Why Atlantis went under water is a legend. location hypotheses. Ancient Mediterraneans might have known about the Americas

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

Legends of Atlantis

Legends of Atlantis inspired many writers and poets.

• Think of Julverne's Captain Nemo, who, with his arms crossed over his chest, looks at the beautiful city, illuminated by an underwater volcanic eruption. Before him is the dead Atlantis...
• From the golden top giant pyramid spacecraft resembling huge eggs take off 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 current of the so-called "occult literature", which shrouded the problem of Atlantis in such a thick mystical fog that for other scientists it still obscures scientific significance this problem.
However, real science is interested in the problem of Atlantis, because it has countless questions waiting to be solved:

• Here, it would seem, is a science very far from the problem of Atlantis - botany. Where is the birthplace of the banana - a plant cultivated so long ago that it can now only be propagated by cuttings? How did bananas end up in the number cultivated plants in America and Africa?
• Where is the birthplace of maize - a plant that is now included in the famous "troika" of the main breads of mankind along with wheat and rice? Modern corn is completely incapable of propagating by self-sowing, and plants that could be considered its ancestors have not been found. Meanwhile, corn has long been known not only in America, but also in Africa. So where did this plant come from in the cultivated cereals of the two continents?
• Here is comparative linguistics. How did the roots of Greek words get into the Mayan language - one of the Indian peoples that inhabited Central America?
• How did the word "atlas" get from America to Europe? From North Africa, this word passed into the name of the Atlantic Ocean. Meanwhile, it has nothing 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 springs feeding Plato's Atlantis - hot and cold water - could really be on an island associated with the active activity of volcanoes. Scientists also found a mysterious, maybe even for Plato himself, a tree,

which gives drink, and food, and ointment.

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

Studies carried out in recent years have confirmed the date 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 columns of soils taken in the North Atlantic, scientists came to the conclusion that about 10-13 thousand years ago, water North Atlantic warmed up 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. Special attention gives the poet-scientist Cretan-Mycenaean culture. His book was published when the excavations in Crete had not yet been completed. This gave her an additional interest, which the author could not ignore. Well, today, does science confirm the existence of such connections?

The oldest civilizations of our planet

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

They built 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 fact, there is no such ancient people who would not have this tradition.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Curious legends are associated with some of the Azores.

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

Not a little interesting conceals the bottom of the ocean.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  for all these places

  Notes N. F. Zhirov, -

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bryusov's work was published only once, in 1917, in a magazine that was published in an insignificant circulation. Time did not contribute to his fame either: the world was then shaken by a 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 various gas mixtures when lifting from great depths. 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 another was taken great depth- 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.

There is hardly a person who has never heard the story of the mysterious island-state Atlantis. Did she exist or not? And if so, where was it located, who inhabited it, and what happened to it?! These are all questions that have yet to be definitively answered...

Once described by Plato, Atlantis has occupied the minds of historians, archaeologists, philosophers and esotericists for many centuries. Moreover, the lack of scientifically confirmed evidence of the existence of this civilization does not stop its seekers and researchers at all.

Plato's narrative

For the first time, the ancient Greek philosopher, student of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle, Plato of Athens (427-347 BC), told mankind about the island-state of Atlantis.

In his writings "Timaeus" and "Critias", presented in the form of dialogues between Socrates and the Pythagorean Timaeus, Plato talked about the best state structure. During the dispute, a third participant, the Athenian politician Critias, joined the conversation. He spoke about the war between Athens and the state of Atlantis. Critias learned this story from his grandfather Critias Sr., and he, in turn, heard it in the retelling of the poet and politician Solon, who heard about it from the priests in Egypt.

According to Plato, 9,000 years ago Athens went to war with the island nation of Atlantis. “This island was larger than Libya (Africa. - Note, author) and Asia combined.” And Atlantis fell with its might on Athens. Frightened, the allies left the Athenians, but the brave men repulsed the onslaught of the Atlanteans and defeated them. After that, the enslaved peoples were freed, and Atlantis itself was overtaken by a grandiose natural disaster, which not only killed all the Atlanteans, but also the army of the Athenians. And also forever immersed this state on the seabed.

