear, ”writes Chadwick, a quote from which we quoted above.
"Greek art, which until now has served as the ideal of perfection, which has been a classic for all generations of artists, turns out to be only a continuation of the greatest culture that arose in the Mediterranean 2000-1000 years earlier." When and how did the Cretan culture die? For an answer, we turn to Plato.

Plato's stories about Atlantis

, who lived in 427 - 357 years. BC e., in his dialogues "Timaeus" and "Critias" writes about some state of Atlantis, the center of which was on the island of the same name. The Greek philosopher and statesman Solon, who lived two centuries earlier than Plato, in 640-559, first learned about Atlantis. BC e. Solon traveled a lot and when he was in Egypt, the servants of the temple told him about Atlantis. Plato belonged to the family of the Athenian kings, where the wonderful story of Solon was passed down from generation to generation.

Through Plato's Dialogues, the whole world learned about the mysterious state of antiquity. According to Plato, the island of Atlantis was in front of the Pillars of Hercules. He reports:

This island exceeded in size Libya and Asia put together and continues: “on this island, called Atlantis, there arose a great and admirable alliance of kings, whose power extended over the whole island, to many other islands and to part of the mainland, and beyond moreover, on this side of the strait they took possession of Libya as far as Egypt and Europe as far as Tirrenia.

Atlantis had no equal in its economic and cultural development. According to Plato, the capital of the state was located on the same island, on a plain where a small mountain towered. The first people lived on the mountain - husband and wife. They had one and only daughter named Kleito. When Kleito's mother and father died, she was left completely alone on the island. Poseidon, the god of the sea, fell in love with her. They began to live together, and Kleito gave birth to five twin sons. The god of the sea raised his children, equipped the island, divided Atlantis into ten regions and gave it to his sons to manage.

He gave the eldest the biggest and the best part islands and made him king over all the brothers. Poseidon also arranged a mountain on a plain - he surrounded it with water and earthen rings. There were two earth rings and three water rings. Two streams flowed from the mountain - one with cold, the other with hot water. Temples, palaces and other buildings were located on the mountain.

Since the time of Plato, scholars have been arguing:

was Atlantis real? If yes, where and when?

The death of Atlantis

During the two thousand years that this controversy has been going on, Atlantean logical literature has accumulated 25,000 volumes, some of which are over 500 pages long! When the time came for unprecedented earthquakes and floods, in one terrible day, all your military strength was swallowed up by the unfolding earth; in the same way, LtLi5, tida disappeared, plunging into the abyss, ”reports the author of Timaeus” and “Critias”. By the words "all your military strength" is meant the hypothetical military force of the Athenians, allegedly preparing for the war with the Atlanteans.

The death of Atlantis occurred as if 9000 years before the era of Solon. If we count from our time, we get 11500 or rounded about 12 thousand years. However, as is known, 12,000 years ago there was not a single people on Earth whose achievements would resemble the culture of the Atlanteans, as described by Plato.

The discoveries of Arthur Evans on the island of Crete enabled scientists to approach the problem of Atlantis in a new way.

The center of Atlantis could not necessarily be located in front of the Pillars of Heracles, i.e., near the modern Strait of Gibraltar. It could be in the eastern Mediterranean.

As a result of surveying the water depths with modern methods, it turned out that the islands of the eastern Mediterranean Sea from ancient times were located in a particularly seismically unstable zone of the earth's crust. It turns out that in Crete and the nearby islands of the Aegean basin, there were both earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, during which parts of the land were swallowed up by the sea.

Modern scientists have established that several strong earthquakes occurred in the Aegean Sea basin, as a result of which ancient structures were completely destroyed. For example, in 1800-1700. BC e. There were just such strong earthquakes. Palaces at Knossos, Phaistos, Mallia, Gurnia in Crete, and other islands are believed to have been destroyed during this period.

