Atlantis - the exact location has been established. History of Atlantis

Atlantic Ocean

From the text of Plato's dialogues it is absolutely clear that Atlantis was located in the Atlantic Ocean. According to the priest, the Atlantean army "led its way from the Atlantic Sea." The priest says that opposite the Pillars of Hercules lay a large island, larger than Libya and Asia put together, from which it was easy to cross the other islands "to the entire opposite continent", in which America is easily guessed.

Therefore, many of the atlantologists, especially those who believe the date of 9500 BC, believe that Atlantis was once located in the Atlantic Ocean, and traces of it should be sought either at the bottom of the ocean or near the existing islands, which were 11500 years ago high mountain peaks. The main hypotheses related to the Atlantic Ocean will be considered in more detail below.

Mediterranean Sea

About two and a half thousand years ago, the worst catastrophe in the history of mankind occurred in the Mediterranean Sea. The explosion of the Strongile volcano was three times stronger than the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano. This explosion generated a tsunami wave several tens or even a hundred meters high, which hit the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Scientists believe that this catastrophe was the cause of the death of the Cretan-Mycenaean culture that existed 3000 years ago. It is not surprising that such a grandiose natural cataclysm attracted many researchers, some of whom came to the seemingly strange idea that when describing Atlantis, Plato described Thira (where the Strongile volcano was located) or Crete.

This second version, one of the two most popular, I will also consider in more detail.

The Iberian Peninsula

The name of one of the first ten kings of Atlantis - Gadir - has come down to our time in the name of the Gadir region. Gadir is a Phoenician village, the current Cadiz. This name gave reason to individual atlantologists to believe that all of Atlantis was located on the Iberian Peninsula near the mouth of the Quadalquivir River.

Near Gadir lay another famous city, Tartessus. Its inhabitants were Etruscans and claimed that their state was 5,000 years old. The German H. Schulten (1922) believed that Tartessus is Atlantis. In 1973, near Cadiz, at a depth of 30 meters, the remains of an ancient city were discovered.

About a million Basques now live in northern Spain. Their language is unlike any of the known languages ​​of the world. There is a certain similarity between it and the languages ​​of the American Indians. This suggests that the Basques are direct descendants of the Atlanteans.

Brazil

In 1638, the English scientist and politician Francis Bacon of Verulam in his book "Nova Atlantis" identified Brazil with Atlantis. Soon a new atlas with a map of America was published, compiled by the French geographer Sanson, in which the provinces of the sons of Poseidon in Brazil were even indicated. The same atlas was published in 1762 by Robert Vaugudi. It is said that at the sight of these cards, Voltaire was shaking with laughter.

Scandinavia

In 1675, the Swedish atlantologist Olaus Rudbeck argued that Atlantis was located in Sweden, and Uppsala was its capital. According to him, this was evident from the Bible.

Herodotus, Pomponius Mela, Pliny the Elder and some other ancient historians write about the Atlantean tribe living in North Africa near the Atlas Mountains. Atlanteans, they say, don't dream, don't use names, don't eat anything alive, and curse the rising and setting sun.

Based on these reports, P. Borchardt claims that Atlantis was located on the territory of modern Tunisia, in the depths of the Sahara Desert. In its southern part there are two lakes, which, according to modern data, are the remains of an ancient sea. In this sea was supposed to be the island of Atlantis.

At the end of the 19th century, the French geographer Etienne Berlu placed Atlantis in Morocco, in the region of the Atlas Mountains.

In 1930, A. Hermann stated that Atlantis was in the Shatt-el-Jerid lowland, between the city of Nefta and the Gulf of Gabes. True, this territory does not fall, but rises ...

German ethnographer Leo Frobenius found Atlantis in the Kingdom of Benin.

Other options

In 1952, German pastor Jurgen Spanut discovered Atlantis on the island of Helgoland in the Baltic Sea.

In general, Atlantis was found in all parts of the Earth. We will not dwell on these theories in detail, but it was found in Central America, in the English Channel (F. Gidon), in the Pacific Ocean, in Cuba, in Peru, in Great Britain, in the Great Lakes region in the USA, in Greenland, in Iceland, Svalbard, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Persia (Pierre-André Latreille, France, 19th century), Bermuda, Bahamas, Canaries, Antilles (John McCulloch, Scotland), Azores, Azov , Cherno, the Caspian Seas, in Palestine and in many other places.

Evidence for the existence of Atlantis in the Atlantic

An advanced civilization once existed on an island in the Atlantic Ocean. The inhabitants of this country taught the ancient Egyptians and Mayans how to measure time, build pyramids and much more. It was the Atlanteans who put many different numbers into the Egyptian pyramids, as if addressing this message to their descendants.

But 11,500 years ago, a meteorite (or comet) fell to Earth, causing the death of Atlantis. The fall of the meteorite awakened dormant volcanoes. Eruptions and earthquakes began. The fall of the meteorite and the sinking of Atlantis caused a giant wave that temporarily flooded Europe, Egypt, Asia Minor, America, South and East Asia. This wave killed mammoths in distant Siberia, laying them in "cemeteries". Due to the fall of the meteorite, the earth's axis shifted, which caused strong climatic changes. The surviving Atlanteans scattered around the world, spreading the story of the death of Atlantis.

This is the version of the death of Atlantis, which can be considered canonical for the supporters of Atlantis in the Atlantic.

In 1665, in his book "Mundus subterraneus" ("Underworld"), the German Jesuit Athanasius Kircher showed that Atlantis existed in the Atlantic Ocean and provided a map with its outlines. It is very interesting that these outlines exactly correspond to the lines of the depths of the ocean, unknown at that time.

In the 19th century, I. Donelly wrote the book "Atlantis, the antediluvian world", which was considered the "bible" of atlantologists. He places his Atlantis in the same place as Kircher, but reduced in size. For him, Atlantis was a biblical paradise, the seat of the Greek gods and the land of the cult of the Sun!

Donelly considers mythology to be one of the main pillars of the version of the existence of Atlantis. Fairly objectively the mythological aspect of Atlantis is described in the book by L. Stegeni.

Mythological evidence for the existence of Atlantis

Flood legends

They are found in almost all mankind, with the exception of Africa, except for Egypt, Australia and the northern part of Eurasia. In almost all these myths, the gods (God) once flooded the whole earth with water (beer) (usually for sins), a fire starts (the sky falls, the earth cracks, a mountain appears, spewing flames) and all people drowned (turned into fish, turned into stones ), except for one (two) people whom the gods (God) usually warned about the flood, because they led a righteous life. These people (or one person), usually a husband and wife (or brother and sister, or Noah and family), get into a boat (box, ark) and swim. Then they (not always) sail to the mountain, release the birds for reconnaissance (this is in many cases a skillful introduction of biblical motifs by Christian missionaries into pagan myths).

Legends about aliens from the West (Old World)

They are found among some peoples of the Old World, in particular, among the Egyptians and Babylonians.

An unknown person arrives from the West, speaking in an incomprehensible language. He taught people how to make tools (build cities, use the calendar, make wine, brew beer).

Legends about coming from the East (New World)

Found in some peoples of America.

They say that this people once came from the East (from the island), perhaps some cataclysms occurred at that time (the gods punished humanity), but someone from humanity escaped and came to the West, where he founded this country (city , people).

Legends of space disasters

Found in some nations.

A stone fell from the sky (Moon, Sun, Serpent, Dragon, something else), after which a fire started (flood, the earth shook, something else). Then it all ended and people dispersed around the world.

