Atlantis - the ancient continent of prehistory has long held interest to both investigators and popular culture. Did Atlantis even exist? If so, where was it located? And, does its destruction hold any cautionary tales to civilization today?

The legend
The idea of an ancient but advanced civilization destroyed by its own excesses has long been told by many cultures.

In 370 B.C., The Greek philosopher Plato wrote of Atlantis in the dialogues "Timaeus" and "Critias." The story came from the then 200 year old records of the Greek ruler Solon, who heard of Atlantis from an Egyptian priest.

Plato said that Atlantis lay in the Atlantic Ocean near the Straits of Gibraltar until its destruction 10,000 years earlier.

Plato described Atlantis as an advanced empire that ruled over many lands, from Libya to Europe. After it failed to conquer the Greeks, it was destroyed in a single day by massive earthquakes and floods; Atlantis sank into the sea.

Alternatively, in "Critias," Plato described Atlantis as the Kingdom of Poseidon, the god of the sea. This Atlantis, an advanced and noble land, reigned until its people became complacent and greedy. Thus angered, Zeus chose to punish them by destroying the continent.

Was it all made up?
Was Plato trying to pull a fast one on us? What's up with his two stories? Ever the scholar, some believe that Plato was talking about a hypothetical land in which to highlight his lessons on ideal states. Currently, many believe that talk of undersea "roads" and pyramids can be explained by natural phenomena or by the zeal of those who would like to profit off the notion of Atlantis.

Where was Atlantis?
If Atlantis did exist, where was it located? In his writings, Plato stated that Atlantis was located on the Atlantic Ocean near the Straits of Gibraltar. Lately, much interest has focused on the island of Bimini, off which a 1000-mile long underwater "road" has supposedly been located. Interestingly enough, underwater structures have been found all over the earth, from Europe to Asia. Recently, new structures that may be man-made have been found off the Japanese island of Okinawa.
Japan's Underwater Ruins - Info on the 1995 discovery of underwater streets, altar-like formations, and broad plazas in 20 to 100 feet of water off the coast of Okinawa.

This is some info I got on Atlantis. I hope you enjoyed. Please add if you have any info.

If I put this in the wrong spot can one of the mods put it where it belongs?

I read somewhere in a book, a few years ago, that Plato never went to Atlantis but wrote about it from other sources he found???

I've never heard that but it seems really intresting.

Here's some links to other threads on the forum that deal with Atlantis:

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

Link 4

Here's some info on these mysterious Sea People ....could they be the Atlantians?

http://lexicorient.com/cgi-bin/eo-direct-f.../sea_people.htm

http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/seapeople.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Peoples

Very interesting links, Chauncy.
I guess there is no way to prove that the mysterious sea peope are Atlantis survivors since modern archeologists do not believe in the existence of Atlantis.
I have read some books about Atlantis where the authors claimed that the last Atlanteans did move to Egypt and Syria, but they said they were very friendly and helped in developing the agriculture and architecture and influenced the religious beliefs of the society there.

Yes the surviving Atlantians seemed to be passive in the sense of a non-threat. The destruction of your civilization in my opinion would have a humbling affect on the survivors. The Egyptians probably accepted them after the destruction because they were known to have technologies and other 'magical' means.

Also if the same cataclysm that destroied Atlantis had an effect on Egypt then there would be a time period between the old Atlantian/Egyptian relationship and the post-cataclysm relations.

Hopefully we'll get some answers from the recent discovery in Spain.
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20040...7/atlantis.html

Yes, I read about the recent discovery in Spain, but somehow I am biased towards Atlantis being a landmass in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. In the books of Scott Elliot it is said that the process of submersion of the continent lasted 3000 years and did not happen overnight. The last cataclysm was really severe and destroyed practically everything (10 000 years ago) and then Atlanteans started their migrations. It is also very strange to me how this part of Spain that was flooded was so much advanced compared to the rest of the Spain, this is one not very big peninsula after all.
Of course everything is in the realm of the speculations for now...

The Sea Peoples were a collection of mostly greek mercenaries who later founded colonies in the Levant.

HI, im new in the site and I would like to ask if you could give me some more information on Atlanis....

Althalus has posted a few links above that delve more into the subject, Dark, you might want to click on them, turn a light on.........they'll be easier to see.

HI, foreverfalling I liked the post you made it was very iterresting and educational......

Edit; combined posts

Check out Discovery's website for Atlantis. I just taped their show on the lost city of atlantis, and they made it sound like they found it in Greece, only it's underground from all the sediment that had built up over the years from near by cliffs. If I knew how to make a link to that info, I would, but I don't.

According to the video, a Greek archeologist dug some bur holes and found pieces of black glazed pottery dating back to when a city called "Helike" existed and had been destroyed by a violent storm. They think Helike was the real name for Plato's mythological Atlantis. It concluded with them digging up an underground city that they are now convinced is Helike, otherwise know as atlantis. Check it out on Discovery, it's really cool!!!

A map of Atlantis based on Plato's writings.

Atlantis's location based on Ignatius Donnelly's book, Atlantis: The Antediluvian World.

An artist rendition of the Royal Banquet Hall.

I read a story as a child that described Atlantis as being lost under the ice shelf of Antartica...Obviously, years later and the facts about what has occured with the Earth these past twenty, thirty, forty thousands years...It all looked so different. But when I read Hapgood's book ' The Maps of Ancient Sea Kings' It tended to add support to this otherwise fictional account. And now (for me) the belief exists...As far as Atlantis exists...that it lies down there under the ice of Atartica.
Vimjams

Antarctica? Surely you jest. It hasn't been able to support a civilization for millions of years.

Plato's story was a morality tale. There could not be a Greek-Atlantean war around the time frame that he states because there was no Greek civilization to our knowledge at that time.

Not true, if we accept the theory suggesting that Plato had in mind the Minoan Civilization when he uttered the magic word "Atlantis". Putting in paper all the facts presented from this theory, times, locations, distances, it does make sense. And perhaps in the 2d millenium BC the word "Greeks" wasn't exactly in use, but nevertheless Plato could mean the inhabitans of the general area in which himself was living..

If you consider "Atlantians" as a passive race they can't be "the Sea People" as they were some of the most aggressive, war-like invaders to ever attack a coastal country.-usdi Agaluga

so...maybe the "the Sea People" are the ones who brought down the "Atlantians"

Note: This is just a thought