The philosopher describes Atlantis as a plain 3,000 stadia (540 kilometers) long and 2,000 stadia (360 kilometers) wide. The capital of Atlantis was located on a hill island located 50 stades (8-9 kilometers) from the sea. To protect against the elements, Poseidon, the ancestor of the Atlanteans, fenced off the hill with the city with three water and two land rings. And the Atlanteans themselves threw bridges over these rings and dug channels, so that ships could sail directly to the capital.

“The island on which the palace stood ... as well as earthen rings and a bridge wide (30 meters. - Approx. Aut.) The kings circled the circular stone walls and placed towers and gates everywhere on the bridges near the passages to the sea ... "

Plato described in such detail the wealth, beauty and fertility of an island he had never seen before that the reader got the feeling that the author saw it all with his own eyes. At the same time, the philosopher reproached the Atlanteans for the fact that in them the divine nature gave way to human greed, avarice and pride. Outraged by this, Zeus decided to exterminate the Atlanteans and convened a meeting of the gods. This is where Plato's dialogue ends.

Islands in the ocean

Since the Renaissance, when the works of Plato again found their readers, the search for mysterious Atlantis occupied the minds of mankind. Since then, dozens of versions of its presence, as well as its death, have been put forward. And in the 50s of the XX century, even a doctrine appeared - atlantology.

One of the leading hypotheses for the location of Atlantis comes down to its search in the Atlantic Ocean, west of the Pillars of Hercules. That is how the Greeks, including Plato, called the rocks of Gibraltar and Ceuta, between which the strait of Gibraltar. Plato wrote that Atlantis was located to the west of the Pillars of Hercules, opposite the mountains of Atlanta. Therefore, Atlantis must be located near Gibraltar, between Spain and Morocco.

By the way, among the Greeks, Morocco was the abode of the titan Atlanta, from whose name the names of the Atlantic Ocean and the Atlas ridge originated. The very name of Atlantis, “the country of Atlanta,” was also formed from it.

A number of researchers claim that the Canary Islands are the remnants of the once mighty island. So, according to the theory of atlantologists, the Canaries are the remains of a bridge "thrown" from Africa to Atlantis. However, the connection with Atlantis via the "Canaries Bridge" broke off even earlier than with Africa, which can be traced from the topography of the ocean floor.

In 2009, English seabed aerial surveyor Bernie Bamford claimed to have seen Atlantis in one of the images of the Atlantic Ocean, five hundred kilometers from the Canary Islands.

At a depth of 5 kilometers, Bamford saw a rectangle consisting of a grid of intersecting lines. They seemed to him the streets of a flooded city.

Moreover, the city, according to Bamford, surpassed modern megacities and was equal in area to about half the Moscow region! However, in the picture with lines and rectangles, the annular channels described by Plato were not visible. In addition, skeptics believed that these were not real lines, but the virtual directions of sonars (devices used to detect and study underwater objects). Although there should be no breaks in the sonar lines, they were in the picture.

In the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantis was also searched for by Soviet oceanographers. In the 70-80s of the last century, five hundred kilometers west of the Strait of Gibraltar, in the Azores, near the Amper seamount, scientific expeditions on the ships Akademik Petrovsky and Akademik Kurchatov discovered strange vertical structures similar to the walls of an ancient city .

They protruded from a layer of light sand and were also located at right angles; moreover, scientists noticed blocks separated by seams. But most importantly, the study of a piece of basalt from the top of the mountain showed that such a rock could only form on land about 12 thousand years ago. Which fits perfectly with Plato's story.

Ruined Minoans

It is no secret that scientists view written records with a fair amount of skepticism and admit that ancient authors have a variety of hyperbole and allegories.

Therefore, it seems quite reasonable to assume that Atlantis had the prototype of the island of Crete with the highly developed Minoan civilization that existed on it and the island of Santorini in the Mediterranean, partially destroyed by a volcanic explosion.

Here are just a volcanic eruption on the island of Strongila (Santorini - part of this giant island), which killed the Minoans, occurred in the 17th century BC. That is, not 9000, but a maximum of 1000 years before Plato. The eruption and earthquake first destroyed the base of the island, and the resulting giant tsunami covered the northern coast of Crete (the largest part of the island metropolis) with a giant wave.

