Who was looking for Atlantis. History of Atlantis: myths, conjectures, riddles and real facts

The mystery of Atlantis is described in many works, both adventure novels and serious scientific research. To date, scientists and enthusiastic researchers have put forward more than 1,700 hypotheses about the location of this mysterious continent and the reasons for its disappearance without a trace. However, not so unimportant.

One of the most eminent scientists Ancient Greece, Plato, in the works "Critias" and "Timaeus", mentions Atlantis, referring to data from the diaries of his great-grandfather, no less famous Athenian poet and statesman Solon. About existence big country Atlanteans, who fought with the Greeks for another 9000, he was told by an Egyptian priest. According to this fragmentary information, the land of the Atlanteans was somewhere on the other side of the Pillars of Hercules. According to Plato, according to Solon, Atlantis was a large and rich country with large cities and a very developed economy at that time. picturesque country territory, covered with dense forests, was indented by numerous irrigation canals. Atlantis was a federation of ten kingdoms. The Atlanteans hoped to expand their territory and tried to enslave Athens and Egypt, however, they suffered a crushing defeat in the fight against the Athenian army. According to the same data, as a result of a terrible earthquake during the day, the mighty Atlantis disappeared forever under water.

Scientists to this day have not come to a consensus regarding Plato's story about this mysterious country. Perhaps Atlantis was just a product of one of the ancient Greek legends? This assumption is supported by the fact that not all of Plato's stories were believed even by his contemporaries. According to these scientists, in such ancient times, 9000 years before the birth of Plato, such a highly developed culture could not have existed. It could not for the simple reason that at that time the end of the ice age had just come. Many scientists agree that at one time cavemen and highly developed Atlanteans could live. And can it be that an entire country suddenly disappeared without a trace. However, most scientists argue that Atlantis could well exist in reality, because the legends had to have at least some basis, and most of the myths reflected the events that took place in reality.

After all, the ruins of the once mythical ancient Troy, which was also considered a figment of the fantasy of blind Homer, were found by archaeologists. And not so long ago, the fact was scientifically proven that the ancient Greeks could make quite long long journeys on their ships, and, like Odysseus, reach the shores of Colchis, the country of the Golden Fleece. As for the huge and destructive power of earthquakes, then, according to geologists, it is really capable of burying a vast territory in a short time.

True, if we assume that Atlantis really existed, another rather important question arises. Where should researchers go, where should they look for this mythical land? Scientists from different times and countries could never come to a consensus. Some of them believed that the mysterious Atlantis sank to the bottom of the central part of the Atlantic Ocean - somewhere between two continents, Europe and North America. This statement is based on the words of Plato, who noted that the mysterious land was located in front of the strait, called the Pillars of Heracles (framed by the rocks of Abilik and Kalpa), which was located near the Strait of Gibraltar. In addition, many of the same species of animals and plants live in these lands. In addition, not so long ago, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge was discovered, located in the depths Atlantic Ocean. A vast plateau with a number of ridges adjoins the ridge, the peaks of which form the Azores.

It is likely that this area was once land and about 12 thousand years ago, during a geological catastrophe, it sank to the ocean floor. This period just coincides with the alleged time of the existence of Atlantis. After that, the warm Gulf Stream finally reached the shores of Northern Europe, and as a result, the ice age ended in our part of the world. This version of warming in Europe was put forward by the Russian scientist N.F. Zhirov, as well as some other researchers. It is likely that Azores and the island of Madeira, and there are those very remnants of the lost mainland. According to some scientists, not all the inhabitants of Atlantis died during the collapse of their mainland - some survivors reached shores of America while others made their way to Europe. It was they who laid the foundation for the greatest civilizations of Mexico and Peru, as well as Egypt and Mesopotamia. This explains the striking similarity in their architecture, traditions and religions, all the more surprising because the countries were far from each other.

Indeed, the inhabitants of both sides of the Atlantic equally worshiped the Sun, and believed in the myth of the global flood, which was widespread both in Mesopotamia and among the Indian tribes that inhabited South and North America. It is striking that the language of the Basques living in northern Spain in Pyrenees mountains totally different from others European languages, but it is very similar to the languages of some Indian tribes. And the ancient pyramids created by our ancestors in Mexico and Egypt have a lot in common.

In addition, in both countries there is a custom of mummification of the dead, moreover, the same objects are placed in their graves. But the main thing is that in the places where the burials of the Mayan tribes are located, archaeologists find jewelry made of green jade, the deposits of which simply do not exist in America. Maybe he got there from Atlantis?

