Scientists who wrote about Atlantis. Atlantis is a fantasy. Atlantis - the land of great minds and no less great miracles

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 tells real facts 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.

• Remember the Julvernian captain Nemo, who, with his arms crossed over his chest, looks at the beautiful city, illuminated by underwater eruption volcano. Before him is the dead Atlantis...
• From the golden top of a gigantic pyramid, cosmic 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 very pretentiously: "How I Found lost Atlantis". Both of these books are from the stream of so-called "occult literature" that shrouded the problem of Atlantis in such a thick mystical fog that for other scientists it obscures the scientific significance of this problem even today.
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 become cultivated 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 Atlantic Ocean. Meanwhile, it has nothing in common 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 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.

Research carried out in last years, confirmed the date of the tragic catastrophe indicated by Plato, 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 outburst of the warm Gulf Stream into the cold 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 the 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. The poet-scientist pays special attention to the Cretan-Mycenaean culture. His book was printed 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 thought of plurality inhabited worlds for which Giordano Bruno was burned. It turns out that Egyptian texts, sacred books ancient india and Tibet. 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 subdivided 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 well-known biblical myth about construction Tower of Babel and the subsequent confusion of languages. 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? Ancient Mexico? And they talk about it like this:

They built a 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 reality 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 the Stone Age to the Bronze Age. There is nothing contradictory in Plato's story about the gigantic size of the 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 Atlantean culture megalithic structures scattered almost along all sea coasts of 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. Data modern science they say 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-50s, 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 fact that located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean mountain range 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.

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

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

"We'll go the other way"!

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

“Aristotle taught me to satisfy my mind only with what reasoning convinces me, and not just the authority of teachers. Such is the power of truth: you try to refute it, but your very attacks elevate it and give it great value. (XVI century, Italian philosopher, physicist, mathematician Galileo Galilei).

So, let's start "cutting the ends." - Atlantis could not be in any far corner of the world and even in the Atlantic Ocean. The war (according to the history of the story) between Athens and Atlantis - could not be anywhere except in the Mediterranean Sea on this "patch of civilization" due to the limitations of human development. The world is great - but developed is narrow. Athens simply would not have been able to reach the limits of Atlantis with her army and navy. Water and vast distances were an insurmountable obstacle. - "This barrier was insurmountable for people, because ships and shipping did not exist then." (Plato, Critias).

IN ancient Greek mythology, which arose many thousands of years later than the time of the death of Atlantis, the only (!) hero Hercules (according to Homer - XII century BC) accomplished a feat, traveling to the farthest western point of the world - to the edge of the Mediterranean Sea. “When the Atlas Mountains arose on the path of Hercules, he did not climb them, but made his way through, thus paving the Strait of Gibraltar and connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic. This point served as the border for navigators in the ancient era, therefore, in figuratively"Hercules (Hercules) pillars", this is the end of the world, the limit of the world and the expression to reach pillars of hercules" means - "to reach the limit." What western limit Hercules reached (“end of the world”) was unattainable by other mortals.

Thus, Atlantis was closer to the center of the ancient civilization - it was in the Mediterranean Sea. But where exactly?

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

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

This information about Atlantis, dating back to the 6th century BC. came from the Egyptian priest Timaeus from the city of Sais (on the coast of Africa, the western Nile Delta, the current name of the village of Sa el-Hagar). When Timaeus said that the barrier from the remains of the sunken Atlantis blocked the way - "from us to the open sea", this clearly testified to the presence of Atlantis on the route from the Egyptian mouth of the Nile to the wide waters of the Mediterranean Sea. In ancient times, the Pillars of Hercules also called the entrance to the main (western) mouth of the Nile, nicknamed the mouth of Heracles, that is, Hercules, where the city of Heracleum and the temple in honor of Hercules were located.

Over time, the silt and floating material from the sunken Atlantis was blown across the sea, and the island itself went even deeper into the abyss. “Since in nine thousand years there have been many great floods (namely, so many years have passed from those times to this day), the earth did not accumulate in the form of any significant shallow, as in other places, but was washed away by waves and then disappeared into the abyss. (Plato, Critias).

We exclude impossible locations further.

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

Expedition famous researcher sea ​​depths French scientist-oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau in the area north of Crete on the periphery of the islands of Thira (Strongele), Fera discovered the remains of an ancient sunken city, but from the above it follows that it belongs to another civilization rather than Atlantis.

