Surely by now everyone is familiar with the search for Atlantis. Some believe it was destroyed thousands of years ago by a natural disaster such as a volcanic eruption, tsunami, or solar flare flash melting the glacial ice and causing a sudden rise in sea level. Others believe it was destroyed by a lost ancient technology.
Then there are those who believe Atlantis never sank to the bottom of the ocean but lifted off into space. It is also possible Atlantis simply never existed in the first place. There are many great minds devoted to the search for Atlantis and proving it’s existence. Several respectable scholars and scientists are actively searching for the lost city.
With all the expeditions and resources poured into this endeavor why hasn’t someone found the city by now? Maybe it really doesn’t exist. Or, if it does exist, we may have already found it without even realizing. Could it be one of the many sunken cities already discovered? If not, perhaps everyone is looking in the wrong places in the search for Atlantis.
Plato’s Clues
In my opinion, people keep getting hung up in the search for Atlantis on Plato’s mention of the Pillars of Heracles and assume those Pillars to be what is now the Strait of Gibraltar. Although it might seem like a clue as to where to look, I believe Plato intended to emphasize that Atlantis was a vast empire in the Atlantic Ocean.
He makes several other remarks to this effect as though he’s really trying to differentiate the empire of Atlantis and the location from anything in or near the Mediterranean. He states quite clearly that although the kings of Atlantis had great reach and influence as far as the Pillars and the region of Gades, they ruled many islands outside of the Pillars.
Plato describes a war between those who lived outside the Pillars and those who lived within. Apparently, the empire of Atlantis was spreading and subjugating other nations until reaching Greece where supposedly the first Athens rose up against Atlantis and was destroyed. From his statements we can ascertain that Plato wanted to make it clear that Atlantis was a sizable empire beyond the Mediterranean and surrounding areas.
Therefore, I think we can rule out that part of the world in the search for Atlantis. I am excluding Spain and Portugal as well due not only to their proximity, but also because they are clearly part of the continent even today. Thousands of years ago the water levels would have been lower and the land masses larger so it is unlikely Spain or Portugal would have been confused with an archipelago.
More Clues From Plato
From Plato’s description we are looking for an island in the center of a larger island that is the main island of an archipelago. One could make the argument that the Atlanteans are said to have carved the land into deep canals and we may be looking for artificial islands.
There are those that suspect the “cart ruts” of Maltese might account for the deeply carved Atlantis canals. While the various ancient wonders of the Mediterranean are intriguing, I contend that if Atlantis were one of the many sunken cities located there, we likely would have identified it. Also, if we are to believe Plato, Atlantis was not in the Mediterranean.
It is described that Poseidon smashed the island to make many islands surrounding the center. The side that met the sea were mountains and the center was a plain with a hill which became the protected island. The bridges and canals came later and were built over generations. This suggests to me a natural archipelago which was later altered to be one vast connected nation. It is also said that the Atlanteans built docks and harbors around the perimeter and “arranged the whole country in a flowering manner”.
The Search For Atlantis Beyond The Mediterranean
Plato gave specific measurements for the main island of the archipelago and for the small island in the center where the Temple of Poseidon is said to be located. He also describes the empire of Atlantis to encompass a larger area than that of Libya and Asian, which according to scholars is now Turkey, combined.
Greenland is Atlantis
Here is where all the maps, measuring, and math aids in the search for Atlantis. Even when examining the combined area of the land above water today and that which has since been swallowed up, many of the known sunken land masses are just not large enough to meet Plato’s criteria.
The only landmass which is also an archipelago that as large as Libya and Turkey combined is Greenland. So, I took a look at Greenland both with and without ice and started checking off some clue boxes:
- The size and shape are right
- It’s a landmass in the North Atlantic Ocean
- Has protective mountains which slope downward to meet the sea
- It has a center which appears to include plains
- Within the center of the apparent plains is a body of water
- The body of water appears to be connected to the ocean via canal
- Within the body of water are several broken up islands and inlets
- Greenland is surrounded by many other islands
- There appear to be carved, “flowering” harbors around Greenland’s perimeter
- Approximately 80% of Greenland is unexplored, primarily inland
- If the center body of water rose and Atlantis sank beneath it prior to the thick ice layer forming, even Lidar wouldn’t detect it
Other Considerations
While there are other clues mentioned that don’t quite seem to fit Greenland now, keep in mind that Atlantis exited approximately twelve-thousand years ago. There is a theory that around that time period the North Pole location would have been in The Hudson Bay which, if true, means it’s likely Greenland would have had a different climate.