According to a legend widespread among the Indians of Peru and Mexico, which tells about the white god Quetzacoatl, he arrived on the mainland on a sailboat from the edge of the early sun - that is, from the east. God taught the Indian tribes construction and craft, revealed laws and religion to them, and then mysteriously disappeared. The Peruvians, who did not know about the existence of the Aztecs, believed in the same legend, with one amendment - their god was called Viracocha. Perhaps these people came from Atlantis? It is believed that their images are found on the walls of the cities of Chichen Itza and Tiguanacu.

Scientists refer to the evidence of the existence of Atlantis and the ruins of ancient Indian cities, the remains of which are located in the Peruvian Andes and the impenetrable jungle of the Yucatan Peninsula.

In the autumn of 1970, while inspecting the coastal waters of the Bahamas in the Atlantic Ocean from a seaplane, D. Rebikov, a French archaeologist and aquanaut, noticed on ocean floor near the island of North Bimini, strange ruins of some buildings. Divers who went down under the water found giant walls more than a hundred meters long. They were built from giant blocks, each of which weighed about 25 tons. By whom were they built? Perhaps Atlanteans? True, it was soon discovered that these "walls" arose as a result of cracking coastal rocks, gone under water due to the gradual sinking to the bottom of the Bahamas.

They are also looking for Atlantis in the Mediterranean. The most plausible is the opinion of the Russian scientist A. S. Norov, who considered the island of Crete and many small Greek islands to the north of it to be the remnants of a continent that had sunk into oblivion. The well-known Soviet geographer L. S. Berg agreed with this opinion. Today, this theory is supported by the vast majority of scientists. This version is supported by recent studies in this area and in the Atlantic Ocean.

When studying the area of the alleged death of Atlantis at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, scientists found that the average thickness of sedimentary rocks in this zone is about 4 meters. At the same time, at the current rate of accumulation of such rocks, which is 10-15 mm per thousand years, this will require at least 300 thousand years, and certainly not 12 thousand, as argued by supporters of the Atlantean origin of the mysterious Atlantis.

In addition, according to evidence from oceanographic studies of recent times, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is the result of a geological event during which the continents of Africa and South America were “torn apart”. Scientists separately noted the features of the coastline pattern: the western line of the African mainland and the eastern line of the South American.

Accordingly, in order for Atlantis to be located in the Atlantic Ocean, there is simply no place in it. But then what to do with Plato's message about where the disappeared country is located, allegedly located in front of the Pillars of Hercules, that is, the Strait of Gibraltar? Under the name "Pillars of Hercules" before Plato could mean a completely different place. What is it? Disputes of researchers do not subside until now.

Regarding the Mediterranean location of Atlantis, assumed by most scientists, they provide a number of fairly weighty evidence.

For example, it has been established that on the island of Thira (Santorini), located in the Aegean Sea, about 3.5 thousand years ago, there was a volcanic explosion of destructive force, similar to the one that was noted in 1883 on the island of Krakatau, which in South-East Asia, among the islands of Indonesia. Apparently, it was the greatest geological catastrophe in the entire history of our planet.

In terms of its strength, the explosion of the Santorin volcano was equal to the explosion of about 200 thousand atomic bombs, identical to those that were once dropped on Hiroshima.

Scientist Garun Taziyev gives the approximate date of the explosion - 1470 BC and claims that as a result, about 80 billion cubic meters rose into the air. m crushed rock, and the waves that arose in the process reached 260 m. Danish scientists reasonably believe that the explosion took place in 1645 BC. e., - almost 150 years earlier.

Just at that time, the islands located in this part of the Aegean Sea were ruled by the Minoans, who achieved great success in science and handicrafts. As a result of a powerful volcanic explosion, as it was found, one of the developed cities on the island of Thira and the center of the civilization of the Minoans, located on Crete - Knossos, perished.

Most of the territory of the state was absorbed by the Aegean Sea. Probably, it was this event, the echo of which reached Plato through the centuries, and was reflected in his story about the country of the Atlanteans. True, in the interpretation of Plato, the size of the sunken continent is much larger, and the time of the catastrophe is shifted many thousands of years ago.

In other words, according to the opinion of the fans of this hypothesis, in the descriptions of Plato we are talking about the state of the Minoans. Indeed, according to his data, Atlantis was a developed maritime power, and the same could be said about the country of the Minoans, which had an impressive navy. Plato said that fat herds of sacred bulls grazed on the island of Atlantis, of which the Minoans had a lot, and they were also considered sacred. On seabed near Tyra, a ditch was discovered, similar to the one with which, according to Plato, the fortress in the capital of Atlantis was protected. Now the island of Thira is a fragment left after the explosion of a giant volcano. Excavated in 1967, the ruins of the Minoan city lay under a thick layer of volcanic ash and, like Pompeii, are perfectly preserved. Archaeologists have found many colored frescoes and even wooden objects here.