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

Narrowing the search circle, we come to the conclusion that Atlantis could only be in one place opposite the mouth of the Nile - to the south and east of the island Crete. She, there, today at a depth and lies, having fallen into a deep basin of the sea. The failure of an almost oval water area with influx from the coast, horizontal wrinkling (from sliding) of sedimentary rocks to the center of the "funnel" is clearly visible from the Internet survey of the seabed from space. The bottom of the sea in this place resembles a pit, sprinkled with soft sedimentary rock on top, there is no solid “crust-mantle” below. A hole not overgrown with a “bone” inside - on the body of the Earth, “poke your finger and you will fail.”

The Egyptian priest Timaeus, in a story about the location of the silt from the flooded Atlantis, gives a reference to the Pillars of Hercules (nearest to him at the mouth of the western Nile). In another case (later), already when Plato described the power of Atlantis, we are talking about other pillars (as already mentioned above, there were seven of them in the Mediterranean). Later, when Plato expounded the text of his essay on the retelling, Timaeus had not been around for 200 years by that time, and there was no one to clarify information about which pillars the conversation was about. From this arose all the subsequent confusion with the location of Atlantis.

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

The sea that washed the island of Atlantis (between Crete and Egypt) was called the Atlantic in ancient times, it was located in the Mediterranean Sea, as well as modern seas Aegean, Tyrrhenian, Adriatic, Ionian. Subsequently, due to an error in tying Atlantis not to the Nile, but to the Gibraltar pillars, the name "Atlantic" also spread to the ocean beyond the strait. The once inland Atlantic Sea, due to inaccurate interpretation and description (of Plato, Critias or Solon), became the Atlantic Ocean. As the Russian proverb says: - “We got lost in three pines” (in seven pairs of pillars). When she went to sea ​​abyss Atlantis, along with it, the Atlantic Sea disappeared.

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

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

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

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

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

So, following the description - approximately to the middle of the island stretched a rectangular plain 580 by 390 kilometers, open to the south and closed from the north by large and high mountains. Fitting these dimensions into the geographical map of the "Atlantic" sea north of the mouth of the Nile, we get that the southern part of Atlantis could adjoin Africa (in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe current Libyan cities of Tobruk, Derna, Egyptian cities on the coast west of Alexandria), and its northern mountainous part could be ( but, not a fact) - the island of Crete.

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

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

It should also be taken into account that with the end of the ice age, with the beginning of the melting of the northern glaciers, the level of the world's oceans rose by 50-70 meters and the part of the land that once connected Atlantis and Africa was gradually flooded. Elephants and, by the way, people - the inhabitants of the island (by the name of their king Atlanta - the Atlanteans) who came here earlier from the depths of Africa remained surrounded by the sea. The Atlanteans were ordinary people of a modern look, and not four-meter giants, otherwise Athens would not have been able to defeat them. The island, isolated position of the inhabitants prompted civilization to separate (without wars and external enemies), active, ahead of external warring barbarians - development (fortunately, everything needed was on the island).

On Atlantis (in its capital, similar to the hill of an extinct volcano) there were hot springs of mineral water, this indicates the high seismic activity of the territory and the "thin" mantle of the earth's crust ... amazing both in taste and healing power. (Plato, Critias).

I will not now assume what caused the “internal hiccups of the Earth”, as a result of which Atlantis sank into the basin of the Mediterranean Sea in a day, and later even deeper. Exactly in that place along the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea there is a border between the African and European mainland tectonic plate. The depth of the sea there is very large - about 3000-4000 meters. It is possible that a powerful impact of a giant meteorite in North America in Mexico, which, according to the US National Academy of Sciences, occurred 13 thousand years ago (about that time) caused inertial plate movement in the Mediterranean.

Just like the continents, crawling on top of each other, breaking the edges, uplift mountains - the same process, but in the opposite direction, when diverging, forms depressions. The African plate slightly moved away from Europe, and this was quite enough for the lowering of Atlantis into the abyss of the sea. The fact that Africa earlier in the history of the Earth moved away from Europe and Asia is clearly evidenced by the visible huge intercontinental fault from the Mediterranean Sea in two directions - the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, the Dead Sea, the Gulf of Aqaba, the Aden, Oman and Persian Gulfs.

It is possible (but not a fact) that the current island of Crete - previously the northern highest mountainous part of Atlantis, did not fall into the abyss of the sea, but, having broken away, stayed on the "European continental cornice". On the other hand, if you look at Crete on a geographical map, then it does not stand on the very cliff of the mantle of the European mainland, but about 100 kilometers from the basin of the Mediterranean (Atlantic) Sea. This means that the catastrophic collapse of Atlantis on the current coastline there was no island of Crete, it was only, as an independent unit, part of the archipelago of island Atlantis.