The fields that provided the Minoans with food resources were covered with volcanic ash, which made it impossible to cultivate them. And hunger completed the tragedy. At the same time, the wind rose with volcanic ash bypassed Greece and Egypt, the rivals of the Minoans.

Given the unexpected advantage that appeared, the Achaeans (the population of mainland Greece) landed on Crete and enslaved opponents who no longer had the same power.

Describing the capital of Atlantis, Plato mentioned a concentric canal through which ships sailed and went out to sea from there. Such a description is quite consistent with an insular volcanic caldera with an annular swell and a central island.

Another version boils down to the fact that Atlantis was located in the Black Sea region, and the Black Sea itself was then still an inland lake. Presumably, in the 6th millennium BC, the level of the Black Sea rose catastrophically - by 60 meters within a year.

This happened as a result of a volcanic eruption, the subsequent tsunami and the breakthrough of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles with waters mediterranean sea. Scientists explain the biblical legend about the Flood with the same version. Moreover, the flooding of vast territories expelled local population to Europe and Asia, where information about the lost state came with them.

It is interesting that the Romanian researcher Nikolai Densushyanu, without denying the Black Sea location of Atlantis, believes that it was on the territory of modern Romania. He believes that the Lower Danubian Plain corresponds to the description of the central plain of Atlantis. It has a rectangular shape measuring 534 by 356 kilometers (3000 by 2000 stadia). The Atlas Mountains in this case are the Southern Carpathians, and the problem with the Romanians' island is solved by the fact that Plato could easily mix the terms "river" - "sea" - "ocean" and "island" - "country".

Antarctica, Andes and Tibet

A fairly large number of atlantologists are inclined to the version that Atlantis was located on the territory of Antarctica.

As arguments, supporters of this version cite the Piri Reis map, created in Turkey in 1513 on the basis of ancient maps. According to her, Antarctica was located near the equator, but as a result of a lithospheric shift, it was moved to the South Pole. True, this version does not withstand criticism from the point of view of geology.

Other supporters of finding Atlantis in the ice refer to the fact that the island, although not located near the equator, had a quite comfortable climate. And the collision of the Earth with a huge meteorite 10-15 thousand years ago caused a displacement of the earth's axis. As a result, Atlantis moved to the South Pole.

But modern science has proven that it is impossible to move the earth's axis very quickly, and scientific data on the icing of Antarctica say that this happened in other periods of time.

As already mentioned, humanity began to look for Atlantis in the Renaissance. In this regard, the book "The History of the Discovery and Conquest of the Province of Peru", created in 1555 by the secretary of the Royal Council of Castile, Agustín da Zarate, is of interest. The author writes that Plato's 9,000 years from the flood is 750 ordinary years, since according to the chronology of the Egyptians, the modern month was taken into account for the year.

In favor of the search for Atlantis in the Andes is the fact that the civilization of the South American Indians had high achievements, which they inherited from another, more ancient civilization. However, hypotheses about the transfer of knowledge to the Indians regularly pop up in other pseudoscientific theories.

William Scott-Elliot, in The History of Atlantis (1896), writes that Atlantis eventually split into two big islands. One of them was called Daitya, the other Ruta, which was later reduced to the last remnant known as Poseidonis.

The well-known Russian ophthalmologist and researcher of the anomalous Ernst Muldashev, who has been to Tibet many times, claims that Atlantis existed in the region of the Himalayas and Tibet at a time when the whole earth was covered with water. The climate of the island was mild, and the Atlanteans had access to high technologies, with the help of which they produced the necessary energy. They died, according to Muldashev, as a result of Typhon's comet hitting the Earth.

Plato is my friend but the truth is dearer

Despite the abundance of versions and even some artifacts, most serious scientists are inclined to the version that, having written the story of Atlantis, Plato created only a philosophical myth and nothing more. Unlike Aristotle, Plato never burdened his reader with real facts, but threw up a lot of reasons that could awaken the imagination.

However, to date, all the facts indicated in Plato's narrative are refuted by archaeological data. Neither in Greece, nor in the west of Europe and Africa, nor at the end of the ice and post-glacial periods, nor in the following millennia, archaeologists have been able to find traces of a highly developed civilization.

Tartessian necklace: some researchers believe that the disappeared people, the Tartessians, who lived in Spain, were descendants of the Atlanteans.