Now the third Cretan population lives on the island, along with the remnants of the former inhabitants. Other ancient authors also have information that other peoples lived on the territory of Greece before the Greeks. The same Plato in the dialogue "Cratylus" writes:

It seems to me that the first of the people who inhabited Hellas revered only those gods that many barbarians still revere today: the Sun, the Moon, the Earth, the Stars, the Sky

Strabo has these words: Hecateus of Miletus reports about the Peloponnese that barbarians lived there before the Greeks. However, in ancient times, barbarians lived throughout Greece.
In the XV century. BC e. in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea, on the island of Santorini, which is located north of Crete, there was another strong earthquake and a volcanic eruption. It is believed that during this period the entire Cretan civilization was destroyed. The end of the period was marked, apparently, by a strong earthquake, as a result of which a number of deposits, both at Knossos and at Phaistos, were isolated and preserved in a pure, unmixed state.

Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in Crete

For some time between 1450-1400 BC. e. all cities in Crete, including Knossos, were destroyed by fire. Two strong earthquakes undermined the well-being of the city. The first occurred at the end of the Late Helladic - II period, between 1450 and 1425, the second, around 1400. According to many archaeologists, geologists and oceanologists, the explosion of the Santorin volcano in the Aegean Sea in the middle of the II millennium BC. e. led to the death of the great power of the Mediterranean, the center of which was on the island of Crete, former cradle the oldest civilization in Europe

The volcanic eruption on the island of Santorini, or rather, on its remains of Thera and Therasia (otherwise Thira and Thirasia), also occurred later than the estimated time of the death of Atlantis. Here is how Strabo describes this eruption:

halfway between Thera and Therasia, a flame suddenly burst out of the sea and lasted for four days, so that the whole sea around boiled and burned; the flame spewed out the island (gradually, as if by levers raised from the water and consisting of a red-hot mass) stretching 12 stadia in a circle.

The energy of a volcanic eruption, according to the definition of P. Heidervari, is calculated by the atomic bomb equivalent. The energy of one atomic bomb is assumed to be 8.4 1014 J. “It turned out that the Bezymyanny explosion was equivalent to 4 thousand, Krakatau-20 thousand, and Tambor - 200 thousand atomic bombs.” Nameless, Krakatoa, Tambora are the names of the most famous volcanoes on the ground. It is assumed that the energy of the volcano Santorini, which destroyed the Cretan civilization, was equal to or even greater than the energy of the explosion of the volcano Tambora. Thus, the eruption of Santorini in the XV century. BC e. belongs to the greatest geological catastrophes

In order to more clearly imagine the scale of the catastrophe, let us give some examples from the history of volcanoes. During the eruption of Tambor (in Indonesia) on April 5, 1815, the roar of the explosion spread over 1400 km. Colossal masses of ash, sand and volcanic dust rose into the air. Stones weighing up to 5 kg were ejected from the crater of the volcano over a distance of more than 40 km. Volcanic ash during the explosion can rise into the air up to 50 km.

The tephra or volcanic ash from the eruption of Santorini spread over a thousand kilometers from the center of the explosion. Modern scientists, using special devices, took soil samples from the seabed in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. It turned out that 130 km southeast of Santorini, the ash layer reaches 212 cm, and in the northeast of the island the same ash layer is 78 cm.

Before the explosion of the volcano on the island of Santorini, there was Big city. Archaeological excavations are currently underway here. As in Crete, the remains of ancient structures have been found in Santorini. Greek scientists from the University of Athens unearthed here the remains of one-, two- and three-storey buildings, as well as numerous handicrafts of the Minoan period. It is assumed that the city had about 30 thousand inhabitants. Due to a volcanic eruption Northern part cities were completely destroyed, and South part was buried under a layer of volcanic ash.

In modern Thira, Thirasia, Aspronisi - the remains of Santorini - the depth of petrified tephra reaches 30 - 40 meters. Archaeologists have found no human remains buried under the tephra. This means that people managed to escape from the city and escaped.

Many scientists believe that the Cretan civilization, destroyed in the II millennium BC. e. eruption powerful volcano, and there is the mysterious Atlantis.

True, not all the details of Plato's description correspond to the facts of Cretan culture. Plato writes that Atlantis died 9000 years before the era of Solon. Here Plato himself or the scribes could be wrong by one "zero". If we consider the date of the death of Atlantis not at 9000, but at 900 years from the era of Solon, then we get an approximate chronology of the eruption of the Santorini volcano - the 15th century. BC e.