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

The former proximity of the location of Atlantis to Africa and to the mouth of the Nile is indirectly evidenced by the vast Qattara depression (minus 133 meters below sea level), in the Libyan Desert in Egypt, 50 km away. from the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, also a lowland west of Alexandria. In addition, along the line of a tectonic fault - a lowland Dead Sea(minus 395 meters) in Israel. All of them speak of a territorial catastrophe that once occurred near the earth, connected with subsidence.

What gives the establishment of the exact location of Atlantis?

Perhaps not much. The Mediterranean basin is too deep. At first, silt, earth, subsequent sedimentary deposits and landslide rocks, which first rose and then settled to the bottom, densely covered Atlantis. The golden capital, with its countless treasures in the temple of Poseidon, was located closest to Africa and turned out to be at the very depths (in the center of the depression). It is possible that searches in the southern part of the coast of Crete will bring something, but this is unlikely, since the South Cretan European mainland “ledge-cornice” has literally been “licked by the sea to bare stone” over the millennia, and everything that was from the Atlanteans - long washed away into the basin. Who will dig in the depths of the sea, who will look for the fallen “necklace in the mouth of a volcano”? “Because nothing from Atlantis has been found so far.

But the only thing that is inspiring is that the confusion with the "Pillars of Hercules" has been successfully resolved, and the location of Atlantis has finally been established.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

7 700

A few years ago, it certainly would not have occurred to me to connect the Theta Disc with the myth that Atlantis was at that time. However, everything has changed: it is no longer a myth! The myth has become a hypothesis, in support of which the forces of dozens of researchers have united, finding more and more indisputable data. Today there are already so many of them that, without the testimony of Plato, we ourselves would now recreate a picture of the Ancient Atlantic with an archipelago of islands that connect its shores and begin at the Pillars of Hercules.

I think it is worth getting acquainted with these data in order to make sure how real the former existence of this country is and how directly related to our hypothesis is possible. And I will start with a general statement: as science has shown, nothing is permanent in our knowledge of the world. The progress of science is in the constant rejection of previous knowledge. For a long time there are already immutable truths and there are no indisputable facts. The view of the problems and objects of study is sometimes subject to a radical change. Actually, the only principle worthy of a man of science is now the readiness to accept the most unexpected explanations of phenomena, it would seem once fully explained.

As an example, let us turn to the past of man, in order to say to ourselves directly, without bluntness: the entire genealogy of the human race, which was hammered into us with such zeal by self-confident or unscrupulous scientists, turned out to be just a speculative construction on paper! Textbooks also say that a million years ago we allegedly descended from the trees. Meanwhile, recent discoveries in Africa have shown the existence of intelligently crafted flint tools as early as 3.5 million years before us.

All the imaginary "intermediate links" between the monkey and Homo sapiens, so adored by paleontologists, often, alas, to their greater glory, return to their places in the animal world. And it began after they discovered in Tanzania more ancient or equal in age to completely human remains and prints of the feet, no different from ours. And that's when a few real scientists dared to publicly express their conviction that the "bone material of evidence" collected over decades is far from complete, badly dated, insufficient, doubtful, and even falsified. And finally, this "something" presented as an ancestor of man may well be simply a parallel branch. In a word, science in its present state has little to say about man's past. Thus, the ancient cultures "received" over thousands of millions more years for their historical development. If our immediate ancestor in 10 thousand years managed to move from a stone pestle to an electron microscope, then the question arises: well, his African predecessor, with equally dexterous hands and the same brain size, had to spend 3.5 million years, so nothing and not reaching?
And in our past, an incredibly long, boundless period opened up, during which cultures that we could not even dream of could flourish and perish with success! Most likely, they were just that, because they did not leave us rusting landfills and plastic dumps.

In this incomprehensible past, there is enough room for Atlantis.
As Plato says, on the islands of Atlantis “it was easy to move to other islands, and from the islands to the entire opposite mainland, which covered that sea, which really deserves such a name (after all, the sea on this side of the said strait is just a bay with some narrow passage into it, while the sea on the other side of the strait is the sea in the proper sense of the word, as well as the land surrounding it can truly and quite rightly be called the mainland).”

Strikingly, this is an early reference to America; and it doesn't look like fiction at all. But no less remarkable is the mention of a chain of islands. Plato at one time could not know about the Atlantic what we know today: during the last glaciation, the water level was lower by 120-200 meters, and this alone meant that the surface of Azores, Madeira, the Cape Verde Islands, Bermuda and Bahamas- many times higher than the current one. These were major islands, and their shallow continental shelf, which greatly facilitates navigation, occupied vast expanses.

