Atlantis

In 370 B.C., Plato gave the first surviving written record of the people of Atlantis. This document is referred to as the "Critias". It is available online at http://classics.mit.edu//Plato/critias.html translated by Benjamin Jowett Persons. After reading and studying this document, the source of the confusion surrounding this legend is understandable. What is less understandable is how so many people can theorize on this subject without having apparently read it. Like many ancient texts, it is easy to make the account fit whatever theory you believe in. But it seems most likely that the culture referred to in this document is actually the culture of the Minoans.

Of the original document, only about nine pages remain. In it, Plato begins to tell the story of an ancient war between Athens and the Atlantians. This is interesting considering most people seem to believe the people of Atlantis were an entirely peaceful race. Plato writes, "Let me begin by observing first of all, that nine thousand was the sum of years which had elapsed since the war which was said to have taken place between? Athens? and the Kings of Atlantis".1 The tale of this war seems to be what his story is to be about and begins by describing the islands of Atlantis and the nature of their people. He also gives an account of the Acropolis and a description of the way it was at the time of Atlantis. Unfortunately, all we really get from the account is Plato's exposition because the main body of the story has been lost to antiquity.

Certainly one source of confusion stems from the fact that Plato's account of Atlantis was not from his own experience. The tale was made known to him by "Critias the Younger"; a Greek nobleman who had been told the story by his grandfather Solon. Solon had visited Egypt and was probably told the story of the land of Keftiu, "an island nation named for holding one of the four pillars that supported the Egyptian sky."2

Plato refers to the source of his information several times. In addition to indicating the source as the Greek ruler Solon, who intended to use the information to write an epic poem, he mentions the Egyptians often. He indicates, "the Egyptian priests said" and "what was said by the priests and brought hither by Solon" came from "early Egyptians in writing".1

According to Egyptian record, Keftiu ruled the lands west of Egypt. The island nation had many ships and controlled commerce in Greece, Libya and beyond. The Minoans were an advanced civilization that was destroyed by the sea in a great apocalypse.2

Plato probably translated "the land of the pillars which held the sky" (Keftiu) into the land of the titan Atlas (who held the sky). Comparison of ancient Egyptian records of Keftiu identifies a number of similarities to Plato's Atlantis. It seems likely that Plato's Atlantis was a retelling (and renaming) of Egypt's Keftiu.2

In Plato's account of Keftiu, there can be found a number of similarities between the Minoan culture, (also known as the Aegeans), and the Atlantians. It is very likely that these are all names for the same group of people.

Plato is concerned with names in his account. In the Critias he says, "I ought to warn you, that you must not be surprised if you should perhaps hear Hellenic names given to foreigners." He explains that Solon had "recovered the meaning of several names and when copying them out again translated them into our language?therefore if you hear names such as used in this country, you must not be surprised, for I have told how they came to be introduced."1 Plato knew that some of the names in the Egyptian account were from early Greek mythology indicating that the Atlantian culture was near Greece. He may have been surprised to learn how close to Atlantis he really was. The Mycaeneans from Greece conquered the Minoans and would have absorbed some of their culture centuries before Plato's time.

Waging a war with Athens, it is likely that Atlantis was located somewhere close to it. Had Atlantis been located in the Atlantic, or, as some have suggested, Malaysia or even what is now the polar ice cap, why should they be at war with Athens? The Aegean islands ruled by the Minoans fit Plato's descriptions well and are located very close to Athens. Considering the difficulty and expense of a long-distance war and from what we know of early Greece, it is unlikely that they would be at war with a people at least two thousand miles away.

It has long been argued that Atlantis must be in the Atlantic Ocean, not only because of its name, but because Plato refers to it as being located by the "Pillars of Hercules". Most people believe this refers to what is now called the Straight of Gibraltar. Though the Straight of Gibraltar was once called the "Pillars of Hercules", in the time of Plato this name had not yet been applied to this area. At the time, there was a location in the Cyclades that bore this name.2

Plato describes what remains of Atlantis as a group of islands. It's present form is described as being "only the bones of a wasted body, as they may be called, as in the case of small islands, all the richer and softer parts of the soil having fallen away, and the mere skeleton of the land being left."1 This indicates that Atlantis at least partially remains. Never does he claim that the island was completely lost.

There is further evidence that Plato is referring to the Aegean islands controlled by the Minoans. The lost civilization of Atlantis is universally believed to have been swallowed by the ocean. Plato refers to it as being sunk by an earthquake. Consider the demise of the Minoan civilization.

The Minoans' culture was destroyed by perhaps the greatest volcanic eruption in recorded history. The island now called Santorini (also known as Thera), three thousand years ago, was much bigger than it is now. At the center of this "group" of islands was a volcano estimated to be over 4000 feet tall.4

In summer, circa 1470 BC, Santorini exploded. Volcanic ash filled the sky, blotted out the sun, and triggered hail and lightning. A heavy layer of volcanic ash rained down over the Aegean, covering islands and crops. Earthquakes shook the land, and stone structures fell from the motion. When the enormous magma chamber at Santorini finally collapsed to form the existing caldera, enormous tsunamis (tidal waves) spread outward in all directions. The coastal villages of Crete were flooded and destroyed. The only major Minoan structure surviving the waves and earthquakes was the palace at Knossos, far enough inland to escape the tidal waves. But in the days that followed, volcanic ash covered some settlements, and defoliated the island.2

There has not been an earthquake of even half this magnitude for over one hundred years. The eruption darkened the sky over the entire world. It would have been about forty times greater than the eruption at Mt. St. Helen's. With the Minoan country destroyed, the Mycaeneans from Greece easily conquered what remained of the Minoan culture.4

The written language of the Minoan people has never been translated. But they are still famous for the mosaic art. Their ancient artwork depicting acrobats leaping over charging bulls is perhaps the most famous.