To conclude the topic, we present a TASS message entitled “Volcano - two thousand Hiroshima”, which says the following: “The most powerful volcanic eruption in the foreseeable history of mankind occurred in the 17th century BC on one of the islands in the Aegean Sea.

As scientists from the University of California (USA) reported at a press conference, the force of the eruption was about two thousand times greater than the power of the nuclear device that led to the tragedy in Hiroshima. According to the researchers, the consequences of the eruption were felt everywhere on the earth's surface. One of its consequences, according to the hypothesis put forward, was the disappearance of Atlantis, which gave rise to a highly developed civilization

The myths of many peoples often tell of cities or islands that perished forever in sea depths. Most of us are skeptical about such stories, but some of them actually turn out to be true.

One cataclysmic night, the gods sent fire and an earthquake of such magnitude that the utopian kingdom of Atlantis was deep under the sea and could never be found again.

So says the myth that Plato told his listeners more than 2,300 years ago. Subsequently, many people tried to guess where the mysterious Atlantis actually was: in the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Spain, or even in Antarctica. One of the most popular ideas is that the fate of Atlantis is connected with the island of Thera, which was partially destroyed by a volcanic eruption that occurred about 3600 years ago. Now it's Greek island Santorini. But many scientists believe that it makes no sense to associate Atlantis with any particular place, since it is only a myth.

But Atlantis is not the only legend about the sunken city. Similar stories are being told all over the world, and many of them are now proving to be true.

Plato lived in a volcanically and tectonically active part of the world, where massive earthquakes and tsunamis were not uncommon. He observed what was happening around him and used these details to make his story about Atlantis more credible.

Geomythology

Despite the skepticism of many scientists about this ill-fated island, more and more geologists are showing interest in such myths in the belief that some can really shed light on ancient geological events.

In 1966, Professor Dorothy Vitalino even came up with the name of a new discipline - geomythology. According to the scientist, this science seeks to solve the mysteries of the past and find the real geological events that formed the basis of the myth or legend.

Myths are largely created on the basis of events that have disastrously affected society. Thus, myths can become a window into events that can be reconstructed and even dated.

A detailed study of such geomyths provides valuable information, for example, the date last eruption volcano in Fiji.

Scientists have no shortage of myths or geological events, which gives food for thought: tales of volcanic eruptions or earthquakes abound, just as do stories of catastrophic floods and lands that have disappeared forever into the sea.

Myths and truth about the lost island of Teonimanu

For example, there is a legend about another lost island- Theoniman, which should be located on Solomon Islands in the southern part Pacific Ocean. According to legend, it was a high island and not some low atoll or reef that could easily be flooded. It was an essential island that disappeared.

The legend tells of a cuckolded husband whose wife moved to Theonimanu Island with another man. The enraged husband went to the island to take revenge. With him he took waves attached to the front and back of his canoe. Arriving on the island, he planted two plants, and he hurried back. The curse of the husband was supposed to come true when the leaves appeared on the plants. The flood was supposed to start on this day. From the top of the mountain on his island, the husband watched as eight waves, one after the other, hit Theonimana until he completely sank.

The waves referred to in the legend can be interpreted as tsunamis. But in reality, tsunami waves, even very strong ones, cannot wash away the island if it is high and volcanic. Geologists believe that in fact there was an underwater earthquake, which led to the death of the island, always teetering on the edge of a steep slope. After tremors damaged its foundation, landslides occurred, which in the process caused a tsunami.

For the people who were able to survive, the waves and destruction became inextricably linked. But in fact it turns out that the island drowned and thereby provoked high waves. For an uninformed observer, it is more logical to call the waves the reason for the destruction of the island.

Scholars encounter similar myths, but they interpret them as describing a loss of population rather than a literal loss of the islands themselves.

In fact, many scientists doubt that the islands can slide into the water in this way. However, it must be taken into account that the volume of the surface part of the island, such as Teonimanu, is much smaller than the lesions during large landslides. Moreover, seabed surveys carried out in the region have revealed a lot of debris that could be evidence of the loss of the islands. This suggests that entire islands may indeed disappear.

