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ANCIENT WRITINGS

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Pre-Platonic Writings Pertinent to Atlantis

Scholars the world over have repeatedly declared that ancient sources describing Atlantis are plentiful, "but before Plato - nothing". They make such a declaration because of several reasons. (1) They disregard every record in which Atlantis is not mentioned by name. (2) Atlantis must be spelled the same way Plato spells it. (3) They are unfamiliar with the Sanskrit writings of India. These criteria are totally invalid.

It is a given that records, dating back before Plato, are going to be hard to find. But even though the pickings are slim, there are remains of such records which have been overlooked by most modern scholars. As we encounter these writings, it should be noted that these sources often call the Atlantic Ocean the "Western Ocean"; also that Atlantis is often spelled differently, or is sometimes even unnamed--but it should also be noted that there is no doubt about the identity of either.

According to Critias, Solon was given the story by the Egyptian priests at Sais which they had obtained from engraved columns in the temples of Egypt. Manetho, who's writings form the basis of our knowledge of ancient Egyptian history, obtained his famous King-Lists from similar sources. So what about this source?

THE EGYPTIAN WRITINGS

I encountered this first example in a rare book I have in my library written by the noted explorer, Harold T. Wilkins. According to Wilkins (1946) there is a depiction of a great festival on column 8 of the Great Hall of the temple of Rameses at Karnak, with an accompanying text memorializing the loss of a drowned continent in the Western Ocean. The column mentioned cannot be easily dismissed, and is a perfect example of the type of source to which Solon (in Plato's Timaeus) refers.

Plato described Atlantis as being ruled by ten kings before its demise. Egyptian king-lists going back thousands of years before Plato (we will look at one example here) establish four important facts which we should notice. They are:

1) Egyptian tradition begins with the "reign of the gods"
2) In all there were ten of these so-called "god-kings"
3) They were said to have reigned in a foreign country
4) From all appearances they were called "Atlanteans"

This last statement will be challanged by scholars, so let's take a closer look at the Egyptian king-lists. One noticable fact is that Manetho (250 B.C.) calls the first series of kings who ruled during the "reign of the gods," Auriteans. This seems to be nothing more than a corruption of the word "Atlantean". Let me explain.

Egyptian hieroglyphics only approximate real sounds: for instance, a hieroglyphic "k" must be used to represent the hard "g" sound. The hieroglyph that Manetho transcribed as r can equally be transcribed as an l. Thus the "Auriteans" of Manetho's king-lists could just as well be "Auliteans": phonetically almost identical to "Atlanteans". This idea obtains credible support from the fact that the ancient Phoenician historian Sanchuniathon (1193 B.C.) calls these very same kings "Aleteans" (Cory, 1826). Isn't it likely that Aleteans=Atlanteans?

There are numerous ancient Egyptian king-lists in existence, but only a few include the so-called "reign of the gods". The latter include the Turin Papyrus (XIXth Dynasty), the Palermo Stone (Vth Dynasty), and another more ancient one in the Temple of Osiris at Abydos. But the Turin Papyrus, dating c. 1700 B.C., is one of the better known. (A box full of papyrus fragments had been ignored for years until the famous scholar Francois Champollion spotted them during a visit to the Turin Museum in Italy. In spite of being told by a museum attendant that it was only "useless rubbish," Champollion decided to spread the bits of papyrus out on a table and put them together like working a jigsaw puzzle. The result became known as the Royal Canon of Turin; Tomas, 1971, et. al..)

The Turin Papyrus lists ten kings who ruled during the "reign of the gods," completing the partial list provided to us by Manetho. But most importantly, it confirms Manetho's record. Below is a list of god-kings from the Turin Papyrus, with Manetho's alongside:

PTAH. . . . Hephaestus
RA . . . . . . Helios
SU. . . . . . . Agathodaemon
SEB . . . . . Cronos
OSIRIS . . Osiris
SET. . . . . . Typhon
HORUS. . . . . . .
THOTH. . . . . . .
MA . . . . . . . . . .
HORUS . . Horus

So the Atlantean kings have been right before scholars eyes all these years. The Turin Papyrus also records the installation of the next series of kings in 9850 B.C.! This date is so close to Solon's date for the demise of Atlantis that coincidence is well-nigh incredible.