The testimony of Heinrich Schliemann, the famous discoverer of Troy, is little known (by the way, it has already been discovered a second time, in another place). He claims that during his stay in St. Petersburg, he found and read an Egyptian papyrus kept in the Hermitage, which says the following:
"The pharaoh sent an expedition to the west to search for traces of the continent of Atlantis, from which the ancestors of the Egyptians arrived 3350 years ago, bringing with them all the knowledge of their native land."

Interestingly, Aristotle, who rejected Plato's message, claimed that the Phoenicians and Carthaginians knew about a large island in the west of the Atlantic, which they called Antilla.

This name is very close to the Greco-Roman "Atlantis" (the so-called lost island or continent).

So if we prove the existence of this "chain of islands", then not only Atlantis will become reliable, but also the ambiguities in the problem of the settlement of America will disappear. The "Siberian Way" through the Bering Isthmus does not fully explain everything either in time or in the ethnic composition of the South American peoples. Some of them, such as the Mexican Olmecs with Negroid traits, the creators of the oldest culture in this country, came (according to Professor Andrzej Wierczyński) from the Ibero-African region. Such resettlement would be highly doubtful if there were no transatlantic island chain. The cradle of a number of other American tribes with clearly Indo-European ethnic features, not without reason, could be seen precisely on Atlantis.

Ancient sources are full of numerous references to the invasion of Europe and Africa by "sea peoples" from the west. The inhabitants of this region have preserved legends, records and even some ruins - traces of these invasions from the sea. Egyptian chronicles mention the mysterious attacks of "people of the sea". Irish legends tell of Froborgs who arrived from the Atlantic. The ruins of ancient stone fortresses testify to the attacks committed thousands of years ago. And what is interesting: these stones bear traces of exposure to high temperatures. The Atlantic coast of Spain and France is also full of ancient ruins, covered with legends of attacks from the west in time immemorial.

The ancient Gauls, Irish, Welsh and other Celtic tribes were convinced that their ancestors came from a continent that had sunk in the "Western Sea". The Welsh called it Avalon.

The Basques, who are a completely mysterious racial and linguistic "island" in Southwestern France and Northern Spain, and to this day believe that they are the descendants of Atlantis, which is called the Atlantic. In Portugal, it is also widely believed that Atlantis was near this country, and the Azores are its remnants.

The indigenous inhabitants of the Canary Islands still call them by their old name - Atalaya, and the first newcomers from the continent were presented as distant descendants of the few ancestors who survived the great catastrophe.
The Vikings claimed that Atli was a wonderland in the west. For the ancient Arabs, the first civilization existed on the "continent of Hell in the Western Ocean." Why, even the ancient Indian texts "Purana" and "Mahabharata" mention "Atalla, the White Island in the Western Ocean", remote from India by "half the world".

And so on and so forth. There are many such traces of the past in America. For example, in Venezuela, the conquistadors came across a village of "white people" called Atlan. However, other tribes conquered by them told about their coming from across the sea, from places in the name of which the sound combination atl was repeated.
Cultural similarities on two continents are significant. Already the first Spaniards heard about things well known to them from the traditions of the Middle East, from the Bible and other texts: about the great flood that a few chosen ones and their animals survived on boats; about the construction” of a high tower in order to avoid another flood; about repentance and deliverance from sins; about communion in the form of bread, perceived as the body of God, and also about the cross, which turned out to be the oldest image of the Tree of Life.

The Indians, in turn, had long awaited the arrival of the Spaniards and, with an accuracy of up to a year, foresaw the return of the "white gods", who many centuries ago brought them civilization, and then sailed east.

What else struck the Spaniards, and still strikes us, is the use by the Indians of words from the ancient languages ​​of the Old World. So, for example, in the Aztec language Nahuatl there is the word theoakilli (TeosaSh), meaning "house of the gods", and in Greek - theou potassium (theou calia) - "God's house". Another Nahuatl word tepek (tepee), that is, "hill", sounds almost like tepe (tehe) - "hill" in the Turkic languages. The Indian "Potomac" (river in the USA) and numerous names of other rivers beginning with "pot" are reminiscent of the distant Greek patomas (potomos) - "river". There are too many such transatlantic linguistic similarities to be considered accidental. Here are a few more examples out of hundreds of others:

The list of such similarities could be continued. It certainly excludes any chance. These words are brought across the ocean by people. We do not know how long ago and in what way. It is generally believed that this was done by Asian hunters and gatherers who migrated from Siberia, perhaps 50,000 years ago. The oldest human bones in the United States date back to the 40th millennium BC. The advance of the tribes through the Bering Strait to Alaska, and then through the lands of present-day Canada, the USA, Mexico, Central America to Peru, Chile, Argentina and Tierra del Fuego lasted for millennia, and during this time, before deserts, mountains, jungles and prairies were overcome, hundreds of generations have changed. Well, let's say that the life expectancy of people of those times was on average 25 years, which means that in 1 thousand years - 40 generations, and in 40 thousand years - about 1600 generations. This is so much that that ancient living speech has completely changed, forming the current mosaic of almost radically different Indian languages.

It is difficult to agree that some Siberian tribe 40 thousand years ago used the word meo (leo), “saint”, and it was brought to the Aztecs, and then to the Greeks, and at the same time did not change for 1600 generations ... But the word ball (bal) "ax", in Sumer and among the Araucanians three quarters of the way around the Earth? Oh, and incredible.

The ethnic composition of the peoples of America tells us another solution. Although in general the inhabitants of the New World undoubtedly have Asian features, there are, however, islands of races with Negroid and Indo-European ethnic properties, and their presence cannot be explained by Siberian migration. They and their languages ​​got to America from the Old World in a different way.

The riddles don't end there. A major Sanskrit scholar, at my request, analyzed some of the Nahuatl words to which I associate biochemical meanings. And what turned out? They have Sanskrit roots and with the same meaning as in Mexico!

For example, the name of the sign ollin (ollin) "movement" in the usual, everyday meaning - symbolizes a double chromosome. In Vedic Sanskrit, the root “il” (I) really means “to move”, “to move”, but also “to speak”! Hence illin (illin) is “endowed with movement and speech”, that is, “information”! And those two sticks that are drawn in the cell sign really carry genetic information and "pass from cell to cell."

There is too little space here to consider this problem in more detail, so I will only remind you that both Americas are replete with names that undoubtedly come from the Vedic Sanskrit - "the speech of the gods." But how is this possible if Sanskrit originated in the records 3.5 thousand years ago, and Asian languages ​​"penetrated" into America 10, 20, 30 centuries earlier? Only one answer suggests itself: someone taught the peoples in America, and in India, and in the Middle East, and in the region of the Pillars of Hercules. And he fulfilled his mission by the closest route - the Atlantic. This "someone" disappeared from the face of the Earth along with his country.

Now let's move on to direct evidence of the existence of Atlantis. They were deep-sea discoveries made in Lately thanks to the development of diving technology and underwater research. On the sea shelf of the Azores, Canary Islands, Bahamas and Bermuda, scuba divers discovered and photographed numerous stone walls, platforms and stairs laid by the human hand thousands of years ago.

About 300 miles west of Gibraltar lies an underwater range of sunken mountains, rising 5 kilometers above the surrounding depths and not reaching about 200 meters from the surface of the water. Arranged in a semicircle, they received the name "Horseshoe".

This Horseshoe attracts great attention of numerous sea explorers. Expeditions under different flags took geological samples of the bottom, benthic flora and fauna there, which brought very interesting results.

Researchers were surprised to find specific "wrinkles" of the bottom at a depth of several hundred meters. These are sand bars, the surface of which is covered with small wavy wrinkles, which form exclusively in coastal areas, where sea waves run ashore and roll off it in powerful streams, entraining sand particles. Cliffs were also found - coastal cliffs, washed away by the waves of the surf. Thus, irrefutable evidence was obtained that entire areas of the Horseshoe were once dry land.

But the real sensation was photographs of the sunken plateau of Ampère, lying about 70 meters below the surface of the water. They were made by the Soviet oceanographic expedition on the research vessel Akademik Petrovsky in January 1974. Its participant, V. I. Marakuev, a specialist in underwater photography, “caught” among thousands of pictures of the bottom those that turned out to be so sensational that the word “Atlantis” immediately hit the front pages of newspapers around the world.

One of the photographs shows a fragment of a wall about one and a half meters high and about two meters long, made of stone blocks connected by a bundle. On the other - the same wall from above. The photograph allows you to determine the thickness of the wall at approximately 0.75 meters, as well as see the seams connecting the processed blocks. In the third photo, five steps are visible, partly filled with lava, and in the fourth - a stone platform made of flat slabs.