Lost cities

No less dramatic are the ancient stories of coastal cities that perished in the waves. Some are described in ancient Sanskrit texts, including the Mahabharata. This 4,000 year old work has been called the longest epic narrative in world literature. Initially, the Mahabharata, as well as another epic work, the Ramayana, was written on palm leaves.

The Mahabharata tells how Krishna, after a victorious battle, decided to leave the city of Dvaraka and return to his heavenly abode. And the Arabian Sea swallowed this city. Although for a long time it was believed that this was nothing more than a mythological city, during archaeological research 1963 Dvaraka was discovered in the sea near Indian coast Saurashtra.

Similar stories exist about the city of Pumpuhara and the ancient ruins in the city of Mahabalipuram. It is now known that both of them were real. The ruins of Mahabalipuram appeared after the 2004 tsunami in Indian Ocean. If you look at these places, they all say the same thing: big waves fell to the ground and washed away the cities in which people lived.

And although scientists believe that tsunamis are not capable of causing such severe destruction, the landslides that appeared after the glacial rise in sea level slowly destroyed the foundations of such islands and cities. The tsunami was just completing this work.

More than one generation of researchers has been arguing about the existence of Atlantis - the mighty ancient state vanished from the face of the earth once and for all. Interest in this topic arose after the works of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato saw the light. It was Plato who first wrote about Atlantis, described the ancient civilization, the strength and power of the Atlanteans. Was it a deliberately and skillfully created myth, or are we dealing with a description real facts ancient history human civilization remains a mystery. Neither before nor after it was possible to obtain and find evidence of the existence of the Atlantean state. The secrets of Atlantis remain unsolved until now, forcing historians to put forward new hypotheses, and researchers to look for the place of the disappeared island-state on the planet's map.

The civilization of Atlantis is a source of controversy

Today, a huge number of works have been written about the disappeared mighty civilization of the ancient world, starting with poetic essays and literary descriptions ending with serious scientific treatises. In each individual case, you have to deal with a huge set of assumptions and hypotheses that the ancient world looked different than today's map of the world looks like. Another new hypothesis generates new myth, which instantly acquires new details, assumptions and details. Another thing is the complete absence of facts capable of answering the question: did Atlantis exist in reality or not. This meager research material remains the lot of science fiction writers and atlantologists. Skeptics believe that the history of Atlantis is an artificially created phenomenon in modern historical science.

It is necessary to consider the problem of Atlantis in two aspects: from the point of view of the historical epic, and using a scientific approach. In the first case, one has to deal with the evidence base and materials, the existence of which is never disputed by anyone. The palm in this area belongs to the works of Plato. The ancient Greek philosopher mentioned the mighty state of antiquity in the dialogues Critias and Timaeus, which were compiled on the basis of the diaries of another prominent ancient Greek philosopher Solon, who was Plato's great-grandfather. With the light hand of Plato, the name of the ancient state appeared, and its inhabitants began to be called Atlanteans.

In his notes and books, the ancient philosopher relied on a legend according to which the ancient Greeks fought against the state of the Atlanteans. The confrontation ended with a grandiose cataclysm that led to the death of Atlantis. According to the ancients, it was this catastrophe that led to the fact that the city-island of Atlantis disappeared forever from the face of the planet. What catastrophe on a planetary scale has led to such consequences is still not known and has not been proven. Another question is that in scientific community at the moment there is a point of view that 12 thousand years BC. the world really befell major disaster that changed the geography of the planet.

Plato's dialogue "Timaeus" quite accurately indicates the location of the country of the Atlantes, is full of descriptions of the details of the culture and life of the Atlanteans. Thanks to the efforts of the ancient Greek philosopher, the lost civilization is being persistently searched for in the Atlantic Ocean. Just one phrase "opposite the Pillars of Hercules", recorded by Plato, indicates the location legendary country. There are no more accurate data on the location of the mysterious ancient state, so many researchers on this topic believe that Atlantis could be located in any other part ancient world.