In 1976, the famous French scientist and aquanaut Jacques Yves Cousteau at the bottom Aegean Sea near the island of Crete, the remains of an ancient Minoan civilization. According to his calculations, it was destroyed during the crushing eruption of the Santorin volcano, which occurred in 1450 BC. e. Nevertheless, Cousteau always considered Atlantis beautiful fairy tale Plato.

The authority of Cousteau's opinion forced many scientists to "return" again to the hypothesis of the Atlantic Atlantis. The impetus for this decision was the discovery of a group of seamounts to the west of Gibraltar, which have table-like peaks, located only 100-200 meters below sea level. Many scientists consider these mountains to be the remains of a vast archipelago that sank in ancient times.

Pictures taken by a researcher at the Institute of Oceanology of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1973 became a sensation. At that time, he took part in an expedition on the vessel "Akademik Kurchatov". Looking at eight underwater photographs taken by him, you can see the ruins of the fortress wall and other buildings on top of one of the seamounts.

As a result of the conducted in 1983-1984. research, scientists of the research vessels "Akademik Vernadsky" and "Vityaz" with the help of underwater vehicles "Pysis" and "Argus", confirmed that Mount Amper is dormant volcano that once sank to the ocean floor. Well, the notorious ruins are far from the creations of human hands, but ordinary natural formations.

This means that the unsuccessful search for Atlantis in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean only confirms the conclusions of scientists looking for traces of her presence in the Aegean Sea. True, some disagreements arose in their orderly ranks. The reason for this in 1987 was the Russian scientist I. Mashnikov. He logically rethought the works of Plato and put forward a new hypothesis.

First of all, he disputes the time of the death of Atlantis, as well as some other data of Plato. For example, the number of land and sea forces of the Atlanteans. Judging by the words of Plato, the Atlanteans had a huge armada - 1200 ships, as well as an army, according to experts, amounting to more than a million soldiers. Accordingly, the Greek army that defeated the Atlanteans should have been no less numerous. According to Mashnikov’s quite logical reasoning, during the ice age such a huge army simply had nowhere to come from, given that at that time the number of inhabitants of the entire planet was no more than 3-4 million people, while being at a fairly low level of development.

Accordingly, we are most likely talking about a different, much later time. Mashnikov says that ancient people recorded nine thousand as ten thousand minus one thousand, and, accordingly, nine hundred as one thousand minus one hundred. In the system of calculus adopted in Egypt, a thousand was denoted by the sign "M", and in the ancient Greek system "M" meant ten thousand. Apparently, Solon simply rewrote the Egyptian signs from ancient Egyptian documents, and Plato understood them in ancient Greek. Thus, 9000 appeared instead of 900.

Considering that Solon "stayed" in Egypt (560 BC) 900 years after the death of Atlantis, the approximate date of the disaster is 1460 BC. e. plus a possible error of 100-150 years.

Scientists, looking for Atlantis in the Atlantic, according to Mashnikov, took a false trail, because they did not doubt that the Platonic Pillars of Hercules, behind which this land was located, is the Strait of Gibraltar. But, under the Pillars of Hercules, apparently, some other place was meant. However, Plato has direct indications that allow you to determine the location of Atlantis. Plato says that along the Pillars of Hercules the maritime border between the country of Atlantis and the Athenian state was laid. And this means that these pillars could only be in the Aegean Sea. In another place of his story, Plato directly indicates that Athens opposed the state of the Atlanteans, which can be interpreted not only as a war, but also as a geographical one, that is, they were on the other side - on the peninsula of Asia Minor. At that time there was the land of the Hittites. In addition, according to the author, only here the cities were built according to a circular plan, creating canals, as if outlined by a compass.

But Plato spoke of Atlantis as big island that sank to the bottom of the sea. It can be assumed that part of this state was indeed located on an island, though not as large as Plato claimed. Probably, it was this island, and by no means the whole country, that perished as a result of a volcanic eruption or an earthquake, as a result of which only a chain of islands remained, which is now called the Sporades. It turns out that Atlantis is actually Hittia or its island part. In addition, Plato, in his retelling of Solon, claimed that Atlantis was at war with Athens. And from the sources it is known that in the XIV century. BC e. Egypt waged war with the Hittites, and after a while Athens entered the war, according to the historian Herodotus, inflicted a heavy defeat on the Hittites and captured 13 of their cities. Subsequently, the Hittite empire collapsed.

According to I. Mashnikov, the war between the Hittites and Athens is the key to unraveling another mystery. Obviously, "Atlanteans" is not a nationality, but a contemptuous name for an enslaved people. The sculpture of the enemy, who became a slave and propped up the cornice, was a symbol of the courage of the winners and the humility of the vanquished. The defeated Hittites were turned into slaves and became Atlanteans, their fallen state began to be called Atlantis. "Perhaps these arguments are not far from the truth.