Encountering such a legend, atlantologists begin to look for (and find) in it proof of the existence of Atlantis. For example, having learned that the Kalevala mentions an earthquake and high tides (usually the height of the tides in the Baltic is several centimeters), atlantologists concluded that a long time ago the Earth captured the Moon, which caused high tides, which people remember. Myths often give atlantologists the opportunity to "prove" any, even the most insane, statements, adjusting ancient myths to suit them.

Similarity of cultures on both sides of the Atlantic

Atlantologists pay attention to the fact that in Egypt and Mexico they build pyramids, make stone sarcophagi, mummify the dead, use a similar hieroglyphic script, in Egypt and Mexico there is a separate caste of priests, the cult of the Sun, a similar time number system and quite developed astronomy.

Some Atlantologists have decided that the Aztecs, Incas, Mayans and Egyptians were students of the Atlanteans who flew (or sailed) to them after the disaster. (Osiris in Egypt, Quetzalcoatl in America)

The eel mystery

Even Aristotle drew attention to the fact that only female eels can be found in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. There have been many theories about the origin of eels, "fatherless fish". Even at the end of the 19th century, it was believed that eels are born alive, and females of one of the fish species produce them. (!?) Only in 1904, the Danish ichthyologist I. Schmidt solved the riddle of eels. Eels hatch from eggs in the Sargasso Sea. In the second year of life, they set sail for the shores of Europe. There, the females go up the rivers, spend about two years in the rivers, return to the sea and swim into the Sargasso Sea. There is a mating season and the females lay their eggs. This behavior of eels can be easily explained if we assume that thousands of years ago, on the site of the Sargasso Sea, there were the shores of Atlantis, where they spent their childhood. The warm current of the Gulf Stream carried them to the shores of Europe, and then the countercurrent brought them back.

Furious disputes, measured discussions, assumptions, myths and versions - all this has been disturbing mankind for many centuries. Mysterious land called Atlantis, haunts neither pundits nor researchers who love to dream up. Didn't miss Atlantis lost world, and a simple layman. It seems that today every second person has heard about this mysterious island, about the fact that in ancient times there was a lost Atlantis, a civilization that knew no equal in technological and scientific development, in the culture of life. The Atlanteans inhabited it, a free people, but not devoid of human vices, which, in the end, destroyed the mysterious empire. It is believed that the secrets of Atlantis lie somewhere at the bottom of the oceans. Let's try to figure out if this is true or not.

Atlantes and their appearance on the pages of history.

In 428 BC, in a rich and noble family, in the city-state of Athens, a seemingly ordinary boy was born, who received the name Plato. The father of the child was Ariston. His family originates from the legendary king Kodru. Mother - Periktiona, great-great-granddaughter of no less great Solon. Not Atlanteans, of course, but very revered and important people, both by the standards of Athens and by historical canons.

The child grew alive in every sense; he was sociable, cheerful and inquisitive. Surrounded by all sorts of blessings, he did not know what hard work and want were, spending most of his time on physical exercises and education. Having matured, the young man wished to give development not only to his body, but also to his mind. You and I know that the result of this decision will be the Atlanteans and many other discoveries no less important for history, philosophy and other sciences. However, the guy had yet to figure out his own thoughts, ideas and plans. At the age of 20, fate gave the young Plato a chance to answer many questions that tormented him, among which were the Atlanteans: at this time, Plato met Socrates, the greatest philosopher of antiquity, fell under the influence of his ideas and became his faithful student and follower.

All these events, which subsequently gave birth to the Atlanteans, take place against the background of the Peloponnesian War, which shakes the ancient world, starting from 431 BC. The last battle of this long war took place already in the year 404, when the troops of Sparta entered Athens. Power in the city is seized by thirty tyrants; freedom of speech, democracy and the right to choose disappear from the lives of local residents. But only a year passes, and the hated regime of tyranny collapses. The invaders are driven out of the city in disgrace, restoring its independence. Having defended their freedom and independence, Athens, the city where they first started talking about the Atlanteans, regains strength and influence among other Greek settlements.

The victory is given to Athens, the city where the Atlanteans were “born”, with heavy losses: many famous, noble and courageous men perish. Among the dead are many friends of Plato, the “father” of the Atlanteans, a future figure, thinker and activist. The young man hardly survives the loss, and promises himself to change this cruel world. In order to recover and escape from the darkness of days alone, Plato, who discovered the “Atlanteans” to the whole world, sets off on a long journey. He goes to Syracuse, then he visits the colorful villages and cities of the Mediterranean. At the end of his journey, our hero, who discovered the Atlanteans to the world, ends up in Egypt. Plato has a special interest in this country and its people - his great ancestor, Solon, studied here for many years.

The excellent upbringing, manners and education of the young Plato, the man to whom the Atlanteans owe their fame, impress the local elite. After some time, the young man is introduced to representatives of the highest priestly caste of Egypt. It is difficult to say exactly how this acquaintance influenced the views of the future great philosopher, to whom the Atlanteans owe their place in history, but Plato returns to Athens a completely different person. It is quite possible that it was in Egypt that Plato learned who the Atlanteans were and how human civilization actually developed. By the way, the priests of Ancient Egypt were revered not only by the local people, but by the entire ancient world, as the keepers of the most valuable information about the distant past and the peoples that inhabited the Earth. Who knows, maybe the Egyptians really knew who the Atlanteans were, how they lived, and how their story ended.

Long decades pass, but Plato did not tell in one of his works what the great priests of the pyramids told him, whether they told about the Atlanteans or discovered some other secrets of the ancient world. Plato's teacher, Socrates, has long gone to another world, and the philosopher himself has grown old, covered with gray hair and has become much wiser than in his youth. During this period, he already introduced his own philosophy and opened the corresponding school, which eventually turned into an academy. However, the Atlanteans are still not open to the scientific world. Plato's influence on the minds of young men and even old men is inestimable, he is revered as one of the greatest minds that ever lived in Athens and Greece. But the philosopher is tormented by internal conflicts. He struggles with the desire to tell the whole world about what ancient Atlantis is, to discover the true history of the human race. And now, half a century after visiting Egypt, Plato writes two of the most important dialogues in his life - Critias and Timaeus. A similar unique genre of philosophical treatises was introduced by Plato himself. He asks questions and answers them himself. This method, in which the Atlanteans will be opened to the world, better reveals the whole essence of the doubts tormenting a person and the inconsistency of judgments.

Atlantes are finally becoming a world-famous phenomenon. It is in Critia and Timaeus that Plato talks about the mysterious land that existed about 9 thousand years ago, about the land that the Atlanteans inhabited, about the land that does not exist now. It is a huge island with a mountainous terrain. The mountains encircled the perimeter, which was once inhabited by the Atlantean people, their land smoothly turned into gentle foothills, and those, in turn, into the widest plain. It was here that the Atlanteans lived, it was here that they built their way of life, science and civilization.

Atlantis is the land of great minds and no less great wonders.

The secret city, at one time opened only to the Egyptian priests and the young Plato, was called Atlantis. The people who inhabited it descended from the very god of the seas and oceans, Poseidon. It is believed that the progenitor of Atlantis, Poseidon, allegedly once turned to Zeus for help, he asked the supreme god to give him a place on earth. The king of all the gods favorably reacted to the request of the god of waters and allowed him to settle on a huge island, Atlantis, with a favorable climate, but to a greater extent with rocky and infertile soil for crops.