The inconsistency of many of the facts set forth in the works of Plato raised a number of questions for subsequent generations. The main secrets of Atlantis are as follows:

is there a high probability of the existence of an island of such large sizes, traces of which are almost completely absent today;
what catastrophe that occurred in antiquity could lead to instant death major state;
could there have existed in such ancient times a civilization with such a high level of development, which is attributed to the Atlanteans by ancient and modern researchers;
why today there are no real traces from the past, indicating the existence of Atlantis;
whether we are descendants of a highly developed culture of the Atlanteans.

How did the contemporaries of the ancient Greeks see Atlantis

Studying Plato's works, one can briefly summarize the information that has come down to us. We are dealing with a story of existence and mystical disappearance large archipelago or a large island, which was located in the west of the then ancient world. central city superpower was Atlantis, which owes its name to the first king of the state of Atlantis. Island location explains state structure empire. Probably Atlantis, like many cities of ancient Greece, was a union of island rulers united under imperial rule. Maybe there was another in Atlantis political system, however, in the dialogues of Plato, the names of the kings are given, in honor of which other islands of the empire are named. Hence, ancient civilization took the form of a union or confederation.

Another question is detailed description Plato of the life arrangement of a mysterious power. All the main buildings and structures of the state are located on the central island. Acropolis, royal palace and the temples are protected by several rows of earthworks and a system of water channels. The inner regions of the island are connected to the sea by a huge shipping channel, so we can safely say that the power of Atlantis was focused on achieving sea power. Moreover, according to Plato, the Atlanteans worship Poseidon (the ancient Greek god, the ruler of the seas and oceans - the brother of Zeus). In Plato, the temples of the Atlanteans, their architecture and home improvement shine with luxury and wealth. Reaching the shores of Atlantis, surrounded on all sides by water, and the path to the island lay only by sea, was not an easy task for sailors of that time.

Plato in his narratives is very fond of describing the improvement of the capital of the Atlanteans. The most interesting thing in this aspect is that the descriptions of the ancient Greek philosopher strongly resemble the descriptions of other ancient Greek cities found in other ancient sources. The described infrastructure, weapons, ships, religion and lifestyle of the inhabitants of Atlantis look like the height of human perfection and a model of well-being.

The mystery of Atlantis in Plato's descriptions is present at every turn. Is it not surprising that people live far from the centers of civilization known to the then world, but they have a fairly high level of development, they can make long sea voyages, trade with everyone around, eat spices and other cultures. The Atlanteans have a powerful army and a numerous fleet capable of confronting the armies of the ancient states of the Mediterranean.

This should be the point. Only Plato was able to describe the life and structure of the legendary state in such a clear and detailed way. To find other sources that would point to such facts was not, is not, and probably will not be. Neither the Sumerians nor the ancient Egyptians say anything about a large state in the Western Hemisphere. The ancient ruins of the Indian civilizations of the North and South America. How many years ago could such a powerful civilization be located in the central Atlantic, about which there is still no real evidence.

Secrets of Atlantis: myths and legends against real facts

Some researchers continue to feed the world with illusions that Atlantis really was. Following the lead of Plato, who pointed out the exact location of the island, researchers in search of Atlantis check the territories in the area Azores, in the Bahamas. This is facilitated by the consonance of names Atlantic Ocean and the legendary island.

According to one version, Atlantis was located in the Azores. Studies of the seamount Ampere, located on the way from Europe to America, and the adjacent areas of the Atlantic mid-ridge did not give any results. The geological and morphological structure of the seabed does not give grounds to believe that a large geological formation existed in this area of the earth's crust in ancient times. Even the gigantic cataclysm that wiped out such large island or archipelago, would have left behind undeniable evidence. If the island sank as a result of a successive chain of earthquakes and floods, then its remains could be found today.

Modern scientists do not have data on a major geological and tectonic catastrophe that befell the earth in antiquity. The biblical data about the global flood that befell the Earth and mankind take us to a completely different era. All information, events and facts that speak in favor of the existence of Atlantis in this part of the globe do not stand up to criticism, if you rely on the theory proposed by Plato.