Fancy version about the origin of Atlantis was put forward in 1992 by the German scientist Zangger. Some researchers consider his book about the secrets of Atlantis simply brilliant. According to Zangger, Plato's narrative is a distorted memory of the once fallen Troy. This ancient city, which was located near the Dardanelles and was described by Homer in the XII century. BC e. as fallen under the onslaught of the Greeks, was considered a myth. But, in 1871, the ruins of Troy were found by the German scientist G. Schliemann. At the same time, Zangger provides quite a lot of weighty evidence for this hypothesis, especially if we take into account the coincidences in the descriptions of Homer and Plato of the area in which Troy was located.

But what about the fact that Plato does not speak of a plain, but of a large island? Zanger believes that Solon is to blame for this. When reading hieroglyphic inscriptions on a pillar when visiting the main temple in the residence Egyptian pharaohs posted in Saisi, he made a mistake. Allegedly, these hieroglyphs denoted sand strip or coast. A serious mistake was also made in the designation of the place where Atlantis was located on the other side of the Pillars of Hercules. It is possible that this name was borne by the Dardanelles.

According to the author of this version, another serious mistake crept into Plato's story, which consisted in incorrectly determining the time of the catastrophe. After all, on the column of the Egyptian temple, a story is written that nine thousand years ago the Greeks overthrew a powerful state - Atlantis. This hypothesis also has a weak side - inconsistencies, which the author explains by the mistakes of the ancient sages. In addition, the justification for determining the date of the war is rather unconvincing.

In general, each of the hypotheses has a certain rational grain, and which of them will eventually turn out to be true, only time will tell. Or a new hypothesis - after all, the mystery of Atlantis has not been solved so far.

G. ALEKSANDROVSKY.

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

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Tradition of the Egyptian priests

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

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

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

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

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

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

Search

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

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

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

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

Is it Atlantis?

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

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

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

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

History of Atlantis is a mystery that researchers have been trying to penetrate for thousands of years. It is rooted in deep antiquity, inaccessible to direct research, but interest in this problem has only become stronger over the years. Perhaps this is due to the fact that something very important for all mankind is connected with the history of Atlantis.

Lemuria and Atlantis

In ancient times, the appearance of the Earth was different than it is now, at that time there were continents and islands, which have long been gone. The Flood and other cataclysms forever changed the face of the planet. And of course, it is very difficult today to judge the ancient states that existed at that time. However, fragmentary information about them in the form of legends and legends has come down to us.

Perhaps, the greatest interest scientists call Lemuria and Atlantis, as once the most highly developed civilizations. Lemuria is reminiscent of the mysterious Easter Island, which is believed to have been part of a large mainland. As for Atlantis, no one can definitely say about its location yet. There is no such piece of land that could be tied to Atlantis. A fairly specific indication is the prediction of the clairvoyant Edward Casey, who claimed that Atlantis was located in the Bermuda Triangle. This prediction later found a number of confirmations - at the bottom of the ocean in this area, as Cayce predicted, large, well-preserved pyramids containing crystals on their tops were discovered. However, there interesting finds and in other places on the planet. Therefore, it is not yet possible to unequivocally answer which of the versions of the location of Atlantis is more correct, and therefore they are looking for a mysterious country all over the face of the Earth.

The legend of Atlantis has become known to modern mankind from the works of the ancient Greek thinker Plato. In his dialogues "Timaeus" and "Critias" he describes the history of Atlantis. In the first dialogue, Plato speaks of Atlantis only in passing. As for the Critias dialogue, it is entirely devoted to the description of Atlantis.

Dialogue Timaeus

Dialogue Timaeus It begins with the fact that Socrates and the Pythagorean Timaeus are talking about an ideal state. However, after describing his ideas about the ideal state, Socrates began to complain that the picture turned out to be abstract. He wanted to see how such a state would behave in a real life situation, how it would build relations with other states, whether it would be able to go to war, and whether citizens in this case would perform feats "according to their training and upbringing."

Another participant in the conversation, the Athenian politician Critias, unexpectedly responded to Socrates' question. He spoke about an ancient war that took place about 9500 years ago (11500 years - for us) between Athens and mysterious Atlantis. Critias himself learned about this story from his grandfather, and he learned about this war from Solon, while Egyptian priests told Solon about Atlantis.

Both Athens and Atlantis were very powerful powers, while Atlantis had under its control very large area, conquering more and more peoples. The aggressive policy of Atlantis eventually led to a war with Athens. The entire Athenian people, realizing the danger that hung over them, rose to the defense of the Fatherland. Abandoned by the allies, the Athenian warriors, having shown courage and valor, managed to defeat the conquerors. This victory also returned freedom to the peoples who were enslaved by the Atlanteans. But suddenly a terrible catastrophe broke out, ending the history of Atlantis. In one day and night, the country of powerful Atlanteans went under water. Alas, the Athenian army perished along with Atlantis.

