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Could the island city of Nan Madol be Atlantis ?


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  • The title was changed to Could the island city of Nan Madol be Atlantis ?

Only if Atlantis existed hundreds of years after Platos died ;) 

Nan Madol is intertesting enough without a nonsensicial clickbait headline.   I hadn't realised it was the inspiration for R'yleh

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6 minutes ago, Essan said:

Only if Atlantis existed hundreds of years after Platos died ;) 

Nan Madol is intertesting enough without a nonsensicial clickbait headline.   I hadn't realised it was the inspiration for R'yleh

More like a thousand + years, How they work in R'yleh did Lovecraft ever mention that it was the source?

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52 minutes ago, Essan said:

There's a longer piece on this in the Daily Fail, which makes the R'yleh claim

Thanks I wondered it I was missing something.

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I can't find any source that has H.P. Lovecraft stating that Nan Madol  inspired R'lyeh. There are a number of sources saying things like: "it's said that Nan Madol inspired H.P. Lovecraft's sunken city of R'lyeh". The real Nan Madol is near the Equator. R'lyeh was described as being far into the South Pacific Ocean. 

The elaborate building at Nan Madol appears to have occurred from about A.D. 900 to 1200. Plato described Atlantis as having sunk entirely, around 9600 B.C. Plato flourished around 400 B.C.

Nan Madol is made up of natural, prismatic basalt columns, stacked horizontally in alternating, crosswise layers. Such basaltic columns are found in various parts of the world, including 'Devil's Postpile' in California, and Fingal's Cave in The British Isles.

The use of these columns as a construction medium is ingenious, apparently unique, and a remarkable accomplishment for such a materially simple culture.  The building  at Nan Madol extends for about a kilometer along the shore of Temwen island, based on a foundation of reefs, and is about 1/2 a kilometer wide. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nan_Madol 

Edited by bison
added link, other information, improved paragraph structure
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Since Nan Madol doesn't fulfill a single criteria for Atlantis I think the answer obviosly is NO.

- It was made after Plato lived.

- It didn't sink.

- It wasn't in the Atlantic.

- There is absolutely no evidence that it had any contact with Athens.

- It is much much smaller than Atlantis was supposed to be.

There are many other reasons, but the first I listed really should be enough in itself.

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Being in the Pacific it is clearly part of the lost continent of Meow

Lair of the dreaded Cat-thulhu

 

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59 minutes ago, The Russian Hare said:

Being in the Pacific it is clearly part of the lost continent of Meow

Lair of the dreaded Cat-thulhu

 

It’s name means “purr-fection” in the language of the Felis Regis.

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A civilisation destroyed when the waters rose and their fur got wet, leading to mass insanity and caticide.    The deranged survivors torment us to this day.

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I’ve been to Nan Madol. I’ll post some pics (need to make them smaller 1st). It’s a pretty eerie place, said by the locals to be haunted. Definitely a spooky spot, there’s an ominous feeling, as if you’re waiting for something, but don’t know what.

The building techniques used were similar to, but much cruder than other monument building societies... almost as if they only half remembered how to do it right. Since the ruins are younger than others of their type, it would make some sense that they might have originally came from an earlier monument building society somewhere else.

What I find really interesting is that it’s a walled fort (with layers of walls as stated) but there’s nothing to defend against out there but open ocean... why did they build that there? What were they protecting against, why go through all that trouble? What were they scared of?

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5 hours ago, David D Stevens said:

Then there is James Churchward book on Mu and the Lin Carter books set in Lemuria.

The first was bad pulp and the second fair pulp.

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4 minutes ago, Alaric said:

I’ve been to Nan Madol. I’ll post some pics (need to make them smaller 1st). It’s a pretty eerie place, said by the locals to be haunted. Definitely a spooky spot, there’s an ominous feeling, as if you’re waiting for something, but don’t know what.

The building techniques used were similar to, but much cruder than other monument building societies... almost as if they only half remembered how to do it right. Since the ruins are younger than others of their type, it would make some sense that they might have originally came from an earlier monument building society somewhere else.

What I find really interesting is that it’s a walled fort (with layers of walls as stated) but there’s nothing to defend against out there but open ocean... why did they build that there? What were they protecting against, why go through all that trouble? What were they scared of?

The indigenous groups that made up the populations of Micronesia were known to conduct raids and wars between themselves. They were also notable for small boat handling and navigation so an attack from the sea was a distinct possibility.

 

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7 minutes ago, Hanslune said:

The indigenous groups that made up the populations of Micronesia were known to conduct raids and wars between themselves. They were also notable for small boat handling and navigation so an attack from the sea was a distinct possibility.

 

It was probably (definitely) Cat-thulu...

(Didn’t expect someone to reply so fast, was getting to the punchline, but you beat me to it)

It’s actually no mystery why it’s there ... it’s defending the entrance to Madolenihmw Bay. The whole island of Pohnapei is ringed by reefs, except right there. And as you pointed out, a war canoe could easily come right up that alley. Considering that some of their neighbors to the southwest were the most notorious cannibals around... it makes total sense.

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1 hour ago, Alaric said:

It was probably (definitely) Cat-thulu...

(Didn’t expect someone to reply so fast, was getting to the punchline, but you beat me to it)

 

Sorry about that, but it is my secondary task in life to ruin the funny for everyone else.....or at least I've been told that.....especially by students

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7 hours ago, Essan said:

A civilisation destroyed when the waters rose and their fur got wet, leading to mass insanity and caticide.    The deranged survivors torment us to this day.

It was... a catastrophe.

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No Atlantis reference necessary.   This place is cool all by itself.

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3 hours ago, Myles said:

No Atlantis reference necessary.   This place is cool all by itself.

Yes very, shows what people can do when they are motivated.

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Here’s a map (from wiki) that shows the layout of the island... Nan Madol is on the promontory east of Tamworohi, it’s obviously strategically located. I wonder if there is another fort/ outpost (smaller, possibly less well known/ visited?) on the opposite side of the entrance to the bay, would make sense.

 

32EFA90A-6E04-4A75-92CD-471ED9897EB5.png

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Almost all of these location names sound like they came out of a comic, excuse me, graphic novel.

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