Here Poseidon met local residents, the Atlanteans. First, he met a small people who inhabited the great and mountainous Atlantis, and then, in peace and tranquility, he took up sheep breeding. At first, he suffered from loneliness, but soon a daughter grew up in one of the neighboring families of Atlantis. She turned out to be a girl of extraordinary beauty and intelligence, her name was Kleito. God took her as his wife, and after a while they had five twins, all boys, beautiful, smart and healthy, like gods. What else could be expected from a girl for whom Atlantis was her home, and from the almighty god of the seas, oceans and waters.

When the children grew up, the island, Atlantis, was already divided into ten parts. Each son got a small part of the land, on which he became the ruler. The best piece of land went to the eldest son and at the same time the wisest - Atlan. It was in his honor that the ocean surrounding Atlantis on all sides was named the Atlantic.

Very soon, the island, or rather its seventh and largest part, the lost city, Atlantis, turned into a densely populated state, an empire. The people who inhabited this state, Atlanta, built huge cities with amazing architecture, created magnificent sculptures, embodied luxurious temples in reality. The most majestic of them was the temple of Kleito, dedicated to the father of Atlantis, Poseidon. It was located in the center of the island, on a hill, and was surrounded by a wall made of gold.

To protect themselves from external enemies, the Atlanteans built a serious defense system. The plain was surrounded by two water rings and three earthen ones. Numerous canals were dug through the entire island, Atlantis, connecting the ocean waters with the central part of the land. The main, widest channel ended near the marble steps of Atlantis, which led to the top of the hill, that is, to the temple of Poseidon.

Having strengthened and strengthened, the population of Atlantis created the strongest army in the history of mankind. This army consisted of 1200 ships with a crew of 240 thousand people, whose homeland was Atlantis, and a ground force of 700 thousand people. For comparison, this is twice as much as the world average today. All these people Atlantis had to somehow feed, clothe and shoe. In most cases, funds were sought on the side: the Atlanteans built their economy and politics on constant and bloody wars that could bring profit.

Successful conquests further strengthened the city-state; Atlantis has become stronger than ever. It seems that not a single enemy could be found who would be able to offer worthy resistance to the aggressor. But the universe does not like the proud, it did not forgive pride and Atlantis: proud Athens stood in the way of the island people.

Plato wrote that 9 thousand years ago Athens was a powerful state that could not be compared with the current state of affairs. However, Civilization-Atlantis was strong and it was impossible to defeat such a large army alone. The ancient ancestors of the philosopher turned for help to neighboring states that inhabited the Balkan Peninsula at that time. An unprecedented military alliance was created, the main task of which was the destruction of Atlantis, or at least the weakening of its military power, in order to conclude a peace treaty.

On the decisive day of the battle, the allies opposed by Atlantis were afraid to enter the battle, betraying their neighborly alliance. The Athenians were left alone with the millionth army of the Atlanteans, whose number continued to grow and grow. Courageous Greeks without fear and looking back rushed into battle and in an unequal struggle still lost to the aggressor. It seems that everything, here it is a victory, Atlantis won, and it is time to blow the horn victoriously, but then the gods intervened in human affairs. The great and immortal did not want Atlantis to become higher than the land of Greece subject to and guarded by them.

Zeus and his closest associates have been closely watching Atlantis and the people that inhabited this land for centuries. If at the beginning the local population did not cause negative emotions among the celestials, then centuries later, the situation changed radically. Atlanteans from noble, highly spiritual and moral people gradually turn into selfish, greedy, greedy for power and gold, depraved individuals, brazenly and shamelessly ignoring basic human laws and values. The lifestyle and the general situation in which Atlantis found itself, thousands of years after its settlement, caused a sharp negative reaction among those who, according to their status, were supposed to monitor the purity and morality of human civilization.

Atlantis was on the brink of an abyss. Today, in our humane and progressive 21st century, fallen and low personalities are treated quite tolerantly, for many of us such behavior has become the norm, but in those distant times the mentality was completely different. The pantheon of supreme gods and demigods decided to destroy the whole continent, Atlantis was to be wiped off the face of the Earth. Which was done by the celestials - quickly and imperceptibly for most people.

Atlantis was sinking, both in its own greed and literally. The earth opened up, stormy ocean waters poured onto land. The mysterious island plunged into the eternal abyss. No luck and proud Athens. The wrath of the gods, who did not forgive their wards for the loss, was no less cruel than the fate that Atlantis, a once mighty and beautiful civilization, was doomed to. The gods brought down a catastrophe on Greece and neighboring Earths, the state of Athens was just as erased from the map as Atlantis , wallowing in their own sins. There were no Athenians left capable of celebrating the fall of the aggressor, Atlantis, everyone fell, everyone died.

Secrets of Atlantis, a civilization that has disappeared from the pages of history.

This information can be gleaned from two extensive dialogues that reveal the secrets of Atlantis, and written by Plato at the very end of his life. It seems nothing special - there is no direct evidence based on serious scientific research, no references to any ancient manuscripts or authoritative sources. At first sight secrets of Atlantis, like the ancient civilization itself - a funny myth, a fairy tale. However, in spite of everything, the secrets of Atlantis and the legends about this civilization survived not only the philosopher himself, they survived centuries, millennia, giving rise to a huge number of discussions, theories and assumptions.

The main opponent who opposed the existence of this nation and dispelled the secrets of Atlantis was Aristotle, who lived in the period from 384 to 322 BC. Aristotle was the teacher and mentor of Alexander the Great. He was one of the main students of Plato, who began his studies at the Academy in 366 BC and completed it in the 347th year.

For almost 20 years, this venerable man, who in every possible way unraveled the secrets of Atlantis, listened to the speeches of philosophers, himself preached the theory of eternal good, and treated with great respect both the works and the statements of his mentor. As a result, Aristotle expressed disagreement with Plato's dialogues, calling them the delirium of an old man. Allegedly, the secrets of Atlantis are not secrets at all, but a rebellion of fantasy and imagination of an honorary elder.

Such a negative reaction had its continuation. In Western Europe in the middle of the centuries, Aristotle had unquestioned authority. His judgments and theories were taken as the ultimate truth. Therefore, one can imagine that until the end of the 8th century, the beginning of the 9th century, the mysterious earth, the secrets of Atlantis, although they spoke, were reluctantly spoken, with an eye on representative adherents of the philosophical concepts of Aristotle, one of the greatest, if not the most important philosopher of ancient Greece.

What is the reason for such an attitude to the mystery of Atlantis, to the existence of this civilization? Why did Plato's honorary student, Aristotle, categorically reject the possibility that city ​​of Atlantis existed and flourished for several millennia? Maybe he had irrefutable evidence at his disposal that did not leave a trace of the secret of Atlantis? But there is nothing in the writings of the venerable man to point to these proofs. On the other hand, it is also impossible to dismiss the judgments of Aristotle. As a man and philosopher, he was too authoritative to turn a blind eye to what he said and wrote.

In order to understand everything, you need to imagine the pundits of the past, shrouded in dreams and not clouded with a look directed to the future, as ordinary mortals, people who are characterized by envy, greed, selfishness and other things that do not fit with philosophers and such respectable men things.