Dialogue Critias

Dialogue Critias is a direct continuation of the dialogue Timaeus. Through the mouth of Critias, Plato here speaks in detail and authentically about Atlantis.

The history of Atlantis began with the relationship between Poseidon and the mortal girl Kleito, whom the lord of the seas fell in love with. From their union came 10 sons, the eldest of whom was called Atlas. Poseidon divided the island between his sons, which later became known as Atlantis. The children of Poseidon and Kleito were considered demigods and laid the foundation for the 10 royal families of Atlantis.

Plato accurately described legendary land and gave specific figures. The central plain of Atlantis reached 3000 stadia (which is 540 km) by 2000 stadia (360 km). In the center of the island there was a hill, which the father of the rulers of Atlantis surrounded by three water channels, separated by earthen ramparts. In the center of the fortification, a city or central island was created, which had a diameter of 5 stadia (slightly less than a kilometer). Here, in the heart of Atlantis, magnificent temples and a magnificent royal palace were built. The inhabitants of Atlantis made deep channels through the protective rings so that ships could sail directly to the capital.

Here is what Plato says about Atlantis. The island on which the palace is located was five stadia in diameter. And the island, and the earthen rings, as well as the bridge in the width of the plethra, the rulers surrounded with circular walls of stone, and towers and gates were placed everywhere on the bridges at the exits to the sea. In the bowels of the middle island, as well as the outer and inner earthen rings, the Atlanteans mined white, black and red stone. In the quarries they organized parking for their ships. Some of their buildings are simply made, while others are elaborately decorated with stones of different colors, which gave them a natural beauty. The walls around the outer earthen ring along the entire circumference of the Atlanteans were covered with copper, by applying metal in molten form. The wall of the inner shaft was covered with tin also by casting. The wall of the acropolis itself was trimmed with orichalcum, which radiated a fiery brilliance.

The place where the rulers of Atlantis lived inside the acropolis was arranged like this. In the very center was the inaccessible holy temple of Kleito and Poseidon. It was surrounded by a golden wall - it was the place where the generation of ten kings came from. In honor of this event, every year each of them brought sacrificial firstfruits from all ten destinies of Atlantis. Nearby was the temple of Poseidon, which was 1 stage long, three spans wide, and also a height corresponding to this size. The outer surface of the temple, except for the acroteria, was lined with silver, while the acroteria were trimmed with gold. The ceiling in the temple was made of ivory and decorated with gold, silver and orichal-com. Walls, pillars and floors were completely covered with orichalcum. There were golden statues in the temple, one of which was up to the ceiling. It depicted a god on a chariot, who ruled with six winged horses, around which there were one hundred Nereids on dolphins. Many of the statues in the temple were donated by private individuals. Outside, the temple was surrounded by images made of gold of wives and those who descended from ten kings. The size and decoration of the altar corresponded to this richness. Royal Palace in its splendor, it also corresponded to both the temples and the grandeur of the state.

Plato, in addition to all this, described many different details from the way of life of the Atlanteans, including data on the size of the army of Atlantis.

The laws by which Atlantis lived were established by Poseidon and inscribed on an orichalcum pillar. Despite the incredible wealth of the island, the inhabitants of Atlantis, being direct descendants of the gods, did not know greed. However, marriages with mere mortals gradually led to the degeneration of the divine nature of the Atlanteans, human vices prevailed in the hearts of the Atlanteans with great power. They were filled with greed, pride and the desire for conquest. Then Zeus decided to punish the inhabitants of Atlantis so that they "learned goodness." The Thunderer gathered all the gods and addressed the audience with a speech ... Plato did not say what was said by Zeus - Critias dialogue at this mysteriously breaks off. For what reason Plato did not finish his work on Atlantis is not known.

This is the story of Atlantis from Plato's story. Many secrets would be revealed if this mysterious country could be discovered. However, the time has not yet come and the ocean reliably stores the ancient mysteries of Atlantis.

Mermaids exist

Mermaids are found in the mythology of many peoples. This image came to us from ancient times, the first mention of...

Stories about the mysterious disappearance of ships and planes in bermuda triangle, supported by the legends of the sunken Atlantis, and today excite the minds of many people. The fate of our highly civilized predecessors, whose existence has not yet been proven, according to Charles Berlitz, has become the reason for writing more than twenty-five thousand books and articles. Atlantologists to this day argue about whether Atlantis existed. Many of them believe that she was not in the Atlantic Ocean and not even on Earth. Others rely on the meager information that has come down to us from the depths of centuries.

Most theories about the existence of Atlantis are based on biblical legends and the works of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. In his dialogues Timaeus and Critias, he refers to the impressions of the Athenian legislator Solon, who visited the ancient Egyptian city of Sais. During a meeting with the Egyptian priests, he was shown the written monuments of Atlantis and told the story of its existence, which he later told to Plato's great-grandfather.