In the light of these and many other finds, today it is already impossible to deny that the Atlantic hides the remains of some kind of human civilization. The oldest legends about the "people of the sea" and their buildings have received serious confirmation in reality.

Geologists, who in subsequent years took samples of the bottom in various parts of the Atlantic, collected a whole collection of volcanic rocks, which, without any doubt, solidified and crystallized in the atmosphere, outside the waters. Their age does not exceed 15 thousand years. So it can be considered proven that at that time significant sections of the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean were the earth's surface.

Another piece of evidence comes from Wegener's theory of continental drift. The coasts of the Old and New Worlds, which once formed a single whole, are visually connected on the map. Eastern Shores Brazil and Argentina correspond to the western coasts of Africa. Greenland is drawn to Norway, Florida to Liberia. There is also a geological correspondence on both sides of the ocean. Everything is in place here. With one exception: a piece that is supposed to be in the southern part of the North Atlantic has disappeared from this mosaic. But that's exactly where he is. Only underwater! And in the very place where most of the legends interfere with Atlantis.

Nature also remembers her. Birds remember. Sailors and fishermen report a striking phenomenon south of the Azores. It turns out that migratory birds during winter migrations from Europe to South America begin to circle here so low above the sea, as if they are looking for places to land. Not finding land, they fly further, but many weakened birds descend on the water. This is repeated here in the spring, during the return flight. It seems that the birds are instinctively looking for the land on which flocks rested thousands of years ago.

Similar story with butterflies. The species caloriscia, which lives on the northern coast of South America, seems to "remember" some kind of dry land that once protruded from the waters northwest of Guyana. Every year, the males of this butterfly take a massive flight into the ocean and there they settle in whole clouds on the water.

With regard to the possibility of sinking vast areas of land to a considerable depth, much has been clarified in recent years. Acquaintance with the features of the seabed, the movement of continental plates, as well as the "programming" of probable collisions in the ancient times of the globe with giant cosmic bodies today makes it possible to scientifically substantiate several reliable hypotheses of Atlantis sinking into the ocean. One of them, which takes into account an extremely large amount of data from various fields and is based on a solid chronology and calculations, was developed by Dr. Emilio Spendicato, physicist, professor at the University of Bergamo in Italy - materials on it were kindly provided to me by Dr. Jan Golubets from the Polish Academy of Sciences.

This hypothesis considers the catastrophic disappearance of Atlantis in accordance with Plato's message. In particular, it is largely confirmed by satellite photography of craters that appeared as a result of collisions of the earth with large meteorites, some craters (for example, in Brazil, which is 220 million years old) have a diameter of several tens of kilometers. The crater in Canada (Labrador Peninsula) became the Manicowagan reservoir, comparable in size to the crater Copernicus on the Moon. Of course, there are many more such craters at the bottom of the oceans.

Such collisions should have led to incalculable long-term consequences on Earth: colossal geological, gravitational and magnetic disturbances, climatic changes, catastrophic for the planet.

According to Plato, the death of Atlantis occurred 9 thousand years before him, that is, about 11.5 thousand years ago, counting from our time. Professor Spendicato became interested in what happened in that period on the entire planet. And what? It was then that the last glaciation on Earth ended. The scientist calculated that a meteorite with a diameter of about 1.4 kilometers and a density of 3.3 grams per cubic centimeter crashed into the Earth in the Atlantic region, near the great island, at a speed of 25 kilometers per second. The released energy corresponded to the explosion of a million megaton hydrogen bombs. Even at a distance of 10 thousand kilometers from the impact site, the temperature rose by 30 degrees, and winds at a speed of 100 kilometers per hour blew for 14 hours.

As a result of this collision, a funnel was formed with a depth of 6 and a diameter of 15 kilometers. Since the ocean was then not as deep as it is now, a crater arose in its bottom and an earthquake occurred, most likely causing the release of liquid magma. Then, the instantaneous filling of the colossal crater with ejected and falling back water formed giant wave kilometer high, which even at a distance of 1 thousand kilometers was a 100-meter wall. Thermal shock led to the explosive evaporation of huge masses of water, saturation of the atmosphere and long-term showers throughout the Earth. As a result, the biblical flood, about which legends remained among many peoples of the world. Due to the greenhouse effect, the temperature on the planet has risen so much that the rapid melting of glaciers began and, as a result, an increase in the level of the World Ocean by about 120 meters.

The history of an ancient almost mythical civilization, Atlantis, still excites the imagination. The thought that the city simply went under water due to natural disasters excites the mind. Therefore, in every new settlement that is found under water, they see the mythical Atlantis.