Who was Plato, who gave rise to the mysteries of Atlantis, disturbing the minds of even modern scientists? Plato was the darling of fate, the favorite of fortune. He was born into a wealthy family, from childhood he did not know worries, lack of attention and need for money. Due to his origin, he received all the blessings of life easily, with a wave of his hand. Without any effort, he created the Academy, surrounded himself with admirers and people who sincerely revere him. All doors were open for him in Athens. He could shout at the top of his voice that the sunken city, Atlantis, exists, and he would be believed. Today, such people are usually called the masters of life, golden youth and oligarchs, earlier, such concepts did not exist, however, a biased attitude towards the rich and wealthy of this world can be traced even before our era.

And who was Aristotle, who did everything possible to dispel the secrets of Atlantis, introduced by his mentor? The son of an ordinary doctor at the court of the Macedonian ruler, already by birth doomed to a miserable existence in poverty and social helplessness. From childhood he knew, if not need, then at least the need for money and livelihood. Each new step upward was given to him with great difficulty. Only thanks to his perseverance, willpower, determination and hard work, which the Atlanteans themselves would envy, this man achieved everything that he deserved: money, fame, respect.

Carefully concealed hostility and envy for a prosperous and kindly mentor, in the end, played with Aristotle the worst joke that the human mind and fate are capable of. Atlantis, the lost civilization, became his Achilles' heel. He forgot all the good and good that the mentor did for him, he, if he did not betray Plato, then certainly defiled his eternal memory with his doubts and distrust. After all, in the end, the secrets of Atlantis might not have interested Aristotle at all, however, he did not just turn his attention to them, he considered it his duty and duty to refute the latest works of Plato. God be his judge, the truth is that, with all his striving, Aristotle did not have more than one fact that could refute the statements of the mentor. Atlantes remained unproven, but not refuted, no matter how hard the envious student tried.

Lost Atlantis and the mystery of its existence.

For two millennia, the question of the mysterious continent either came to life in the minds of individual researchers, or died out under the influence of militant antagonists of Plato's instructions. The most serious opponent, parrying any evidence of the presence of the mystical and lost Atlantis on earth, has long been the church. The servants of the Lord considered the official date of the creation of the world to be 5508 BC. Plato, in his theories, climbed into the darkness of centuries, indicating a time interval of 9 thousand years, when, according to the church, neither the Earth, nor people, nor the universe, much less some kind of lost Atlantis could not physically exist.

Only in the second half of the 9th century, when the church split and its influence began to wane, did lost Atlantis may exist, they spoke again, and then in a whisper. The first who again loudly began to talk about the possibility that the lost Atlantis took place in the history of human civilization was Elena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891) - theosophist, explorer, writer and famous traveler. Being a gifted, talented nature, no matter how you look at it, a bright and outstanding personality, this amazing woman categorically asserted that the lost Atlantis existed, and Plato was not mistaken when talking about this mysterious island. True, there were discrepancies in her theories with the Platonic version of Atlantis, the researcher assigned two continents to her at once - one in the Pacific, and the other, located in the Atlantic Ocean. In her understanding, the islands of Madagascar, Ceylon, Sumatra, individual islands of Polynesia and the famous Easter Island turned out to be the remnants of the once great and ancient empire.

Many other researchers followed Blavatsky, arguing furiously about where the lost Atlantis is located, and about the very fact of its existence on the map of antiquity. However, the researchers could not present anything specific, evidence-based and definite to the scientific community.

Beautiful, but as it seemed to many a mythical legend, the world of Atlantis came to life and received rapid development only at the very end of the 19th century. This is the period of the beginning of powerful progress, both scientific and technical. It is no wonder that it was in this era, when more and more new resources appeared at the disposal of people, that interest in adventure arose again in the minds of many. And the lost Atlantis in their eyes became just that adventure. In fact, humanity has just entered a new phase of its existence. Heavy and light industry developed by leaps and bounds, science showed great interest in what this lost Atlantis really was, technology, finance - all this required more and more advanced means of communication not only between individual cities and countries, but also between entire cities. continents.

In 1898, a landmark event in history took place around the lost Atlantis and research aimed at finding it. This year, a telegraph cable was pulled from Europe to America under water. And suddenly, for some obscure technical reasons, it broke off; as a result of which one of the ends sank to the very bottom of the ocean. They lifted it as is customary with steel crampons. Surprisingly, along with the cable, an unexpected surprise was also pulled out of the water, presumably related to the lost Atlantis: These were small pieces of vitreous lava stuck between the paws of the mechanisms used to lift the cable.

Good luck or not, but at that moment there was a geologist on the ship, and a very, very experienced specialist. In addition, he was familiar with what the underwater city of Atlantis was and knew firsthand about the hype around it. He took pieces of a strange rock, the origin of which was almost immediately associated with such a phenomenon as the lost Atlantis, and took them to Paris to his colleague, the French geologist Termier. He carefully studied the samples presented, and soon made a detailed report at the Oceanographic Society, in the capital of France.

As you might guess, his speech was truly sensational and the main topic of this speech was the lost Atlantis, which at that time was the main bone of contention in the research world. In fact, Termier stated with all responsibility that lava takes this form only when it hardens in air. During an underwater eruption, it would be completely different and would not have a vitreous, but rather a crystalline structure. Thus, the conclusion suggested itself that once, in the boundless waters of the Atlantic, somewhere between Iceland and the Azores, there was land, it is obvious that this is not about some unknown island, but about such a phenomenon as the lost Atlantis lost in the depths of the world's oceans.

It seemed that the question of the presence and location of the mysterious mainland should be resolved by itself. It would be time to open a bottle of expensive champagne and celebrate such a serious and important discovery for science as the lost Atlantis, but that was not the case. To make it clearer what exactly is the snag, it is worth going in from afar and telling about everything in order.

Atlantis is a lost world, a bone of contention for the scientific community.

The status of a discoverer in that era was almost the main, cherished dream of the whole life of every respectable man of science. So, in 1900, an English archaeologist named Evans excavates in the Cretan city of Knossos and, surprisingly, finds traces of the most ancient civilization in the entire Mediterranean. He calls it Minoan, but at the same time claims that Atlantis, the lost world, famous in scientific circles, and his Minoan are one and the same.

In his research, the archaeologist refers to a layer of ash found in the sea soil, which is more than three thousand years old. Santorini Island is located 120 kilometers from Crete. It was here, according to the assurances of Arthur Evans, was Atlantis, the lost world, famous in scientific circles. In 1400 BC the Santorini volcano exploded. The entire middle of the island sank to the bottom of the sea, destroying Atlantis, the lost world that haunts the minds of scientists. But what about the fact that Plato's writings speak of the age of Atlantis, the lost world, which is at least 5 thousand years older than the age of the remains of the civilization discovered by Evans. It's simple, according to Evans, Plato simply made a mistake, indicating 9 thousand years instead of 900 years.

Throughout the century, scientists from various countries have tried to seize the palm from each other, competing in their inventions, the ingenuity of the mind, and pseudo knowledge about the ancient world. Wherever the tireless search took them. mysterious Atlantis, the lost world, famous in scientific circles, has been found in the Canary Islands, and off the coast of Iceland, and predictably in the central waters of the Atlantic Ocean. But all to no avail. No one has been able to point to the specific location of the mysterious ancient continent. Atlantis, the lost world, has not been discovered, but what is there, the researchers could not find even one single piece of evidence or clues that could indicate the location of the mysterious island.