At the same time, atlantologists often do not want to accept testable arguments and focus on the "untestable" part of Plato's narrative. In particular, the emphasis is on the secret knowledge of the Egyptian priests. At the same time, nothing was found in the texts of the ancient Egyptian papyri themselves, even remotely coinciding with Plato's story. The philosopher also uses Greek names of characters and titles in his story, while the Greeks, describing real events, always wrote identical names.

The most plausible version of the origin of the myth of Atlantis is the assumption that Plato used two real cases from history. The first is the defeat and death of the Athenian army and navy while trying to conquer Sicily in 413 BC. The second is the destruction of the city of Geliki in the Peloponnese by a tsunami in 373 BC.

For several centuries, the ruins of Gelika were visible from under the water column. The myth of Atlantis was needed by Plato to illustrate his political ideas and philosophical views.

And in order to avoid unnecessary questions about where this island was located, Plato himself “destroyed” it many thousands of years ago. That's just the descendants do not want to come to terms with the fact that Atlantis existed only in the imagination.

Alexey MARTOV

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

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

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

We'll go the other way

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

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

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

Mediterranean Sea

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

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

In ancient Greek mythology, which arose many thousands of years later than the time of the death of Atlantis, the only (!) hero Hercules (according to Homer in the XII century BC) performed a feat, 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 also served as a border for navigators in the ancient era, therefore, in a figurative sense, “Hercules (Hercules) pillars” is the end of the world, the limit of the world. And the expression to reach the pillars of Hercules "means" to reach the limit.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Crete

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

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

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

Between Cyprus, Crete and Africa

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Description of the island

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Immersion under water

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

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

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

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

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

Crete - Atlantis

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

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

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

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

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

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

What gives the establishment of the exact location of Atlantis

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

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

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

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

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

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

Briefly about the article: A country that thousands of years ago could have conquered all of Europe. Huge marble palaces, multi-deck ships, tall strong people, hitherto unseen weapons, the mysterious magic of priests, nobility and ambition - all this could become a reality of our history, if not for ...

Lost Civilization

Atlantis - reality or dream?

All that is hidden now will once be revealed by time.

Quintus Horace Flaccus, Epistles, 6:20

A country that thousands of years ago could have conquered all of Europe. Huge marble palaces, multi-deck ships, tall strong people, hitherto unseen weapons, the mysterious magic of priests, nobility and ambition - all this could become a reality of our history, if not for ...

Thousands of books and articles have been written about the ancient country of Atlantis, buried by the deep ocean. What was Atlantis? An ancient and powerful human civilization? Or maybe a refuge for aliens from distant worlds? Why did Atlantis die? Was she the victim of a natural disaster or a devastating war with mysterious weapons?

Other ancient authors also wrote about Atlantis and its inhabitants. True, almost all of them lived after Plato, and therefore, most likely, relied on the data he cited.

The exception is the “father of history” Herodotus (485-425 BC), who mentioned the Atlanteans who lived in North Africa. However, this tribe got its name from the Atlas mountain range.

A surge of interest in the problem of Atlantis falls on the end of the 19th century. In 1882, the American Ignatius Donelly published the book "Atlantis - the antediluvian world", where he argued that this legendary land is the ancestral home of all mankind. To prove the theory, he used the data of archeology, biology and mythology, compared the legends, languages ​​and customs of peoples on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Donelly's work laid the foundation for the modern view of the problem of Atlantis and became a source of inspiration for other authors. The result is more than 5,000 titles of scientific, popular science and fiction books.

Broken phone

As you can see, atlantology is based on a shaky foundation. You are especially convinced of this by a sober analysis of Plato's texts. The philosopher learned about Atlantis from other people's words, and the whole story resembles a children's game of “spoiled phone”.

So what does Plato say? His great-grandfather Critias, being a 10-year-old boy, heard about Atlantis from his then already 90-year-old grandfather, also Critias. And he, in turn, learned the tragic history of the Atlanteans from a distant relative, the great Athenian sage Solon (640 - 558 BC). Solon, on the other hand, received a “relay baton” from the Egyptian priests from the temple of the goddess Neith in the city of Sais (which has not survived to this day), who from time immemorial allegedly kept historical annals in the form of hieroglyphs on temple columns. It turns out quite a long chain of intermediaries ...

