It is said that much before Summerian civilization, a great civilization existed in the Atlantic Ocean. It was a paradise, where civilization was at its zenith. But then a volcano erupted and the entire civilization was washed away.
The story of Atlantis was first told by the Greek philosopher Plato. But how far can one believe Plato? This is a question which many ask. After all where did Atlantis disappear? Why do we have no historical proof? Or was the story of Plato a mere fable?
Whether it is a Myth or reality these are the questions which have inspired many to explore further. Yet the truth is unknown, untold.
The story reads like a fairy-tale.
The time is 3,500 years ago. A long hazy summer day was coming to an end. The rays of the sun were shining on a tiny island. The island appeared inexplicably beautiful with sun rays highlighting the volcano which was 5000 fit high. The narrow streets were filled with people. Women were enjoying the pleasant evening. They were laughing and chatting.
The evening passed away easily. When night came, suddenly the pleasant and peaceful atmosphere changed into a turbulent, violent one. The sea changed its colour and beneath the earth came ratting voices. The islanders grew worried. They thought that volcano was about to erupt, the as if the violent forces held by God had awaken from a long slumber. The people of Atlantis pondered over this thought. They here, however, unaware that those were just signs of a great cataclysm. And that occurred. Their whole civilization was destroyed soon.
First a humongous cloud of dark smoke engulfed the entire island. Then a blitzkrieg of pumic stones occurred. This was followed by ash which poured down heavily. A Big bang. The great volcano erupted forming a crater of 37 miles. Between this gap, the sea water accumulated the great civilization finished.
That’s how the scientists and seismologists view the destruction of the island. According to them, the destructive forces must have been equivalent to 500 – 1000 atomic bombs. This also believe that the dark ash which fell down on the Aegean must have plunged the entire area into darkness. The deposits of it were found on the remains of the island and the ancient Greeks called it ‘Kalliste’.
Scientists believe that Kalliste is the only particle which can solve the riddle that has made the historians and geographers mute on this topic, which the great Greek philosopher, Plato had extensively described in his discoveries.
According to Plato, Atlantis was a paradise. It was a vast island with lush green plains and impressive mountain ranges. It had variety of animals, even elephants and fruit gardens. The island was rich with precious metals like alloy of copper and orichalc. The city was arranged in five zones and was built in perfect concentric circles. The ports were served with canals.
Plato also said that the city had a great palace and a temple, which were covered with silver and gold. The interior of the temple was made of ivory and the walls, pillars and foors were coated with orchil. A statue of the God was built with gold. This God, standing on a chariot with six winged horses had been described as the God of the Sea. The inhabitants used to worship this God.
Plato has not only described the positives of the society but he being a great judge of human nature describes, “When the divine portion began to fade away and became diluted with mortal admixture… (society) became full of avarice and unrighteous power.” Atlantis embarked on the career of war and conquests. They defeated most of the surrounding areas. The only power that stood against them brilliantly was of Athens. But the defeat was not enough to teach Atlantis a lesson. After the moral decay, even Gods grew against Atlantis and punished them with severe earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. And Plato describes, “Afterwards, there occurred violent earthquakes and foods and in a single day and night of misfortune… the island of Atlantis melted into the depths of sea.”
According to Plato, this happened twelve thousand years ago in the Straits of Gibralter. And from this point onwards, starts the great controversy of Atlantis. Historians ask whether Plato’s story can be trusted? If yes, then what were the circumstances in which he wrote it?
Plato’s story travelled across generation to generation. The main source of Plato’s story was his nephew Critias, who claimed that he heard the story from his grandfather – Dropides and the latter heard it from Solan, who was famous for his truthfulness and was considered to be one of the wisest law givers and the seven sages of Greece. Solan lived from 640 B.C. to 558 B.C. Plato wrote the story two centuries later. Solan himself claimed that the story was not original. He heard it from a priest in Egypt. Solan was so impressed with the story that he translated it into a poem in Greek.
From this account, it appears that the Egyptians knew about the Atlantis or perhaps, trade existed between them.