THE SANSKRIT WRITINGS

The Sanskrit writings of ancient India contain detailed accounts of Atlantis, and even assert that Atlantis was destroyed as the result of a war between the gods and Asuras (recalling the war between the gods and the Titans). Present day scholars are so steeped in Greek and Roman (western) culture that Indian sources are too often ignored.

A passage in Sanskrit from the Mahabharata

The Vishnu Purana (2000 B.C.), the oldest of the Hindu Puranas, speaks of Atala, the "White Island," which is one of the seven dwipas (islands) belonging to Patala (Book II, chaps. i, ii, and iii). The Purana locates Atala geographically on the seventh (heat, or climate) zone, which according to Col. Wilford (the translator) is 24 to 28 degrees north latitude: which puts it in the same latitude as the Canary Islands just off the North African coast. At least one "authority" has attempted to identify Atala with Italy, but Italy is not an island. Moreover, Italy is 38 to 45 degrees north latitude. Moreover, I fail to see how the "Western Ocean" mentioned could be the Mediterranean, when the Karna Parva of the Mahabharata clearly describes Africa as being part of its eastern coastline. Col. Wilford rightly calls Atala, "Atlantis, the White Island" (Wilford, 1808).

The terms "Atala" and "White Island" are used also by the Bhavishna Purana. Here it is stated that Samba, having built a temple dedicated to Surya (the Sun), made a journey to Saka-Dwipa "beyond the salt water" looking for the Magas (magicians), worshippers of the Sun. He is directed in his journey by Surya himself (i.e., journeys west following the Sun), riding upon Garuda (the flying vehicle of Krishna and Vishnu) he lands at last among the Magas.

The Mahabharata contains more than one account of a powerful islandic empire in the Atlantic which sank to the bottom of the "Western Ocean" following a horrendous war. As in the Vishnu Purana, it is called "the White Island, Atala" (which can be linked linguistically with the word "Atlantis"). Atala is described as an "island of great splendour," and its inhabitants are said to worship only one God (Santi Parva, Section CCCXXXVII). Another description is remarkably similar to Plato's, even down to its circular-shaped capital city, Tripura! Tripura is made in three parts, just as Plato's Metropolis is divided into three parts by circular canals. The famed city, with all its inhabitants, is sent burning to the bottom of the ocean in a most unique manner (Mahabharata).

Atala is said to be inhabited by "white men who never have to sleep or eat". (Santi Parva, Section CCCXXXVII) The Greek historian Herodotus (450 B.C.) describes a tribe of Atlanteans who "never dream and eat no living thing". (History, Book IV) Can this be coincidence? And just as the god Poseidon is very much involved in the Atlantis story, likewise in the Sanskrit accounts we find Varuna (the Hindu Poseidon) very much involved in Atala.

I feel like my years of research have paid off, as it now appears that the scholarly assertion that there are "no pre-Platonic accounts of Atlantis" falls like a house of cards in the wind.

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Bibliography

Champollion, Jean Francois (translator), Turin Papyrus, 1700 B.C.
Cory, Isaac Preston., Ancient Fragments, London, 1832.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Book III, 54.1, 8 B.C.
Herodotus, History (Rawlinson's translation), 450 B.C.
Leonard, R. Cedric, Quest for Atlantis, Manor Books, New York, 1979.
Manetho, Egyptian Dynasties, 250 B.C. (from the text of Dindorf & compared with Eusebius)
Roy, Protep Chandra (translator), Mahabharata, 700 B.C., Calcutta.
Sanchuniathon, History of the Phoenicians, 1193 B.C. (Eusebius Praep. Evang., l.c. 10.)
Tomas, Andrew, "We Are Not the First," Souvenir Press Ltd., London, 1971.
Wilford, Francis, Asiatic Researches, Calcutta, 1808.
Wilkins, Harold T., Mysteries of Ancient South America, Rider & Co., London, 1946.

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All ideas are from "Quest for Atlantis" by R. Cedric Leonard
Published by Manor Books Inc., New York, 1979.
Copyright © 1979: R. Cedric Leonard