Assuming that Plato did not invent anything, there is still plenty of room for error. Critias Jr. claimed that the story of Atlantis shocked him, so he memorized it in detail. However, there are direct contradictions in the dialogue. For example, in one place Critias says that: "... the story is indelibly imprinted in my memory", and in another - that: "... after such a long time, I did not remember the content of the story enough." Further, it turns out that he had some records. Commemorative notes of the grandfather or Solon? Yes, and the grandfather of Kritia in his 90s could well have confused a lot of things, not to mention the fact that many details of the legend of the sunken earth, perhaps, are the fruit of senile boasting. “And I’ll tell you, granddaughter, a great-a-wild fairy tale!”.

So perhaps Aristotle was right, or partly right. Plato could indeed invent the history of Atlantis to illustrate his views (recall Thomas More's "Utopia"). Or, with all his honesty, the philosopher compiled dialogues from some other sources about Atlantis that have not come down to us, historical and geographical works of various authors, legends, myths and his own conjectures. Well, Plato simply could have come up with a chain of narrators for greater reliability.

True, the ending of Critias is most likely lost. Perhaps the "lost files" contained the answers to all questions?

"Pros and cons"

Plato describes the land of the ancestors of the Hellenes as follows: "It stretches from the mainland far into the sea ... and is immersed on all sides in a deep vessel of the abyss." But the ancient Greeks did not know about the presence of depths greater than a few tens of meters! Atlantologists believe that Plato's words about the "deep vessel of the abyss" are evidence of knowledge preserved from the time of the Atlanteans. However, Plato could use this turn as a poetic comparison. Or, based on the presence of the steep coasts of Attica, independently conclude that if the rocks abruptly break into the sea, it must be very deep there.

On the other hand, the war of the ancient Hellenes with Atlantis is very reminiscent of the wars of the Greeks with the Persians. The thought involuntarily creeps in that the philosopher projected the events of real history onto the distant past. The description of Atlantis in terms of relief and natural data resembles the island of Crete. The Temple of Poseidon, the main religious building of the Atlanteans, is very similar to the sanctuary of Aphrodite in Cyprus. The sculpture of the god of the seas on a chariot drawn by six winged horses resembles a very real statue of Poseidon by Skopas (4th century BC). Coincidence or fraud?

Where is this street, where is this house?

Atlantologists also argue about the location of the legendary land, although it would seem from Plato's dialogues that it is extremely clear that the island was located precisely in the Atlantic.

Plato says that to the west of the Pillars of Hercules (the ancient name of the Strait of Gibraltar) lay a huge island, larger than Libya and Asia combined, from which it was easy to cross the other islands to the “opposite mainland” (America?).

Therefore, many of the atlantologists believe that traces of Atlantis must be sought somewhere at the bottom of the ocean of the same name. Perhaps next to the now existing islands, which could be the high mountain peaks of the sunken earth.

At the same time, atlantologists stubbornly ignore the simplest fact - if an asteroid capable of flooding a hefty island crashed to Earth, this would cause such an increase in atmospheric temperature that almost all life on the planet would be destroyed.

Myths of the peoples of the world

Donelly, the "father" of atlantology, and his followers consider mythology to be the key proof of the existence of Atlantis, or rather, several legends that coincide among many peoples.

First, there are the legends about the flood, which are found in almost all mankind. The gods, tired of human mischief, flood the whole earth with water, adding a number of weighty means of re-educating sinners - in the form of a fiery rain, for example.

Secondly, legends about aliens from distant lands (not to be confused with aliens!). From somewhere far away, an unknown person arrives, speaking in an incomprehensible language and teaching the natives various useful things.

Thirdly, legends about cosmic cataclysms. Something hefty is falling from the sky - a stone, the Moon, the Sun, a Dragon. Nothing good people it doesn't bring. The people left out of business disperse, who goes where ...

Atlantis in the Mediterranean?

In addition to the Atlantic Ocean, the sunken island is placed in other parts of the world. The Mediterranean Sea enjoys special love.