Supporters of another hypothesis, the Mediterranean one, have stronger evidence in their favor. However, there are also a number of points that cause controversy. What were the real boundaries of such a powerful union, and where could such a big Island or a small continent. Western border known to people that time of the world, runs along the Pillars of Hercules - now strait of Gibraltar connecting the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. Why, with such a richness of events and closeness, the ancient world did not have cartographic data on the location of a large state that influences the political and economic structure of the world. On the maps compiled by the ancient Greeks, Phoenicians and Egyptians, which have come down to our times, the known areas are limited to the Mediterranean region, the territories of Southern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

Many atlantologists increasingly agree that a civilization of this size could exist in the Eastern Mediterranean, in the explored sphere of political and economic interests of ancient states. The disappearance of the island and the death of the country of the Atlanteans can be tied to catastrophic eruption Santorini volcano, which erupted around the 17th century BC. This hypothesis takes place, since it is during this period that the heyday of Cretan state. According to this theory, the volcanic eruption not only destroyed half of the island of Thera, but also destroyed the numerous city-states that existed in this region. If we put aside the question of names and the reference to Plato's statements about Pillars of Hercules, such a picture of the ancient world has the right to life.

In this context, the version about the existence in ancient times of a powerful state that competes with the ancient Greek cities-policies coexists perfectly. The facts of the strongest cataclysm of that time were also noted in ancient sources. Today, volcanologists and oceanologists reasonably consider this version of the death of Atlantis to be quite real. Scientists have found evidence that Minoan civilization really possessed enormous military power and had a high level of development, allowing it to wage confrontation with the Greek states.

Sparta and Athens are located 300-400 kilometers north of the islands of Thira and Crete, which are ideal for the location of the Atlantean state. The explosion of the volcano, which destroyed a mighty state in one night, destroyed the balance in the world that existed until that moment. The consequences of such a large-scale catastrophe affected the entire Southern Europe, North Africa and the coast of the Middle East.

Versions in favor of another location of the legendary power today have no basis. Researchers are increasingly linking the existence of Atlantis with Plato's philosophical view of existing world. This is echoed by other sources in which the land of the Atlanteans is associated with other mythical territories and states that existed in the imagination of the ancient Greeks.

Hyperborea and Atlantis - ancient mythical states

When asked where to look for Atlantis today, the answer may sound prosaic. You have to search everywhere. Relying on ancient sources is possible only in those cases when the question is raised about the cultural heritage that has come down to our times. In the sense in which we perceive Atlantis today as an imaginary country and highly developed civilization, the ancient Greeks at one time represented Hyperborea. This mythical country, located in the far north, a thousand kilometers from the coast of Ancient Greece, was considered by the Greeks as the habitat of the Hyperboreans, the descendants of the gods. Is this not the Atlantis that Plato wanted to tell the world about when writing his treatises?

Hyperborean lands, according to modern scientists, should have been located on the territory of the current Scandinavian countries: in Iceland or Greenland. The Greeks directly pointed out that even Apollo himself, the god of the sun, was considered the patron of this people. What are these lands, do they really exist? It was assumed that Hyperborea is a fictional country for the ancient Greeks, where perfect and powerful people live, the gods rest. The country that Apollo regularly visits may be the same Atlantis - the state that the ancient Greeks aspired to in their development.

More than one generation of researchers has been arguing about the existence of Atlantis, a mighty ancient state that once and for all disappeared from the face of the Earth. Interest in this topic arose after the works of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato saw the light. It was Plato who first wrote about Atlantis, described the ancient civilization, the strength and power of the Atlanteans. Whether it was a deliberately and skillfully created myth, or we are dealing with a description of the real facts of the ancient history of human civilization - remains a mystery. Neither before nor after it was possible to obtain and find evidence of the existence of the Atlantean state. The secrets of Atlantis remain unsolved until now, forcing historians to put forward new hypotheses, and researchers to look for the place of the disappeared island-state on the planet's map.

The civilization of Atlantis is a source of controversy

Today, a huge number of works have been written about the disappeared mighty civilization of the ancient world, starting with poetic essays and literary descriptions, ending with serious scientific treatises. In each individual case, you have to deal with a huge set of assumptions and hypotheses that the ancient world looked different than today's map of the world looks like. Another new hypothesis gives rise to a new myth, which instantly acquires new details, assumptions and details. Another thing is the complete absence of facts capable of answering the question: did Atlantis exist in reality or not. This meager research material remains the lot of science fiction writers and atlantologists. Skeptics believe that the history of Atlantis is an artificially created phenomenon in modern historical science.