Disputes about the mysterious Earth, about what the lost city of Atlantis is, do not subside even today. Theories appear and disappear, legends are born and die, and with them more and more scientists, archaeologists and historians climb the research Olympus, and then fall from it. Some of their assumptions are very similar to the truth, others are more like a fantastic story or a good invention of a sick mind. One of these is this story: the basis of everything in Atlantis, the lost world, was a huge crystal that accumulates and transforms the energy of the universe into a more familiar earthly one. Whether this crystal was of artificial or natural origin is unknown, or maybe it is deliberately kept silent. This source of endless energy was kept in the central temple of Poseidon under the watchful eye of the best, chosen warriors.

The crystal completely satisfied all everyday and not only the needs of people whose homeland was Atlantis, the lost world, but they did not want to be content with little. Being aggressive and warlike by nature, the inhabitants of the ancient empire used it as a powerful weapon, destroying and burning the lands of their enemies.

Nowhere and no one around had such a means of protection that could protect them from the power of the crystal, and very soon all neighboring states were enslaved by power-hungry invaders. The mysterious Atlantis, the lost world, turned into a magnifying empire, its borders expanded and expanded until they ran into endless steppes, behind which lay no less boundless China.

Atlantis is the birthplace of the conquerors.

The process of capturing a new, unknown country and race was slow, and ancient atlantes decided to send a powerful beam of energy across the planet. Choking with impatience and greed, people who believed that Atlantis was their home, in a hurry went to the crystal and the main keeper activated the energy weapon.

A pillar of hellfire struck the rocky ground. But instead of piercing the earth like a knife through butter, he split Atlantis itself into several parts. The foaming waters of the ocean quickly poured onto the island, sweeping away everything living and inanimate in its path. The ancient city, Atlantis, sank to the bottom of the ocean in the blink of an eye. All the Atlanteans perished with her, taking into oblivion the greatness and heritage of their civilization. This is such a colorful legend. It is clear that it is based on real facts. All this, most likely, is an invention of some researcher tired of fruitless searches.

Centuries and millennia have passed, but the question of whether the ancient civilization of Atlantis existed or not is still unanswered? Perhaps the most serious and evidence-based theory was put forward by Thor Heyerdahl, the famous Norwegian traveler. He turned his attention and the attention of the scientific world to the similarities between the ancient cultures of Asia Minor, Egypt, Crete and the ancient civilizations that inhabited Central America. Indeed, if we reject skepticism and look at all this from the outside, these cultures have many similarities. Atlanta, or rather their empire, was a state where the cult of the sun occupied no less important position in society than the cult of Poseidon, who was the father of the inhabitants of this city. We can observe the same thing in Central America, Asia Minor and Crete. They also worshiped the god of the sun, practiced marriages between family members to preserve the purity of the family. We do not know what the ancient language of Atlantis was, but we can see that the writing of the cultures of Crete, Central America and Egypt is like two drops of water.

An important similar factor are the pyramids, sarcophagi, mummification, masks. These pagan symbols and pieces of art, uncharacteristic of European states, were often found in Egyptian, Asian and American settlements. Again, we do not know if Atlantis was proud of the pyramids, we only find common features between seemingly different ancient empires at first glance. In addition, it has long been proven that there was once a connection between the American and European continents. We all once lived on one large continent, why shouldn't it be the same Atlantis that researchers have been unsuccessfully looking for for two thousand years already?!

Could it be that Atlantis was not destroyed, but simply reborn in the Egyptian pyramids and American counterparts? Who knows?! Perhaps we will get an answer to this question in the very near future. Now, we, like the entire scientific world, can only assume that Atlantis existed, and was not an invention of the old mind of one philosopher from Athens.

Humanity's knowledge of its history is bound by time and space. We are locked in the present and have no way to go back even a minute ago, let alone hundreds and thousands of years. Scientists are trying to reconstruct the picture of the past using indirect data: from the study of geological rocks, from the results of archaeological excavations, according to information glorified by people of distant eras. The credibility of the information remains a big question.

The point here is not at all in the malicious intent of scientists or a global political conspiracy. It's just that time is merciless to the monuments of the past: material and intangible.
Eyewitness accounts are full of inaccuracies, emotional distortions, exaggerations, sincere delusions. Artifacts that have come down to us are often so damaged that even the most experienced experts only shrug their shoulders: it is impossible to reliably determine either the time of the creation of the artifact, or the chemical composition of the material from which it was created.
The historical picture of the world created by scientists is largely conditional. It is based on hypotheses that are recognized by the world scientific community as the most plausible. However, who can guarantee that this plausibility is not an illusion?
To recreate a more or less complete history of mankind, you need to find absolutely all the books, buildings, household items, in a word, everything that can tell us about the life of people of the distant past. Moreover, archaeological excavations should be carried out throughout our planet. Indeed, it would be a grand undertaking.
Among different peoples, one can find a myth about an unknown person speaking an incomprehensible language, who taught them various crafts. In the myths of the Old World, the stranger comes from the West, and in the myths of the New World, from the East. It is possible that these were the surviving Atlanteans.
But, alas, archaeological activity of this magnitude is impossible. At least for now. Firstly, over hundreds and thousands of years, many artifacts simply disappeared due to natural physical and chemical processes. And secondly, most of the Earth's surface is simply inaccessible for a full-fledged archaeological study.
Thousands of years ago, the globe would have looked different, and we would not have recognized our Earth, deciding that we see a model of some other planet. What was once dry land is now hidden under many kilometers of the World Ocean.
What hides its depths? Science is silent on this.
Is it possible to assume that somewhere in the ocean lie the remains of a civilization much more advanced and ancient than all known to us today?

Are you saying it's impossible? So, you have explored every inch of the ocean floor, cleaned and checked every underwater rock, every coral, looked into every geological layer across the entire surface of the planet ...
And if not, you not only do not have the right to assert with confidence that the existence of an ancient civilization is impossible.
The world's oceans are full of secrets. It is there, under the water column, that one of the most famous, powerful and mysterious civilizations of the past can be hiding - the civilization of the Atlanteans, which once flourished in Atlantis.
Atlantis is a legendary land, a haven for the descendants of the ancient gods, the cradle of a civilization that has reached imaginable and unimaginable heights of development and fell in just one day.
Atlantis is sometimes called an island, sometimes an archipelago, sometimes a continent. Its exact location is unknown, so the land of the Atlanteans is “placed” in the Atlantic Ocean, and in the Mediterranean Sea, and in South America, and in Africa, and in Scandinavia. The legendary Atlantis "travels" around the world. The time of its existence and death remains unclear. The causes of the fall of the mighty civilization of the Atlanteans are much disputed.
A whole scientific (or near-scientific) direction is engaged in the study of Atlantis - atlantology. It took shape in 1959, and the Soviet chemist Nikolai Fedorovich Zhirov became its creator. The merit of atlantologists is that they are trying to find a rational grain in the numerous myths about Atlantis, to apply a scientific approach.
Today "orthodox" science does not recognize the right to exist for Atlantis. Atlantis is officially considered a myth, fiction, literary and philosophical fantasy. To seriously engage in the civilization of the Atlanteans means to abandon the reputation of a "serious scientist." There are also less plausible, but very curious.