Upon closer examination, this theory does not look like nonsense at all. Plato wrote that after Atlantis sank, “the sea in those places became ... unnavigable and inaccessible due to the shallowing caused by the huge amount of silt that the settled island left behind.” It is unlikely that in the Atlantic Ocean, with its considerable depths, muddy shallow waters would have served as a serious obstacle to navigation. But in the Mediterranean there are plenty of such places. And the nature of Atlantis may well be correlated with almost any Mediterranean island.

The god of the seas, Poseidon, fell in love with a simple girl, Kleito, who gave birth to him 5 pairs of twins, who laid the foundation for the people of the Atlanteans.

The Atlantean state was similar to Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea - an archipelago of several islands, the main of which was 1110 km long and 400 km wide. The climate is supposedly tropical, as elephants were found on the island. On south side Atlantis had its capital - the city of Poseidonis with a diameter of about 7 km. In the center of the city there was a lake, in the middle of which lay an island 965 meters in diameter, riddled with canals, with the Acropolis palace complex, surrounded by two earthen ramparts. The outer shaft was covered with copper, the inner - with tin, the walls of the acropolis were lined with orichalcum (metal unknown to us). The structure of the Acropolis included the joint temple of Kleito and Poseidon, surrounded by a golden wall, and the temple of Poseidon himself with a huge statue of the sea god inside. Outside around the temple were images of the wives and relatives of the kings of Atlantis, offerings from their vassals.

The population of Atlantis was about 6 million people. The state system is a monarchy: 10 kings-archons, the highest of which bore the title "Atlas" and lived in Poseidonis. Every 5-6 years, councils-assemblies were held - "courts" of kings, before which "bull sacrifices" were organized (a similar custom existed in Crete).

The Atlantean army numbered 660,000 men and 10,000 war chariots. The fleet - 1200 combat triremes with a crew of 240 thousand people.

Atlantes - the ancestors of the Russians?

Some scientists go their own way, placing the legendary land in the most exotic places. In 1638, the English scientist and politician Francis Bacon in his book "Nova Atlantis" placed Atlantis in Brazil, where, as you know, there are many wild monkeys. In 1675, the Swede Rudbeck argued that Atlantis was in Sweden, and Uppsala was its capital.

Recently, due to the lack of virgin places, they turned to our boundless expanses - the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov, the Black and the Caspian Sea, too, were honored to accept the completely lost Atlantis into their arms. There is also a charming theory that the Atlanteans are the ancestors of the ancient Russians, and the legendary land of Plato ... sunken Kitezh-grad! True, after the stories that Adam and Eve were from somewhere near Moscow, the Russian-Atlantic version no longer looks sensational enough.

R. Silverberg in "Letters from Atlantis" shows the events of a thousand years ago through the eyes of modern man, whose mind has moved into the body of the Prince of Atlantis (an obvious remake of Hamilton's "Star Kings"!).

A time traveler can also witness the events of the past ("Dancer from Atlantis" by P. Anderson, "Atlantis Endgame" by A. Norton and S. Smith).

Sometimes the Atlanteans became aliens from outer space (A. Shalimov, “The Return of the Last Atlantean”), or they were the first earthlings who came into contact with an alien mind (V. Kernbach, "The Boat over Atlantis"; G. Martynov, "Spiral of Time") . Perhaps it was vile aliens who destroyed Atlantis? Here is the hero of the cycle "Atlantis" by G. Donnegan, the tough commando Eric, together with his comrades from the "fur seals" detachment, is trying to stop the insidious alien-sheds who once treacherously drowned the unfortunate Atlanteans.

Many books tell about the adventures of outcasts who survived the catastrophe. Some have preserved the remains of civilization under water (“Atlantis Under Water” by R. Kadu, “Maracot Abyss” by A. Conan Doyle, “The End of Atlantis” by K. Bulychev). Others slipped away. To America (“Temple. A Manuscript Found on the Yucatan Coast” by H. F. Lovecraft), to Africa (“Tarzan and the Treasure of Opar” by E. R. Barrows); to Spain (“This distant Tartessus” by E. Voiskunsky and I. Lukodyanov); even to Britain ("Stones of Power" by D. Gemmel). For some Atlanteans, the shock from the death of their native side turned out to be so strong that other planets seemed to them the best refuge (A. Tolstoy, “Aelita”; A. Shcherbakov, “Cup of Storms”).

