After thousands of years, many still are in search for the truth about the mystery of a lost city, Atlantis. Was it a mere myth or unadorned history? Was it just one of the list of those stories of other lost continents or could it be special for it is more famous and enigmatic than all the rest? Did it truly exist or just a fiction, a once upon a time.
Timaeus and Critias, written by Greek philosopher Plato over 2,360 years ago was said to be the origin of the story of Atlantis. It had been described by Plato that Atlantis is a nation located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, an extraordinary Utopian society. This nation possessed advanced characteristics such as art, wisdom, technological knowledge and riches, certainly with a great gap compared to the other nation. The island was said to be very fertile. All kinds of herbs, fruits and nuts could be harvested. There is also an abundance of animals, wood and flowers. Because of these natural resources found throughout the land, the citizens lived with all the riches and wealth. The island was a center for trade and commerce. For generations the Atlanteans valued peace and lived virtuous lives. But at some point they changed. They became increasingly greedy and corrupt. Zeus and the other gods agreed on their punishment. Soon, violent earthquakes and devastating floods occurred in one single day and night the island of Atlantis and its people were overwhelmed and swallowed by the sea.
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| Santorini, Greece |
With this story, suggesting that the island of Atlantis being submerged, where is it truly located? A lot of hypotheses popped out about the location of Atlantis. Some proposed it is in or near the Mediterranean Sea such as the island of Santorini.
Some believed that the story of Atlantis was inspired by the Thera eruption in 17th or 16th century BC causing large tsunami that experts hypothesize devastated the Minoan civilization on the nearby island of Crete.
It has also been thought to have been sited close to the eastern shores of the Atlantic Ocean. A team led by Richard Freud, a professor of University of Hartford claimed to have found a remarkably persuasive evidence of the lost city in the great Hinojos marsh of what is today’s Spain. As for the description of Plato, it is a civilization submerged by mud and cottongrass and is located within the marshlands of the Doñana National Park, north port of the city of Cadiz. In the writings of Plato, Atlantis being swallowed by the sea, the evidence suggests that a deadly tsunami caused the city to submerge and disappear.
Other proposed locations included sites in India, Finland, Sweden, the Bahamas, Knossos, Troy, the Bermuda Triangle—even Antarctica. Most archeologists have agreed for decades, must have been somewhere near Gibraltar, a place that answers the most essential literary clue on the words of Plato. “In front of the mouth which you Greeks call, as you say, ‘ the Pillars of Heracles,’ there lay an island… Atlantis there existed a confederation of kings, of great and marvelous power.”
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| Bimini Road |
Another recent discovery about the city of Atlantis is the Bimini Road. It was discovered in 1965 in less than 15 feet of water on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, at North Bimini Islands in the Bahamas. But before its discovery, American psychic Edgar Cayce made a prediction, “A portion of the temples may yet be discovered under the slime of ages and sea water near Bimini… Expect it ’68 or ’69- not so far away.” A perfect prediction coincides the discovery of the said road. But still some skeptics believe this road is a natural formation and not man-made. A research team continued conducting studies and found out many amazing discoveries. Beneath the gigantic and seemingly precise placed stones is another layer of stones suggesting that the said road is not really a road but a wall. But to which the civilization it belonged is unclear.
Although many sites had been proposed to be the location of Atlantis, I still do wonder if it really existed or just a product of the broad thoughts of man. If the purpose of Plato in writing the dialogues, Timaeus and Critias is to give an ethical lesson or as a real factual episode of the history, is still a nuisance in my mind. But I do believe on the accounts of cities that existed and now said to be lost.
Still other experts stressed that a civilization such as that which Plato described could not possibly have existed in 9,600 BC…