It is necessary to consider the problem of Atlantis in two aspects: from the point of view of the historical epic, and using a scientific approach. In the first case, one has to deal with the evidence base and materials, the existence of which is never disputed by anyone. The palm in this area belongs to the works of Plato. The ancient Greek philosopher mentioned the mighty state of antiquity in the dialogues Critias and Timaeus, which were compiled on the basis of the diaries of another prominent ancient Greek philosopher Solon, who was Plato's great-grandfather. With the light hand of Plato, the name of the ancient state appeared, and its inhabitants began to be called Atlanteans.

In his notes and books, the ancient philosopher relied on a legend according to which the ancient Greeks fought against the state of the Atlanteans. The confrontation ended with a grandiose cataclysm that led to the death of Atlantis. According to the ancients, it was this catastrophe that led to the fact that the city-island of Atlantis disappeared forever from the face of the planet. What catastrophe on a planetary scale has led to such consequences is still not known and has not been proven. Another question is that in the scientific community at the moment there is a point of view that 12 thousand years BC. the world really suffered a major catastrophe that changed the geography of the planet.

Plato's dialogue "Timaeus" quite accurately indicates the location of the country of the Atlantes, is full of descriptions of the details of the culture and life of the Atlanteans. Thanks to the efforts of the ancient Greek philosopher, the lost civilization is being persistently searched for in the Atlantic Ocean. Just one phrase "opposite the Pillars of Hercules", recorded by Plato, indicates the location of the legendary country. More accurate data on the location of the mysterious ancient state are not available, so many researchers on this topic believe that Atlantis could be located in any other part of the ancient world.

The inconsistency of many of the facts set forth in the works of Plato raised a number of questions for subsequent generations. The main secrets of Atlantis are as follows:

whether there is a high probability of the existence of an island of such a large size, traces of which are almost completely absent today;
what catastrophe that occurred in antiquity could lead to the instant death of a large state;
could there have existed in such ancient times a civilization with such a high level of development, which is attributed to the Atlanteans by ancient and modern researchers;
why today there are no real traces from the past, indicating the existence of Atlantis;
whether we are descendants of a highly developed culture of the Atlanteans.

How did the contemporaries of the ancient Greeks see Atlantis

Studying Plato's works, one can briefly summarize the information that has come down to us. We are dealing with the history of the existence and mystical disappearance of a large archipelago or a large island, which was located in the west of the then ancient world. The central city of the superpower was Atlantis, which owes its name to the first king of the state, Atlantis. The island location explains the state structure of the empire. Probably Atlantis, like many cities of ancient Greece, was a union of island rulers united under imperial rule. Perhaps there was a different state system in Atlantis, but Plato's dialogues give the names of kings, after whom other islands of the empire are named. Hence, ancient civilization took the form of a union or confederation.

Another question lies in Plato's detailed description of the life order of the mysterious power. All the main buildings and structures of the state are located on the central island. The acropolis, royal palace and temples are protected by several rows of earthen ramparts and a system of water channels. The inner regions of the island are connected to the sea by a huge shipping channel, so we can safely say that the power of Atlantis was focused on achieving sea power. Moreover, according to Plato, the Atlanteans worship Poseidon (the ancient Greek god, the ruler of the seas and oceans - the brother of Zeus). In Plato, the temples of the Atlanteans, their architecture and home improvement shine with luxury and wealth. Reaching the shores of Atlantis, surrounded on all sides by water, and the path to the island lay only by sea, was not an easy task for sailors of that time.

Plato in his narratives is very fond of describing the improvement of the capital of the Atlanteans. The most interesting thing in this aspect is that the descriptions of the ancient Greek philosopher strongly resemble the descriptions of other ancient Greek cities found in other ancient sources. The described infrastructure, weapons, ships, religion and lifestyle of the inhabitants of Atlantis look like the height of human perfection and a model of well-being.