Atlantic Ocean

It is quite logical that in the first place they are looking for Atlantis where Plato indicated - in the Atlantic Ocean. The Egyptian priests, retelling the history of the Athenian-Atlantean wars, mentioned that the Atlantean army "led its way from the Atlantic Sea." According to the priests, Atlantis was located opposite the Pillars of Hercules. In ancient times, the Strait of Gibraltar and the rocks of Gibraltar and Ceuta located in it were called so.
Atlantis, therefore, was located across the Strait of Gibraltar, near the coast of Spain and modern Morocco. The Greeks believed that the territory now belonging to Morocco is the country of the Far West, that is, the edge of the world, where the titan Atlant (Atlas) lives, holding the Earth on his shoulders. Presumably, the names of the ocean, the Atlas ridge and the islands of Atlantis go back to the name of this titan. Plato named Atlantis the firstborn of Poseidon and Cleito and said that the legendary island is named after him. Perhaps, initially the name "Atlantis" meant something like "a country lying in the extreme West", "the country of the titan Atlanta".

According to the Egyptian priests, Atlantis was an island larger than the combined area of ​​Libya and Asia. From it, on other islands, it was possible to cross over to the "opposite mainland" (most likely to America).
Proponents of this hypothesis believe that traces of the sunken Atlantis must be sought at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean or near the islands located at the indicated coordinates. Atlantologists suggest that several thousand years ago these islands were the mountain peaks of Atlantis. There is enough free space in the modern Atlantic Ocean to accommodate an island the size of Atlantis.
It was this hypothesis that was always defended by the founder of cynology N. F. Zhurov.
Many atlantologists placed Atlantis in the region of the Kshears and Canary Islands.
Vyacheslav Kudryavtsev, an employee of the famous Vokrug Sveta magazine, agreed that the sunken island was located in the Atlantic Ocean, but believed that Atlantis should be sought somewhat closer to the north pole - in the place of modern Ireland and Britain.
The reason for the death of Atlantis, according to Kudryavtsev, was the melting of glaciers during the ice age, which ended just about 10,000 years ago.

The Bermuda Triangle: An Atlantean Legacy?

The mystery of Atlantis is often associated with another no less famous mystery of the Atlantic Ocean - the formidable and deadly Bermuda Triangle. This anomalous zone is located near the oi southeast coast of the United States. The "tops" of the "triangle" lie on the islands of Bermuda, Miami (Florida) and San Juan (Puerto Rico). In the area of ​​the Bermuda Triangle, more than one hundred ships and aircraft disappeared without a trace. People who were lucky enough to return from the mysterious triangle with kivim talk about strange visions, about fog appearing from nowhere, about gaps in time.
What is the Bermuda Triangle? Some atlantologists are inclined to believe that involuntary (or
free?) the Atlanteans became the culprits for the appearance of this anomalous region.
The famous American clairvoyant Edward Casey (1877-1945) in his visions observed pictures of the life of the Atlanteans. Casey said that the Atlanteans had special energy crystals that they used "for worldly and spiritual purposes."

Before the inner eye of Casey, there was a hall in the temple of Poseidon, called the Hall of Light. Here was kept the main crystal of the Atlanteans - Tuaoi, or "Fire Stone". The cylindrical crystal absorbed solar energy and accumulated it in its center.
The first crystal was a gift presented to the Atlanteans by representatives of alien civilizations. The aliens warned that the crystal contains a huge destructive power, so it must be handled with extreme care.
Crystals were the most powerful energy generators. They accumulated the radiation of the Sun and stars and accumulated the energy of the Earth. The rays emanating from the crystals could burn through the thickest wall.
It was thanks to the crystals that the Atlanteans erected their grandiose palaces and temples. Alien stones also helped develop the psychic abilities of the inhabitants of Atlantis.
Separate confirmation of Casey's words can be found in the myths and traditions of different peoples.
For example, Julius Caesar in his "Notes on the Gallic War" cited the story of a druid priest that the ancestors of the Gauls came to Europe from the "Island of the Crystal Towers". They talked about the fact that somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean rises a glass palace. If any ship dared to get too close to it, it disappeared forever. The reason for this was the unknown forces emanating from the magical palace. In the Celtic sagas (and the Gauls are representatives of one of the Celtic tribes), the destructive power of the Crystal Tower is called the "magic web."
One of the heroes of the sagas turned out to be a prisoner of the House of Glass, but managed to escape from there and return home. It seemed to the hero that he spent only three days in the palace, but it turned out that in fact thirty years had passed. Today we would call this phenomenon a distortion of the space-time continuum.
In 1675, the Swedish atlantologist Olaus Rudbeck stated that Atlantis was located in Sweden, and the city of Uppsala was its capital. Rudbeck argued that his correctness should be obvious to anyone who has ever read the Bible.

According to some legends, part of the Atlanteans managed to escape death when their homeland fell into fashion. They moved to Tibet. The local peoples have preserved legends about huge pyramids, on top of which rock crystals shone, which, like antennas, attracted the energy of the Cosmos.
Edgar Cayce has repeatedly warned of the dangers posed by the Bermuda Triangle. The clairvoyant was sure: at the bottom of the ocean, a pyramid crowned with an alien crystal rests - a powerful energy complex of the Atlanteans. Crystals still operate today, causing distortions of space and time, forcing objects passing by to disappear, having a detrimental effect on the psyche of people.
Casey named the exact location of the power plant: on the ocean floor east of Andros Island at a depth of 1500 m.
In 1970, Dr. Ray Brown, a big fan of underground swimming, went to rest on the island of Bari near the Bahamas. During one of the underwater excursions, he discovered a mysterious pyramid at the bottom. On top of it, fixed by unknown mechanisms, rested a crystal. Despite his apprehension, Dr. Brown took the stone. For 5 years he hid his discovery and only in 1975 he decided to demonstrate it at the congress of psychiatrists in the USA. Congresswoman Elizabeth Bacon, a New York psychologist, claimed to have received a message from the crystal. The stone reported that it belongs to the Egyptian god Thoth.
Later, there were reports in the press that high-energy crystals were found at the bottom of the Sargasso Sea, the origin of which was unknown. The power of these crystals allegedly made people and ships disappear into nowhere.
In 1991, an American hydrological vessel discovered a giant pyramid at the bottom of the Bermuda Triangle, even larger than the pyramid of Cheops.
According to echograms, the mysterious object was made of a smooth material similar to glass or polished ceramic. The edges of the pyramid were perfectly even!