However, as far as Plato’s narration is concerned it was more philosophical than historical. Plato’s student, Aristotle believed that it was not more than a poetic fiction. Many scholars agree with Aristotle. But there are some scholars who believe in the truthfulness of the story.
Crantor (300 B.C.) who was the first commentator on Plato’s work, believed that the account was true. Even Stoic, the philosopher and scholar Posidonius (135 – 50 B.C.) refused to believe it and called it a fgment of imagination.
Even after so many centuries, the controversy prevails is it truth or. It is so mysterious that many have taken advantage of the situation and have started weaving innumerable stories about black magic, clairvoyancy, etc.
Plato believed that Atlantis was in the Atlantic itself. This led to serious research and historians found out that once, there existed a continent in the middle of the ocean. According to these historians, the Azores, the Cape Verde Islands, the Canaries and Madeira were the mountain peaks of Atlantis.
The 15th century cartographers included Atlantis into the world map, purely out of imagination. When America was discovered, it was thought that Atlantis had been hibernated. Gradually, the interest in this mysterious island gave birth to a new science department – Atlantology. The prominent member of Atlantology was the American politician and member of the US Congress, Ignatius Donnelly. He published a book, Atlantis: The antediluvian World. The book became a best seller.
Donnelly observed some comparisons between pre-Columbian civilizations and ancient Egyptian culture. He gave the examples of pyramids, mummy and the art of developing 365 day calendar. He emphasised that the two civilizations had a common ground – Atlantis. And after its destruction, both the civilizations grew up differently.
Donnelly took the help of archaeology, mythology, ethnology, geology and botany. He scientifically prepared the documents and proved that Atlantis existed. Many believed in Donnelly’s theory.
However, twentieth century oceanographic studies have completely negated the work of Donnelly. According to the oceanographers, the 36 million sq. Miles Atlantic shows no evidence that cataclysm ever took place and that there ever existed a continent. Although 12,500 miles long mountain range runs from north to south in the Atlantic ocean, but it cannot be claimed as the remains of the Atlantis, as it rues up at the place where Atlantis should have subsided.
In 1912, the controversy was again fared up. An article appeared in the newspaper – New York American, titled ‘How I found the lost Atlantis, the source of all civilizations’ and the author was Dr. Paul Schliemann, grandson of the discoverer of Troy.
Dr. Paul claimed that he possessed some valuable documents and articles passed on by his grandfather. Dr. Paul showed the bronze vase which was unearthed at Troy and which bore the inscription : “This was the gift of Cronos, king of Atlantis.” Dr. Paul tried earnestly to prove his evidence but nobody believed him.
So much has been written on Atlantis that recently a German archaeological journalist, C.W. Ceram counted the number of the volumes written on Atlantis. The number was astonishing. About 20,000 volumes have been written on the subject.
The unique write-up had been by the American prophet and clairvoyant, Edgar Cayce (1877-1945). Cayce claimed that number of his clients were reincarnated Atlanteans. His picture of Atlantis, which emerged during various trances was quite similar to Plato’s vision, though he had never read Plato. According to Cayce, Atlanteans were advanced people who brought about their destruction and that Atlantis was between the Gulf of Mexico and the Straits o Gibralter. Perhaps, he was hinting towards America.
Again in 1968, Dr. Valentine discovered some walls which sparked the Atlantis controversy again. He saw a giant wall, submerged in the waters of North Bimini Island. He linked this wall with the Atlantis.
Earlier in 1967, at Greek archaeologist, Sypridon Marinatos made an excavation and discovered Santorini. He compared the cataclysm of 1883 which occurred at Java and Sumatra with the information of a similar cataclysm which occurred 3,500 years ago at Santorini. The Santorini cataclysm was earlier researched in 1965 by two American scientists Dragolslav Ninkovich and B.C. Heezen. Marinatos concluded that the sequence of events of both the volcanic explosions was identical. Moreover, the excavation at santorini resolved many archaeological doubts.
As the science of archaeology is tuning the scientific world historians and archaeologists think that eventually Atlantis mystery would be solved. Till then, various stories and legends continue to hound around the mysterious and vanished civilization. Rivers of ink continue to fow in constructing a new story or a new discovery about Atlantis.