This should be the point. Only Plato was able to describe the life and structure of the legendary state in such a clear and detailed way. To find other sources that would point to such facts was not, is not, and probably will not be. Neither the Sumerians nor the ancient Egyptians say anything about a large state in the Western Hemisphere. The ancient ruins of the Indian civilizations of North and South America are silent about interaction with the mysterious and powerful state. How many years ago could such a powerful civilization be located in the central Atlantic, about which there is still no real evidence.

Secrets of Atlantis: myths and legends against real facts

Some researchers continue to feed the world with illusions that Atlantis really was. Following the lead of Plato, who indicated the exact location of the island, researchers in search of Atlantis check the territory in the Azores, in the Bahamas. This is facilitated by the consonance of the names of the Atlantic Ocean and the legendary island.

According to one version, Atlantis was located in the Azores. Studies of the seamount Ampere, located on the way from Europe to America, and the adjacent areas of the Atlantic mid-ridge did not give any results. The geological and morphological structure of the seabed does not give grounds to believe that a large geological formation existed in this area of the earth's crust in ancient times. Even a gigantic cataclysm that wiped out such a large island or archipelago from the face of the earth would have left behind indisputable evidence. If the island sank as a result of a successive chain of earthquakes and floods, then its remains could be found today.

Modern scientists do not have data on a major geological and tectonic catastrophe that befell the earth in antiquity. The biblical data about the global flood that befell the Earth and mankind take us to a completely different era. All information, events and facts that speak in favor of the existence of Atlantis in this part of the globe do not stand up to criticism, if you rely on the theory proposed by Plato.

Supporters of another hypothesis, the Mediterranean one, have stronger evidence in their favor. However, there are also a number of points that cause controversy. What were the real boundaries of such a powerful union, and where could such a large island or a small mainland be located. The western border of the world known to people of that time lies along the Pillars of Hercules - now the Strait of Gibraltar, connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic. Why, with such a richness of events and closeness, the ancient world did not have cartographic data on the location of a large state that influences the political and economic structure of the world. On the maps compiled by the ancient Greeks, Phoenicians and Egyptians, which have come down to our times, the known areas are limited to the Mediterranean region, the territories of Southern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

Many atlantologists increasingly agree that a civilization of this size could exist in the Eastern Mediterranean, in the explored sphere of political and economic interests of ancient states. The disappearance of the island and the death of the country of the Atlanteans can be tied to the catastrophic eruption of the Santorin volcano, which erupted around the 17th century BC. This hypothesis takes place, since it is during this period that the heyday of the Cretan state falls. According to this theory, the volcanic eruption not only destroyed half of the island of Thera, but also destroyed the numerous city-states that existed in this region. If we put aside the question of names and the link to Plato's statements about the Pillars of Hercules, such a picture of the ancient world has the right to life.

In this context, the version about the existence in ancient times of a powerful state that competes with the ancient Greek cities-policies coexists perfectly. The facts of the strongest cataclysm of that time were also noted in ancient sources. Today, volcanologists and oceanologists reasonably consider this version of the death of Atlantis to be quite real. Scientists have found evidence that the Minoan civilization really had a huge military power and had a high level of development, allowing it to confront the Greek states.

Sparta and Athens are located 300-400 kilometers north of the islands of Thira and Crete, which are ideal for the location of the Atlantean state. The explosion of the volcano, which destroyed a mighty state in one night, destroyed the balance in the world that existed until that moment. The consequences of such a large-scale disaster affected the entire southern Europe, North Africa and the coast of the Middle East.

Versions in favor of another location of the legendary power today have no basis. Researchers are increasingly linking the existence of Atlantis with Plato's philosophical view of the existing world. This is echoed by other sources in which the land of the Atlanteans is associated with other mythical territories and states that existed in the imagination of the ancient Greeks.

Hyperborea and Atlantis - ancient mythical states

Hyperborean lands, according to modern scientists, should have been located on the territory of the current Scandinavian countries: in Iceland or in Greenland. The Greeks directly pointed out that even Apollo himself, the god of the sun, was considered the patron of this people. What are these lands, do they really exist? It was assumed that Hyperborea is a fictional country for the ancient Greeks, where perfect and powerful people live, the gods rest. The country that Apollo regularly visits may be the same Atlantis - the state that the ancient Greeks aspired to in their development.