This is interesting considering Plato describes the Atlantians as having "bulls who had the full range of the temple". These bulls held religious significance to the people of Atlantis. Their leaders, the ten kings, "hunted the bulls, without weapons but with staves and nooses". The bull that the kings caught was then led to a pillar carved with sacred inscriptions. The throat of the bull was then cut "over the top of it so that the blood fell upon the sacred inscription." A long complicated ceremony was then performed. The people of Atlantis worshiped bulls and the surviving Minoan artwork found on the Aegean islands indicates that bulls held great significance to the Minoans as well.

In the "Critias", Plato describes Atlantis as being destroyed over "9000" years ago. Referring to my included timeline of early history: Plato was born in 450 BC. This would place the civilization of Atlantis in the Paleolithic Era, long before towns, cities? even the wheel. It would be five thousand years until a written way to record these events was developed. It would also seem difficult for them to be involved in a war with Athens.

More likely, an error was made copying the manuscript or Solon mistranslated the Egyptian. This is indeed possible considering the Egyptians and Greeks had different systems for telling time. Even today discrepancies between numbering systems exist. One billion in England is equal to one trillion in the United States.

Whatever happened, "900" years ago is probably the correct figure. Plato wrote "Critias" about one hundred years after Solon visited Egypt in 590 BC. Geographical evidence shows Santorini became unstable around 1500 BC and finally exploded circa 1470 BC. Adding 900 years to the date of Solon's visit gives us the year 1490 BC. Putting exact dates on these ancient events is difficult, but considering these dates are within 20 years of each other seems to indicate that these are probably the same event.

The Minoans and the people Plato named the Atlantians both possessed an advanced civilization. Plato makes references to the people of Atlantis having hot and cold running water, "they had fountains, one of cold and another of hot water, in gracious plenty flowing and they were wonderfully adapted for use". He describes warm baths enjoyed by the people of Atlantis. In Minoan ruins we find similar evidence.

Archaeologists have found an extensive and sophisticated system of sewers, drainage, drinking and bath water pipes in Crete and Thera. Private homes had flush toilets and bathtubs. It appears Minoans heated their houses and had hot and cold running water from hydrothermal vents.2

Plato describes Atlantis as being made up of three kinds of stone. He says, "One kind was white, another black, and a third red". A visit to the Aegean islands reveals these same types of stones.2

Plato writes "because of the greatness of their empire many things were brought to them from foreign countries".1 He specifically mentions an abundance of elephants and other exotic animals.

Egyptian legend held that elephants were found on Keftiu--while there were presumably no elephants on Crete, the Minoans were well known to deal in African ivory, and appear to have been the principal access to ivory for Egypt 20 centuries before Christ.2

There is an enormous amount of excavation that still needs to be done on the Aegean islands, especially Santorini. But the Greek government tightly controls all excavations and progress is slow. Confirming the presence of elephants on Santorini seems probable but until now has yet to be proven.

Minoan ruins do indicate the presence of other exotic animals, or at least first- hand knowledge of them. In fact, many wonders are currently being excavated on Santorini. Buried under volcanic ash we find artwork depicting daily life, exotic animals and the appearance of the Minoan ships. The city now being excavated appears to have been evacuated before the eruption. But there is every indication that there is much more buried beneath the ash.

Diving in the waters surrounding the island is forbidden. The Greek Government is trying to protect the history beneath the waves. Besides the Minoans, thousands of years worth of other shipwrecks litter the sea floor. The area would indeed be a looter's paradise. Underwater footage shot for The Learning Channel reveals many underwater artifacts. The proper excavation of these sites will take many years but there is much to look forward to. During the short expedition, the tops of walls and pieces of ancient pottery were easily found. But for now, the extent of what lies on the ocean floor around Santorini can only be speculated at.

At this point, the greatest arguments against the Minoans being the Atlantians are the date and the size of the island. I believe a misplaced decimal place and the lack of any archeological evidence of such an advanced civilization that long ago seems to confirm an error in the date. However, the size of the island is another matter.

Plato indicated that the size of Atlantis was "an island greater in extent than Libya and Asia, and when afterwards sunk by an earthquake, became an impassable barrier of mud to voyagers sailing from hence to any part of the ocean."1

We know from the eruption of Krakotoa in the pacific that Plato's impassable barrier of mud was likely. The pumice from a volcanic cataclysm would continue to float in the region effectively halting all shipping as it did around Krakotoa. But there is not room in the Aegean Sea for an island as big as Libya and Asia combined.

Anthony Kontaratus argues that there could have been an error copying the text and what was really meant was that Atlantis was located between Libya and Asia. A map will indicate this to be true.4

I believe that Plato meant the people of Atlantis exerted an area of influence greater in size than Libya and Asia. In other words, I believe they controlled a trading empire of that size, though their actual island home was smaller.

Unfortunately, these two points will continue to cloud the truth concerning Atlantis for the foreseeable future. Popular culture has deeply seeded misconceptions concerning Plato's Atlantis. Years of speculation feed the yearning for the discovery of a technologically advanced civilization existing before recorded history. Extraterrestrial influence is used to explain any number of wild speculations, but there is considerable evidence that the people of Atlantis referred to by Plato are based upon the Minoan culture.

2http://www.angelfire.com/hi/alhawk/atlanthira.html summary of: J V Luce: The End of Atlantis: New Light on an Old Legend, 1969, Thames and Hudson. Reprinted 1993 by Efstathiades Group.

4http://www.vacation.net.gr/p/santhist.html The Tourist Guide of Greece
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Last Update was December 20, 1997.