The Greeks called this city Heraklion, and the Egyptians - Thronis. Once on the northern coast of Egypt and considered one of the most important port cities in the Mediterranean, it is now at the bottom of the sea it once served. Recently, a 1200-year-old city has been found underwater and is slowly revealing its secrets. Artifacts that are raised to the surface indicate that at one time it was a large shopping mall and busy port. More than 60 ancient ships that were sunk in the port area for various reasons were also found, along with hundreds of anchors, coins, tablets with inscriptions in Greek and Egyptian, and large sculptures from temples. These temples dedicated to the gods remained almost intact.

The city was the official port of Egypt from 664 to 332 BC. e. Now it is located far from the coast, at a distance of 6.5 km. As in many other sunken cities, the artifacts have been preserved in good condition, which helps to accurately recreate the pictures of the life of cities, their architecture and layout. If you answer the question of how the cities ended up at the bottom of the sea, then, most likely, as a result of an earthquake. Since the city was located on the coast, due to geological processes, it could easily go under water.

9. Fanagoria, Russia/Greece

The ancient city of Phanagoria, the hero of myths and works of art, really existed. If you read the history of Rome, it becomes known that in 63 BC. e. the uprising ended with most of the city being burned, the wife and children of Mithridates VI were killed by an angry mob. For a long period it was believed that this was just a myth, until archaeologists studied the underwater necropolis of Phanagoria and discovered a tombstone, the inscription on which read: “Gypsicrates, wife of Mithridates VI.” Hypsicrates is the masculine version of the name Hypsicratia. This tombstone confirmed the reality of the legend that Hypsicratia was bald, taciturn and courageous, so her husband addressed her, calling her a male name.

Phanagoria is the largest Greek city which is now in Russia. It was founded on the Black Sea coast in the 6th century BC. and today is the third sunken city that may be the legendary Atlantis. Although most of it today is covered with a thick layer of sand, scientists distinguish port structures and a large necropolis. Also found were plinths on which large statues stood, and a large number of urban artifacts. Having existed for 1500 years, the city was abandoned in the 10th century, but the reason for this is not known. Since the 18th century, the city has attracted the attention of archaeologists, but excavations are very slow due to the peculiarities of the bottom and the ball of sand, the width of which in some places is 7 m.

Part of ancient Alexandria is at the bottom of the ocean. The city, which is 2000 years old, has been the object of archaeological excavations for decades. This is a long and difficult process that overcomes a number of difficulties related to the depth and lack of visibility that hides part of the city that has sunk in the earthquake. In addition to the royal palace, temples, quarters, military buildings and outposts, large private complexes were found - everything has been preserved in excellent condition over the centuries. Archaeologists have also found palace complex Cleopatra, which she called her and Mark Antony's home, the place where she committed suicide in order not to surrender to her captors.

Huge granite statues remain at the bottom of the ocean, where they once fell, as a result of a series of earthquake shocks from the 4th to 8th centuries BC. e .. There is also the house of Mark Antony, Timomium, where he hid during difficult periods of life. Archaeologists managed to clear the temple of Isis, the statues of Cleopatra's father and son and other artifacts, including dishes, jewelry, amulets, small statues, ritual boats that were raised to the surface from the sand. In 1994, archaeologists explored the ruins of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the seven wonders Ancient Light. In order for those who wish to see the finds, it is planned to create an underwater museum that will allow tourists to stay dry, going down under the water and walking around the sunken city. Difficulties with financing and construction hinder the implementation of plans.

Chinese Shicheng city was founded 1300 years ago, and most of the buildings appeared over the next 300 years after its foundation. The unique architecture includes buildings dating from the Ming and Qing Dynasties of the 14th century. Nothing can resist progress, and the city of Shincheng did not resist, in 1959 it was flooded as a result of the construction of a hydroelectric power station. More than 300,000 inhabitants have left their ancestral homes. Today the city is under water at a depth of 40 m and is well preserved.

The city is not completely lost. In 2001, the Chinese government became interested in its fate and found that it was quite well preserved, if not for the water, it seems that the city continues to live. The walls date back to the 16th century and are still standing today, including the city gates and numerous statues. Today, divers are discovering this city and its greatness in a new way for themselves and the world.

If most of the sunken cities are difficult to access physically or because they are heavily excavated, the ruins of the city of Olus are accessible to everyone. It was based on northeast coast Crete, and it had between 30,000 and 40,000 inhabitants. The city was not built on stones, like all Cretan cities, but on sand, like most sunken cities. A powerful earthquake shock, and he was under water. Today, scuba divers and snorkelers can take exciting underwater walks exploring the ruins and finding sunken artifacts such as coins. Some structures, such as walls, are partly above the sea surface.

