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.The
narrow streets were filled with people. Women were enjoying the pleasant
evening.They were laughing and chattering.
The evening passed away. Night
came. And with time the pleasant, peaceful atmosphere changed into a turbulent,
violent one. The sea changed its
colour. From within the earth came muffling voices. The islanders grew worried.
They thought that 5000 ft. high volcano was
about to erupt.They thought that the God controlling the violent forces of the
earth had awakened from his long slumber. The people of Atlantis merely thought
on these lines. They did not know that those were just signs of a great
First a dark smoke engulfed the
entire island. Then a blitzkrieg of pumice stones occurred.This was followed by
ash which poured down heavily. A big bang occurred.The great volcano erupted
forming a crater of 37 miles. Into
this gap rushed the sea water and the great civilization finished, leaving
behind no trace.
The scientists and seismologists
see the destruction of the island in this way. According to them the
destructive forces must have been equivalent to 500 - 1000 atomic bombs. According to them 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 mum on the 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 green
plains and impressive mountain ranges. The island
had variety of animals, even elephants and fruit gardens. The island was rich
with precious metals 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 said that the city had a great palace and a temple,
which were covered with silver and gold. The interior of the temple was of
ivory and walls, pillars and floors were coated with orchil. A statue of the
God was built with gold. This God,
standing on a chariot with six winged horses has been described as the God of
the Sea and Shaker of the Earth. The inhabitants worshipped this God.
Plato has not only described the good points of the society, but,
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 floods; and in a single
day and night of misfortune... the island of Atlantis disappeared into the depths of the sea."
According to Plato this happened 12,000
years ago in the Straits of Gibralter.
And from this point starts the great controversy of Atlantis. Historians ask
whether Plato's story can be
trusted? And then what were the circumstances in which he wrote it.
Plato's story passed from generation to generation. The main source
of Plato's story was his nephew Critias. And Critias 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 version matters, it was more
philosophical than historical. Plato's
student, Aristotle believed that it
was not more than a poetic fiction. Many scholars think on the lines of 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 philosopher and scholar Posidonius (135 - 50 B.C.) refused to believe it as mind's
imagination. Even after 23 centuries,
the controversy haunts - truth or
fiction ? So many have taken advantage of the situation and have started
weaving uncommon 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 unearthed.
Gradually the interest in this mysterious island gave birth to a new science
department Atlantology, in the 19th century. 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 seed - 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, 20 th century oceanographic
studies have completely negated the work of Donnelly. According to the oceanographers, the 36 million sq. miles Atlantic shows no
evidence that a cataclysm ever took place and that there existed a continent.
Although 12,500 miles long mountain
range runs from north to south in the Atlantic ocean, this in no way could be
remains of the Atlantis, as it is rising up at the place where Atlantis should have subsided.
In 1912, the controversy was again flared up. An article appe- ared in
the newspaper — New York American. The title of the article was 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.
Atlas :- First King of Atlantis
According to Cayce, Atlanteans were advanced people who brought about their own destruction and that Atlantis was between the Gulf of Mexico ana the Straits of 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.
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 day by day becoming scientific, historians and archaeologists think that eventually Atlantis mystery will also be solved. Till then,various stories and legends continue to hound around the mysterious, vanished civilization. Rivers of ink continue to flow in constructing a new story or a new discovery about Atlantis.
References :- World Famous Unsolved Mysteries by Abhay kumar Dubey , Dailmail.co.uk , Wikipedia ,
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