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Atlantis Facts

Atlantis Facts
Atlantis is a mythical island kingdom that has been written about in fictional stories since the Greek philosopher Plato (428-348 BC) in his Timaeus and Critias. The works, which were written as dialogues, claim that the Egyptians had records of a place called Atlantis, which was a large island that eventually sunk into the ocean after a series of earthquakes and floods. Most modern scholars believe that Atlantis served as an allegory of how paradise can be lost due to corruption, but many also believe it was a physical place. Most scholars believe that if Atlantis did exist, it was probably one of the many islands in the Bronze Age Mediterranean, possibly Santorini, or even the island of Crete itself, which was home to the Minoan culture. Although the Greeks knew about some elements of ancient Minoan culture, much of the vast palaces were already covered by Plato's time so memories of it may have seemed legendary to the classical Greeks.
Interesting Atlantis Facts:
Minnesota U.S. Congressman Ignatius Donnelly published Atlantis: The Antediluvian World in 1882. The book's thesis is that the legendary Atlantis was the well spring for all the Bronze Age civilizations, including the Maya and Egyptians.
There were similar lost civilization myths in many different premodern cultures. Shambhala was the Tibetan utopian kingdom, Aztlan was a legendary island kingdom where the Aztecs believe they originated, and Thule and Hyperborea were believed by the Greeks to be lost kingdoms. Besides being lost or secret, all of these places were believed to have been located in the north.
Donnelly's book gave rise to the popularity of Atlantis among New Age and mystic circles. Madam Blavatsky and the theosophy movement promoted the idea of Atlantis as the source of most modern human races and knowledge.
During the Renaissance and into the Enlightenment, writers used the idea of Atlantis to show how a society should or shouldn't be. Writers such as Francis Bacon, Thomas Heyrick, and Delarivier Manley didn't argue that Atlantis was a real place, but used it as a vehicle to either demonstrate how they believed society should be, or to expose certain problems in their current society.
American psychic Edgar Cayce believed that the Atlantis "hall of records" was beneath the Sphinx in Egypt.
Twentieth century Italian philosopher Julius Evola believed in Atlantis and linked it to all of the other lost kingdoms mentioned above.
In the classical Greek language, "Atlantis" literally means the "island of Atlas" the legendary titan.
Besides being used as an allegory, fictional writers have used Atlantis as a location in many stories, especially in science fiction. The comic book superheroes Aquaman and Submariner were both from Atlantis.
Although most mainstream scholars either discount the idea of Atlantis, or at least its size and importance, it was believed for a while by mainstream Mesoamerican scholars such as Edward Herbert Thompson in the late 1800s. This idea, though, fell out of favor in the early 1900s.


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