Plato's Dialogues says that “... in Atlantis there was a large and wonderful empire that ruled almost the entire island and several others (islands in the Atlantic Ocean), as well as part of the continent. They owned riches such as kings and lords had never before had, and which they probably never would have.

They lined their temples with silver, and belvederes with gold… The roofs were made of ivory, decorated with gold, silver and origalkum (perhaps an alloy of bronze). Everything around was densely populated, the canals and the most major ports were full of ships and merchants coming from all over the world ... In addition, there were many elephants on the island.

According to Plato, the end of the beautiful empire came suddenly: "... After that, terrible earthquakes and floods appeared, in one single day and night of rains ... the island of Atlantis disappeared and sank into the sea ..."

Where was Atlantis and when did it disappear? Plato writes: “... in these days (9000 years before Plato), i.e. 11500 years ago, ships sailed in the Atlantic Ocean because there was an island located opposite the strait, which you call the Pillars of Hercules. The island was larger than Libya ( North Africa) and Asia (Asia Minor), taken together, and served as a way to other islands, and from the islands it was possible to cross the entire opposite continent that surrounded real ocean, since that sea between the Strait of Hercules (Mediterranean Sea) is only a bay that has a narrow passage, but that other one is a real sea and the land surrounding it can be called a continent with confidence ... ".

It is not clear from the writings of Plato whether some of the inhabitants of Atlantis survived and what their further fate. Does the disappearance of Atlantis have anything to do with the Flood, or perhaps the biblical legends of Noah's Ark, the stories of the Mahabharata and Babylonian lore- different versions of stories about the same cataclysm? And if we ask this question on the pages of our book, it is because modern interpreters of the problems of Atlantis connect the "mysterious" disappearance of ships and aircraft in the Bermuda Triangle with the return of the descendants of the mythical Atlanteans to their native places.

But let's go back to the geological history of our planet. Is it possible that the cases described by ancient legends, myths, biblical traditions and Plato were real? Is it possible that an ancient continent existed in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean? These questions also affect the history of the formation of the oceans.

Modern geophysical research makes it possible to detect significant differences in the structure of the earth's crust of continents and oceans. Using seismic methods, geophysics proved that the thickness of the continental type of the earth's crust is about 30–40 km under high mountain ranges. And the thickness of the earth's crust of the oceanic type is only 5-15 km. The boundary between the two types of the earth's crust passes near the 2000 m isobath, where some significant differences also arise in their structure.

These data confirm the initial assumptions that the coastal areas of the sea were once vast plains. Sound ranging, a powerful tool for measuring the depth of the sea, offers us an excellent opportunity to map the topography of the seabed. Such maps clearly show the mouths and canyons of ancient rivers that have gone under water, the coastline that existed tens of millennia ago, former terraces, as well as other features of modern coastal regions. With such data, today we can reconstruct the position of the ocean surface over a period of tens of thousands of years.

Deviation of the ocean level from the present day in meters. On the abscissa - time in millennia. 1 - according to Fairbridge - 1961; 2 - according to Carrey - 1968

It is generally accepted that in the last 12 thousand years, after the end of the Würm Ice Age, the contours of the continents have not changed significantly. This means that the change in the level of the ocean can be a consequence of its own internal oscillations of the ocean-atmosphere system. As a result of the warming that began 15,000 years ago, the ocean level, which was then 110 m lower than today, began to rise at a rate of 2 cm per year. This increase continued until a period that existed 5–6 millennia ago, after which the rate of increase dropped to 1–2 mm per year.

Similar processes apparently led to the flooding of vast coastal areas and many island systems. But is it possible to refer to them in the case of Atlantis? Obviously not, because Plato believes, and the same follows from other legends, that this happened suddenly, and the speed of climatic processes is extremely low. Then we will have to look for an explanation in the tectonic activity of the Earth.

Today, there are two main theories about the formation of the ocean - the theory of neomobilism (global plate tectonics) and the theory of oceanization of the continental crust. The first theory is based on the hypothesis of the German geophysicist Alfred Wegener about the drift of the continents. Wegener suggested that about 230 million years ago there was only one continent on Earth - Pangea and one ocean - Pantalas. The rotation of the Earth led to the fragmentation of the macrocontinent and the horizontal movement of the continents. As a result, the Atlantic and Indian Oceans were formed.

Assumed configurations of Pangea and Pantalas 200 million years ago.

The location of the continents by the end of the Triassic - 180 million years ago.