The Lapita tribe, settlers of Micronesia and Polynesia, settled on the islands after they left Taiwan and East Asia around 2000 BC e .. In 500 BC. they established several settlements in the Pacific Islands. These people were talented sailors and craftsmen, especially in the field of making dishes. More than 4,000 pieces of Lapita pottery have been found on the Samoan Islands.

Archaeologists believe that the settlement of Mulifanua was founded 3000 years ago, during the period of the great island migration in the Pacific Ocean. It is a confirmation of the existence of lapita. At that time the island was sandy and wide. It is not known how many other settlements were located here, since over the centuries water and sand have hidden material evidence, except for potsherds that are found on the coast.

In 2002, the ruins of an ancient city were found in the Indian Gulf. Since they are located at a depth of 40 m, they were found quite by accident by a team that investigated the level of pollution in the water area. This discovery forced archaeologists to reconsider the time frame for the existence of civilization in this region. The city was founded 5,000 years ago. Initially, the 4000-year-old Harappa was considered the oldest city, which was considered the cradle of civilization. The Mesopotamian city was famous for its sewage and water collection systems, well-planned streets, ports, and fortifications. Rumor has it that it was founded by direct descendants who survived after their first city sank.

Shards, beads, sculptures and human bones were found at the site of the newly found sunken city. According to the results of carbon analysis, the remains of people are 9,500 years old. At that time, the ocean level was much lower. The city was on the very shore and was swallowed up by a wave of rising water, as a result of the melting of glaciers. The remains of the settlement were built along the riverbed.

There are many legends around Lake Titicaca. Even today, the locals consider it sacred. The depth of the lake and poor visibility complicate the study of the bottom, and ignorance breeds legends. Recently, a team of research divers from the Akakor Geographical Exploring Society made 200 dives to the ruins of the sunken city. At the bottom, the ruins of temples, fragments of roads, walls and terraces were found, on which agricultural plants were once grown. For a long time, among the locals, one could hear talk about the sunken city, but only thanks to the development of technology, diving became possible. Remains temple complex were found at a depth of 20 meters when divers followed the road found at the bottom, which led them to the find.

From the mythology of the Incas, it is known that the lake is the cradle of the birth of their civilization. Here was the city of Wanaku and the burial place of the golden statues of the gods, which were hidden from the conquerors and then lost. At the bottom of the lake, researchers found many artifacts, including fragments of gold items, ceramic statues, stone statues, boats, bones of people and animals, and containers with incense.

Atlit-Yam is the name given to several buildings from the Neolithic period that have been discovered on the banks of the Carmel. These buildings were stone walls, foundations of houses and other buildings, round foundations and ancient roads. It was estimated that the structures were built 7,550 and 8,000 years ago, and were destroyed as a result of a tsunami caused by volcanic activity. In the center of the settlement there was a structure in the form of stones laid out in a circle, reminiscent of a place of sacrifice, there was also a source of water. Some stones stood upright, while others lay, most likely they played the role of a table for sacrifices.

Human remains have also been found here, including the skeletons of 65 men, women and children. A detailed examination of the finds led to the fact that traces of tuberculosis were revealed, as a result of which people died. This is the world's first manifestation of a deadly disease, dating back 7000-8000 years. They also found stone, flint and bone tools. In addition, seeds of local plants were found: flax and barley. The finds indicate that people not only fished, but also bred livestock and cultivated crops.

Bailly is an ancient Roman city whose lifestyle was similar to that of Sodom and Gomorrah. Here was going to know for games and recreation. It was visited by Julius Caesar and Nero. The city had many hot springs, as it stood in the zone of active geological processes, which contributed to the development of the bath business and spa treatments. In the 8th century, the Saracens captured the city, after which the former glory never returned to it, and around 1500 the inhabitants left it. After some time, the city gradually sank into the waters of the bay.

Today these places are valuable from an archaeological point of view. Many tourists come here by boat to dive in search of artifacts. A statue of Odysseus, villas, arcades and the ruins of artificial ponds for breeding oysters and fish were found here. The researchers also found the famous villa of Nero, which was built in the 1st century BC. Divers "walk" along the underwater city streets and swim in the once famous Roman baths. Although it should be recognized that there are many more sunken ships, so the chance of finding is much higher than finding the lost Atlantis.