Studies of the Bermuda Triangle and the mysterious objects resting on its bottom have not yet been completed. There is no exact information, reliable facts, reliable material evidence. There are far more questions than answers.
Maybe anomalous forces are really to blame for the disappearance of ships in the Bermuda Triangle. Maybe there, in the dark ocean depths, stands a lone pyramid. Abandoned and forgotten by everyone, it continues to do what it was created for - to generate powerful flows of energy for the benefit of people, not suspecting that its owners, the Atlanteans, have been resting there for several millennia, in the dark waters of the oceans. And the people who now dominate the surface curse the mysterious and destructive force coming from nowhere.
Mediterranean Sea: Minoan Civilization
The legend of Atlantis is a story about a once powerful and highly developed civilization that died or fell into decay as a result of a terrible natural disaster. Perhaps Atlantis as described by Plato never existed. The Greek philosopher created this myth based on real historical events, which he creatively rethought. In this case, both the area of ​​Atlantis and the time of its existence are all just artistic exaggerations. The prototype of Atlantis was the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete (2600-1450 BC).
The hypothesis about the Mediterranean origin of Atlantis was expressed in 1854 by the Russian statesman, scientist, traveler and writer Avraam Sergeevich Norov.
In his book A Study of Atlantis, he cites the words of the Roman writer Pliny the Elder (23 AD-79 AD) that Cyprus and Syria were once one. However, after the earthquake, Cyprus broke away and became an island. This information is supported by the Arab geographer Ibn Yakut, who told how the sea once rose and flooded vast inhabited territories, and the catastrophe even reached Greece and Syria.
Norov makes some adjustments to the translation of Plato's dialogues and to the interpretation of geographical terms. The scientist draws attention to the fact that the word “pelagos” and not “oceanos” is used in the text, that is, it does not mean the Atlantic Ocean, but some kind of Atlantic Sea. Norov suggests that this is how the ancient Egyptian priests called the Mediterranean Sea.
In ancient times, there were no unified names for geographical objects. If Plato's contemporaries called the Pillars of Hercules Gibraltar, then the Egyptians and the Proto-Athens could call any strait like that, for example, the Messianic Strait, the Kerch Strait, the Strait of Bonifacio, Cape Malea in the Peloponnese and the island of Kitira, the islands of Kitira and Antikythera, the Canary Islands, the walls of the temple near the Gulf of Gabes , the Nile Delta. The mountains named after Atlas were located in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Norov himself was inclined to believe that the Bosporus was meant by the Pillars of Hercules.
This hypothesis also has a purely logical justification. In the treatise Timaeus, Plato describes the catastrophe that led to the death of the armies of the Athenians and Atlanteans in this way: earth; likewise, Atlantis disappeared, plunging into the abyss. Judging by this description, the Athenian army was not far from Atlantis at the time of the catastrophe. Athens is located at a decent distance from the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. To get to Gibraltar, the Athenians, who, as we remember, were betrayed by all allies, would have had to single-handedly conquer all the lands from Tirrenia to Egypt from the Atlanteans, defeat the mighty fleet of Atlantis and sail to the shores of the legendary island. For a myth that idealizes the ancestors of the Athenians, such a situation is quite acceptable. However, in reality, this was hardly possible.
It is more logical to assume that the Greek army did not go too far from their native shores, and, therefore, Atlantis was located somewhere near Greece, most likely in the Mediterranean Sea.
In this case, a natural disaster could cover both Atlantis and the nearby Athenian army.
In the texts of Plato, one can find a number of other facts confirming the Mediterranean hypothesis.
The philosopher, for example, describes the consequences of a devastating natural disaster: “After that, the sea in those places has become unnavigable and inaccessible to this day due to the shallowing caused by the huge amount of silt that the settled island left behind.” Silty shallow waters do not fit in at all with the Atlantic Ocean, but in the Mediterranean Sea such a change in the bottom topography looks quite plausible.
Even the famous French explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau made his contribution to atlantology. He explored the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea in search of traces of the Minoan civilization. Thanks to Cousteau, a lot of new information about the lost civilization was obtained.
Nature, relief of the island, minerals, metals, hot springs, the color of stones (white, black and red) as a result of volcanic and post-volcanic processes - all this corresponds to the conditions of the Mediterranean coast.

In 1897, the doctor of mineralogy and geognosy, Alexander Nikolaevich Karnozhitsky, published an article “Atlantis”, where he suggested that Atlantis was located between Asia Minor, Syria, Libya and Hellas, near the main western mouth of the Nile (“Pillars of Hercules”).
Shortly thereafter, the British archaeologist Arthur John Evans discovered the remains of the ancient Minoan civilization on the island of Crete. In March 1900, during the excavations of the city of Knossos, the capital of Crete, the legendary Labyrinth of King Minos was found, in which, according to myths, the half-man, half-bull Minotaur lived. The area of ​​the palace of Minos was 16,000 m2.
In 1909, The Times newspaper published an anonymous article entitled "The Lost Continent", which, as it turned out later, was written by the English scientist J. Frost. The note expressed the idea that the Minoan state is the lost Atlantis. Frost's opinion was supported by the Englishman E. Bailey ("Sea Lords of Crete"), the Scottish archaeologist Duncan Mackenzie, the American geographer E. S. Balch, and the literary critic A. Rivo. Not everyone supported the idea of ​​the Minoan Atlantis. In particular, the Russian and Soviet zoologist and geographer Lev Semenovich Berg believed that the Minoans were just the heirs of the Atlanteans, and the legendary island itself sank in the Aegean Sea.
Of course, the Minoan civilization did not die 9500 years ago (from the time of Plato's life), the territory of the Minoan state was much more modest than that of Atlantis described by Plato, and it was located not in the Atlantic Ocean, but in the Mediterranean Sea. However, if we agree that these inconsistencies are the result of artistic processing of real historical data, then the hypothesis becomes quite plausible. The main argument is the circumstances of the death of the Minoan civilization. About 3000 years ago, on the island of Strongila (modern Thira, or Santorini), an unheard-of eruption of the Santorin volcano occurred (according to some estimates - 7 out of 8 points on the scale of volcanic eruptions). Volcanic activity was accompanied by earthquakes, which led to the formation of a giant tsunami that covered the northern coast of Crete. For a short time, only memories remained of the former power of the Minoan civilization.
The history of the Athenian-Atlantean wars, outlined by Plato, is reminiscent of the clashes between the Achaeans and the Minoans. The Minoan state conducted active maritime trade with many countries and at the same time did not disdain to trade in piracy. This led to periodic military clashes with the population of mainland Greece. The Achaeans did indeed defeat my opponents, but not before the natural cataclysm, but after it.

Black Sea

In 1996, American geologists William Ryan and Walter Pitman put forward the theory of the Black Sea flood, according to which around 5600 BC. e. there was a catastrophic rise in the level of the Black Sea. During the year, the water level rose by 60 m (according to other estimates - from 10 to 80 m and even up to 140 m).
After examining the bottom of the Black Sea, scientists came to the conclusion that this sea was originally freshwater. Approximately 7,500 years ago, as a result of some natural disaster, ocean sea water poured into the Black Sea basin. Many lands were flooded, and the peoples who inhabited them, fleeing the flood, moved deep into the continent. Along with them, both Europe and Asia could come with various cultural and technological innovations.
The catastrophic rise in the level of the Black Sea could serve as the basis for numerous legends about the Flood (for example, the biblical legend about Noah's ark).
Atlantologists, on the other hand, saw in the theory of Ryan and Pitman another confirmation of the existence of Atlantis and a hint where to look for the coveted island.

Andes

In 1553, the Spanish priest, geographer, historian Pedro Cieza de Leon, in his book Chronicle of Peru, first cited the legends of the Indians of South America that the truth, the dating of events in this case diverges from that proposed by Plato. But this is only at first glance. A witty solution to this contradiction was proposed by a Russian specialist in the field of computer systems, network information technologies and computer modeling Alexander Yakovlevich Anoprienko. He suggested that, speaking of 9000 years (the time of the death of Atlantis), 1 Plato did not mean the usual years for us, but seasons of 121 - 122 days. This means that the legendary civilization has sunk into oblivion 9000 seasons 121-122 days ago, that is, approximately in the 4th millennium BC. e. during the period of Indo-European expansion.

Atlantis - Antarctica

In the book of the British writer and journalist Graham Hancock "Traces of the Gods", a hypothesis is put forward that Antarctica is the lost Atlantis. Based on numerous ancient maps and artifacts of unknown origin found in Antarctica, Hancock puts forward the version that Atlantis was once located closer to the equator and was a flowering, green land. However, as a result of the movement of lithospheric plates, it moved to the South Pole and now stands, bound by ice. Unfortunately, this curious hypothesis contradicts modern scientific ideas about the geological movement of the continents.