One of Wegener's strongest arguments in favor of the mechanism he proposed for the formation of continents and oceans was the similarity of coastlines on opposite shores of the Atlantic and other oceans. His theory, however, went through a crisis until the sixties of our century, when it was revived again, this time as the theory of neomobilism. Adherents of this theory argue that the Earth is covered with solid plates that move under the influence of convective movements that occur at a depth of more than a hundred kilometers below the earth's surface. The boundaries between two plates, according to this theory, coincide with seismically active zones, and not with the boundaries between continents and oceans, as Wegener argued.

According to the theory of neomobilism, by the end of the Triassic period (about 180 million years ago), the formation of the basins of the Atlantic and Indian oceans began. The Tethys Sea divided Pangea into two pra-continents - Gondwana and Laurasia. During the same period, they separate South America and Africa, as well as Hindustan, which begins to rapidly move north. Today this is evidenced by the traces left by the Hindustan drift at the bottom indian ocean. Later, as a result of the movement of Africa counterclockwise, and Asia - in the opposite direction, the Tethys Sea disappeared.

On the basis of information about the geological evolution of the Earth, it is possible to make assumptions about its future structure. Geologists assume that the Atlantic Ocean will continue to expand, especially in its southern part, while the Pacific Ocean will shrink. Australia will move north and join the Eurasian plate, while Asia and North America unite in the Aleutian Islands.

There is reason to believe that the Red Sea, one of the most active seismic zones, will continue to expand, Africa will shift to the north, and in place of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden will be born future ocean. This is also evidenced by the data of geophysical measurements, showing that today the African and Indian plates are moving away from each other at a rate of about 2 cm per year. In addition, the temperature and salinity in the deep waters of the Red Sea reach extraordinary values \u200b\u200b- 64.8 ° C and 313% o, that is, ten times higher than normal. This anomaly is explained by the rise of molten earth masses through cracks in the earth's crust.

But enough about the geological future of the Earth. Let's go back to her past. Obviously, the theory of neomobilism does not allow to prove the existence of Atlantis, because the movement of the plates is extremely slow. It remains to turn to the theory of oceanization of the earth's crust.

The location of the continents by the end of the Cretaceous period - 65 million years ago.

In contrast to the theory of neomobilism, the theory of oceanization suggests that the oceans were formed due to the vertical movement of the earth's crust. The continents themselves are horizontally immobile, and the thick continental crust can, under certain conditions, sink into the liquid asthenosphere. This is due to local overheating of the asthenosphere, a decrease in its density and an increase in its mobility. In this case, after the subsidence of the continental crust, part of it melts in the asthenosphere and it becomes thinner, forming the oceanic type of the earth's crust.

And yet, when did the subsidence of the earth's crust occur? By answering this question, we can find the answer to the disappearance of Atlantis and many other surface areas of the Earth. Today it is generally accepted that the formation of the oceans proceeded quite quickly, and over large areas. But the last stage in the formation of the oceans took place tens of millions of years in the last phase of the geological history of the Earth - in the Cenozoic era. And Plato wrote about a catastrophe that happened about 10 thousand years ago (?).

Today, many experts on Atlantis believe that it was located in the interior of the Atlantic Ocean, and some even argue that its location coincides with the so-called Bermuda Triangle. Let's then consider a part of the shelf strip in the area of the Florida peninsula and the underwater Blake terrace, located at a depth of 800-1000 m under water. The data of seismic surveys and soundings carried out by the vessel "Glomar Challenger" confirm that the subsidence of the continental shelf began in the Cretaceous period about 100 million years ago and proceeded very slowly. Later, about 30–50 million years ago, the rate of subsidence began to increase.

All these are processes of the distant geological past. As for the "comparatively recent" sinking of Atlantis, it could have happened as a result of a belated stage in the process of ocean formation. And yet, if Atlantis existed, it was a large island, not a continent. Today, there is strong tectonic activity at the bottom of the ocean. For example, it is assumed that the gap transatlantic cable in 1898 occurred precisely as a result of underwater earthquakes. During its repair, rocks were extracted, the formation of which, according to some scientists, is possible only when cooling on the surface of the earth. In this case, once these rocks were above the surface of the sea.

The attention of atlantologists was also attracted by the results obtained by measuring the ocean level with the help of artificial earth satellites. The first radar altimeter was installed aboard the American space laboratory Skylab. During the flight, more than one hundred and fifty series of measurements were taken from an orbit of 440 km. The results were unexpected. It turned out that in the area of the Blake Plateau there is a decrease in the ocean level by almost 4 m, and over the Puerto Rican Trench the ocean level drops to 15 m. The width of the derivation in the Puerto Rico region is about 100 km. The most interesting thing, however, is that these measurements in the topography of the ocean surface are closely related to the measurements of the bottom topography.