Therefore, clues such as Atlantis having elephants might have also applied to Greenland. A Woolly Mammoth was found flash frozen still munching vegetation in the Siberian Tundra so who’s to say they weren’t roaming around Greenland more than twelve-thousand years ago?
Too Many Retellings
Elephants aside for now, another big clue that may be too often overlooked is the fact that Plato writes about Atlantis as the recollection of someone else who heard the story from yet another someone else who was told by the Egyptians. That is a lot of retelling. A nine-thousand-year-old romanticized history related at least four times in at least two languages is bound to get a few details lost, added, or mistranslated.
With that in mind I considered, if the Egyptians did relate such a legend that was later retold and then recorded by Plato, what was the original source? Most often it is said that the Ancient Egyptians referred to themselves as the descendants of the Atlanteans, but did they? Did that come from their own recollection or a mistranslation?
If it came from the Egyptians themselves, are they really the descendants of the Atlanteans or did they merely fancy themselves as such? What if they heard the ancient history and wove it into their own history to fit with their culture?
The Ancient Empire
To me it seems likely that an ancient and vast advanced empire did once encompass a large area and attempt to subjugate lesser and/or newly emerging cultures under their own. However, what little we have left to go on may only be mistranslated retellings that have been adopted and adapted by many ancient cultures to fit their own histories. If that is the case, can we trace the retellings back to the original source?
In the search for Atlantis I tried to do just that. From here on out I’m really only speculating. If the Egyptians heard a history of an advanced empire that sank thousands of years before their time likely sources would have been the Sumerians or the Babylonians. However, what if the ancient stories from both Babylon and Sumer came from even further away? It is often speculated that Sumer came about from survivors of a flood which washed away The Garden of Eden. That’s a debate for another time, but what if instead of Eden, the Sumerians were the survivors of Atlantis?
The Search For Atlantis In The Atlantic Ocean
I said before that the Mediterranean Sea may be the wrong location for the search for Atlantis based on Plato’s clues, but perhaps we shouldn’t be searching in the Atlantic Ocean either. It used to seem foolish to me that anyone would search for Atlantis anywhere other than the Atlantic Ocean because that’s where it got its name right?
Well, that’s exactly it. The Atlantic Ocean got its name from the Greek legends of their god Atlas and Atlantis. It was from their terminology and their mythologies that the name Atlantic Ocean stems from. Plato’s own writing mentions that names were lost to translation thus they were retranslated. So what if it’s the wrong ocean?
Alternative Theory
I offer the alternative theory that the original source for the legend of Atlantis came from the Ancient Sanskrit texts of India. Those texts, which are said to contain histories going back thousands of years before they were transcribed, also contain an ancient legend of an advanced empire with superior wealth and technologies as well as stories of war and sunken cities. Many of those texts were thought to be only myth until archeological discoveries all but verified some of the lost places described.
The legend of Dwarka may very well be the original source of the Atlantis legend and for many years it was believed that the city of Dwarka was a myth. That sunken city has since been found. If the ancient lost cities of India and the histories written in the Sanskrit texts are the original source of the Atlantis legend, should we be searching the Arabian Sea instead? There do appear to be sunken islands and landmasses in that region which when measured also check off many of the afore mentioned clue boxes.
For the time being and based off what we do have to go on I personally consider Greenland to be the most likely candidate. I would like to see more research done by greater minds than my own into that possibility. The fact is, with so few clues and so many retellings and interpretations all anyone can really do is speculation and search. Maybe one day we’ll happen upon Atlantis by chance…that is, if we haven’t already.
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