In V. Panov's recent novel "The Chair of Wanderers", the ancient artifact of the Atlanteans Throne of Poseidon turns out to be a catalyst for powerful forces. Even Batman ("The Black Egg of Atlantis" by N. Barret) enters the battle for the Atlantean legacy when Penguin Man tries to take possession of an ancient item that gives dark power.

Why did Atlantis die?

There is also no agreement in ascertaining the reasons for the death of the island.

In addition to the basic, albeit absolutely unrealistic version of the fall of a giant meteorite, the hypothesis of a powerful earthquake is very popular. In history, there are cases of a sharp subsidence of the earth by several meters as a result of such a natural disaster. For example, the death of the pirate capital of Port Royal in Jamaica in 1692, when the city plunged into the sea by 15 meters. Strong earthquakes, especially those with an epicenter on seabed, can cause a tsunami. A typical example of such a disaster is the tsunami resulting from the eruption of the Krakatau volcano in Indonesia in 1883, when the wave height was about 40 meters. Such a wave is quite capable of burying a coastal zone of the mainland or even an entire island under it.

In addition to more or less scientific explanations, there are also occult-fantastic theories about Atlantis, sometimes very specific. For example, members of the Rising Atlantes sect, founded in the 70s of the last century, believe that the Atlanteans are the descendants of aliens, who then laid the foundation for the Egyptian civilization.

The bestsellers of ophthalmologist Ernst Muldashev, who is terribly popular among some Russians, also contain amazing discoveries. It turns out that the Atlanteans possessed extrasensory perception, and 75,000 years ago, with the help of psychokinetic energy, the Egyptian pyramids were erected. A number of great personalities - Krishna, Buddha, Christ - were also Atlanteans. And somewhere in the depths of Tibet in the caves, the surviving Atlanteans are still sleeping in a special form of suspended animation - samadhi.

Atlantis - a myth?

With all the many disagreements, the only thing that cements the discordant ranks of atlantologists is the idea that Atlantis really existed. However, there are many who say: Atlantis is a myth!

These are their main arguments. Firstly, apart from the dialogues of Plato, there are no other reliable references to Atlantis. Secondly, the island had to be too big, and it is not easy to stick it somewhere in terms of geography. Thirdly, modern geological and oceanographic studies do not confirm the sinking of a large part of the land to the ocean floor. Fourthly, 10 thousand years ago there was no developed human civilization. But for any of these arguments, if desired (and many have it!) No less logical counter-arguments are easily found.

The most impartial scholars nevertheless admit that Plato's dialogues contain a rational grain and they describe real natural disasters that have befallen the Mediterranean - the same Crete.

The only thing that can draw a line under many years of discussion, indisputably proving the veracity of the legend, is the discovery of the remains of Atlantis on the sea or ocean floor. But is it possible?

Remains of former luxury

Scientists from many countries are constantly exploring the seas and oceans, making the most valuable archaeological discoveries from time to time. True, nothing has yet been found that would prove the existence of a sunken mainland or a huge island. Given the constant improvement of the technical equipment of such expeditions, landmark discoveries may not be far off. Another question - what can scientists find at the bottom?

The main building materials of antiquity were marble, granite, basalt and sandstone. Over thousands of years, most of the buildings will completely dissolve in sea water, except for some of the marble structures. In addition, some types of mollusks and the presence of strong underwater currents can be destructive to sunken buildings.

In salty sea water, metals undergo accelerated corrosion. Iron oxidizes after 200 years at sea, copper and copper alloys disappear after 400 years. True, if copper products have big sizes(bells, cannons, anchors), a layer of carbonates is formed on their surface that can protect the object. But high-grade gold can lie in the water for a very long time.

Wooden objects die in a couple of centuries, and high-quality ceramics lie at the bottom for millennia. At the same time, many items, if they are quickly overgrown with corals, are also able to be stored. long time- however, it is difficult to detect them in this case. In general, some of the heritage of the Atlanteans is theoretically able to survive to this day.

Perhaps a miracle will still happen, and humanity will take a fresh look at its history? Schliemann was once also made fun of, but he, in spite of everything, discovered the legendary Troy ...

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

Atlantes and their appearance on the pages of history.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lost Atlantis and the mystery of its existence.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Atlantis is the birthplace of the conquerors.

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

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

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

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

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