The surface of the ocean, although we are accustomed to consider it horizontal, has its own topography. For example, the difference between the ocean levels on both sides of the Gulf Stream is about 1 m per 100 km and persists along most of the North American coast. A direct consequence of this slope are the speeds at which the stream moves ... A simple arithmetic calculation shows that a derivation of 15 m per 100 km will lead to the formation of currents that will be 15 times faster than the Gulf Stream! With a Gulf Stream speed of 1 m/s, this would mean that the Puerto Rican Anomaly would have a current speed of 15 m/s! But only the wind in the atmosphere blows at this speed, in the ocean it is ten times less.

The sea surface reaches its lowest point in the Puerto Rican Trench.

Skylab trajectory projection on June 4, 1973 (a); ocean level measured with a satellite altimeter (6); relief of the seabed under the satellite's trajectory (c).

Shortly after this discovery, some of the interpreters of the riddles of the Bermuda Triangle were inclined to explain the disappearance of ships by falling into "holes", in which the water rotates at a terrible speed and "sucks" them into the depths of the sea. Such an interpretation is completely untenable, since all these effects may not be related to sea currents. According to many scientists, areas with a sharp increase in the depth of the ocean contain significant amounts of compacted earth masses. As a result, the earth's gravity in them is stronger, the water is compressed more, and therefore the sea level is lower. Calculations show that in the area of Puerto Rico the surface of the sea should not be horizontal at all. If it were horizontal, then in this case one would expect the appearance of giant whirlpools.

But let's, after all, listen to the assumption of gravitational anomalies, say some modern researchers of the Bermuda Triangle. Then the conclusion involuntarily suggests itself that the Bermuda Triangle and Atlantis are two sides of the same problem. An ancient civilization, for reasons unknown to us, disappeared under water, and its “high-energy” sources led to this compaction, or they still function to this day and are the cause of gravitational and electromagnetic phenomena in the area.

However, ocean surface anomalies are not an isolated phenomenon, characteristic only of the Puerto Rican Trench. Altimetry measurements show that east of Brazil, in the southern parts of the Atlantic Ocean, similar anomalies are also noted, which are associated with underwater peaks existing in these areas. Moreover, a close relationship between underwater peaks and the position of the ocean level has also been discovered over the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the Cape Verde Islands and in a number of other places in the World Ocean.

At the end of July 1979, in the Soviet weekly "Abroad" I caught my eye the headline: " New expedition in the area of the Bermuda Triangle looking for traces of an ancient civilization. The message was reprinted from the Brussels Peppl. This information, among other things, said: “A joint French-Italian-American scientific expedition went to the region of the notorious Bermuda Triangle. The purpose of a new journey to this part of the World Ocean, which the rumor called the "Enchanted Sea", is an attempt to discover the remains of an ancient civilization that existed before the civilization of Maya and Ancient Egypt.

It was also said that some of the most popular researchers of the mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle took part in the expedition: the Americans Manson Valentine - a biologist, paleontologist and archaeologist from Miami, Charles Berlitz - one of the largest propagandists of sensations about the Bermuda Triangle and unidentified flying objects, French archaeologist Jacques Maillol and others.

In his book "Without a trace" C. Berlitz placed an image of a pyramid allegedly discovered at the bottom of the ocean.

Jacques Maillol believes that once this region of the Atlantic Ocean was land that went under water as a result of the melting of glaciers. Flying by plane over the Bahama Bank, Mayol saw "artificial changes in the relief" of the bottom, similar to those observed in Peru. Therefore, the main attention of the expedition will be given to the search for artificial structures on the ocean floor.

IN Lately there were many reports of the walls of ancient buildings discovered at the bottom of the ocean, former roads, lined with huge stone blocks, and various other structures - "the work of human hands." Their origin and very essence is still unclear, so most archaeologists have so far refrained from making any conclusions.

In early 1977, the echo sounders of a fishing vessel registered on the ocean floor, somewhat away from Bermuda, an irregularity resembling a pyramid. This was the reason for Charles Berlitz to organize a special expedition. In his best-selling book Without a Trace, he describes this pyramid at a depth of about 400 m below the surface of the ocean, claiming that the height of the pyramid is almost 150 m, the base is about 200 m, and the slope is the same as that of the pyramid of Cheops. One of its sides is longer than the others, but Berlitz believes that this is a consequence of the uneven deposition of sedimentary material. If underwater research shows that the pyramid was built of stone blocks, this will dispel doubts about its geometric correctness. And from here, according to the author, a bridge will be thrown connecting Ancient Egypt with the lands of maya...

But for now, this is all just another guess...

Pangea (gr.) - the whole Earth, Pantalas - the whole ocean.

Altimeter - a device for measuring height.

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

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

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

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

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

Plato's stories about Atlantis

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

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

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

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

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

Since the time of Plato, scholars have been arguing:

was Atlantis real? If yes, where and when?

The death of Atlantis

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in Crete

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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