HOW ATLANTIS DIE

Not only the location of Atlantis, but also the reasons for its death cause a lot of controversy.
True, the atlantologists were not so inventive in this matter. Attention deserves 3 main hypotheses of the death of Atlantis.
Earthquake and tsunami
This is the main, "canonical" version of the death of the Atlantean civilization. Modern concepts of the block structure of the earth's crust and the movement of lithospheric plates state that the strongest earthquakes occur just at the boundary of these plates. The main shock lasts only a few seconds, but its echo, an earthquake, can last up to several hours. It turns out that Plato's story is not at all fantastic: a strong earthquake could really destroy a huge land area in just one day.
Science also knows cases when an earthquake caused a sharp subsidence of the earth. For example, in Japan, a 10-meter subsidence was noted, and in 1692 the pirate city of Port Royal (Jamaica) went under water by 15 m, as a result of which a significant part of Gnala Island was flooded. The earthquake that led to the death of Atlantis could have been several times stronger. It is likely that it sank a huge island or archipelago to the bottom of the ocean. Until now, the Azores, Iceland and the Aegean Sea in Greece remain areas of increased seismic activity. Who knows what violent tectonic processes took place in these areas several thousand years ago.
An earthquake goes hand in hand with a tsunami - giant waves reaching several tens and even hundreds of meters in height and moving at great speed, sweeping away everything in its path. (beginning the sea recedes a few meters, its level drops sharply. And then several waves run one after another, one higher than the other. In a few hours, a tsunami can destroy an entire island. Such cases are also recorded by seismologists.
Even if Atlantis managed to survive the earthquake, it was "finished off" by a giant tsunami, overthrowing the legendary island into the abyss of water.

All these data confirm that the Tulean land stretched between the northern part of the Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean. It may have been cut through by the mid-ocean ridge in the Iceland region.
The Soviet expedition aboard the Akademik Kurchatov, led by oceanographer and geomorphologist Gleb Borisovich Udintsev, explored bottom sediments around Iceland. Flogs of continental origin were found in the samples.
Summing up the results of the expedition, Udintsev stated: “It can be argued that the land of quite extensive size really once existed in the North Atlantic. It may have connected the shores of Europe and Greenland. Gradually, the land was breaking up not blocks. Some of them slowly and gradually descended, turning into the ocean floor. The immersion of others was accompanied by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis. And now, "in memory" of the old days, only Iceland remains for us ... "
However, scientists failed to put an end to the study of Hyperborea on this. Comparative geochemical analysis of the earth's crust of Iceland, on the one hand, and Kamchatka with the Kuriles, on the other hand, showed a fundamental difference in their chemical composition. The food of Iceland was predominantly basaltic, i.e., oceanic, and the crust of Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands was granitic, continental. It turned out that Iceland is not a surviving part of Hyperborea, but only the top of the median ridge blows.
Meanwhile, the Arctic Ocean got scientists new surprises. Studies have shown that soups also once existed in the polar zones, and, unlike Hyperborea, it went under water relatively recently, several millennia ago, which means that humanity has already found this mysterious continent. Scientists have suggested that this is the lunch box Arctida.

Since the time of the ancient Greeks, the mystery of Atlantis has not ceased to excite mankind. The eternal question goes back 2500 years.
For the first time, the great ancient Greek philosopher Plato wrote about Atlantis, and today's researchers and seekers of the sunken island rely on his writings. Everything that Plato knew about the mysterious Atlantis is told in his two dialogues "Critias" and "Timaeus". In them, Plato's ancestor Critias recalled the conversations of the ancient Greek sage Solon with an unnamed priest from Egypt. The conversation took place in the VI century BC. The Egyptian spoke, referring to the sacred Egyptian texts, about the great country of Atlantis, which lay behind the Pillars of Hercules, and died as a result of a terrible catastrophe.

“... There was an island that lay in front of that strait, which is called in your language the Pillars of Hercules. This island exceeded in size Libya and Asia put together... On this island, called Atlantis, a great and marvelous alliance of kings appeared, whose power extended over the whole island... they took possession of Libya as far as Egypt and Europe as far as Tyrrhenia... But later when the time came for unprecedented earthquakes and floods ... Atlantis disappeared, plunged into the abyss. After that, the sea in those places became, until this day, unnavigable and inaccessible due to the shallowing caused by the huge amount of silt that the settled island left behind ”(“ Timaeus ”).

“9000 years ago there was a war between those peoples who lived on the other side of the Pillars of Heracles, and all those who lived on this side ... The latter were headed by our state (that is, Athens), and the first were the kings of the island of Atlantis; as we have already mentioned, it was once an island larger than Libya and Asia, but now it has collapsed due to earthquakes and turned into impenetrable silt that blocks the way for sailors ”(“ Critias ”).

Since ancient times, supporters and opponents of the existence of Atlantis have appeared. The hypothesis was supported by Pliny the Elder and Diodorus Siculus, opponents were Aristotle and the geographer Strabo. Disputes do not stop even today - the number of published works on Atlantis exceeds 5,000, and there are more than 10,000 versions of where Atlantis is located. atlantologists”, whose activities, as A. Goreslavsky wrote, “did more harm than good, because through their efforts the most interesting problem of ancient civilization completely passed into the category of scientific curiosities”.

As soon as the "specialists in Atlantis" swaggered: attributing to all the peoples of the world the origin of the Atlanteans, they called them space aliens, considered the Atlanteans "ancient Rus", endowed them with some incredible wisdom and "secret knowledge", etc. Well, "Unfortunate people! - you can repeat after the Marquis de Custine. “They need to be delusional to be happy.”

By the way, Plato called Atlantis an island, and it does not follow from his texts that it was a whole continent. From the text of Plato it is also absolutely obvious that the civilization of Atlantis is the same archaic civilization of the Bronze Age as the civilizations of Ancient Egypt, the Hittites, Mycenae, the Indus Valley, Mesopotamia. The Atlanteans had kings and priests, they made sacrifices to pagan gods, fought wars, their army was armed with spears. The Atlanteans were engaged in irrigation of fields with the help of canals, were engaged in the construction of ships, processed metals: copper, tin, bronze, gold and silver. Perhaps they did not use iron on a large scale. At least Plato did not mention it. Therefore, fictions about a certain “highly developed” civilization of the Atlanteans can only cause sympathy.

It is also doubtful that Atlantis could exist in 9000 BC. It has long been rightly noted that at that time "there were neither Egyptians who could leave records of these events, nor Greeks who allegedly performed their feats." The first traces of Neolithic culture in Lower Egypt date back to about the 5th millennium BC, and peoples who spoke Greek did not appear in Greece until the 2nd millennium BC. It turns out that the Atlanteans simply could not in 9600 BC. to fight the Greeks, since the Greeks did not yet exist. The whole set of facts that are given in Plato's story does not allow us to attribute the time of the existence of the civilization of Atlantis beyond the 2nd millennium BC.

In accordance with Plato's instructions, Atlantis was placed behind the Pillars of Hercules - the Strait of Gibraltar, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Small archipelagos - the Azores, Canary and Bahamas - were called the remnants of the sunken mainland.

An event in 1898 made a lot of noise when, during the laying of a telegraph cable between Europe and the United States, a French ship 560 miles north of the Azores lifted a rock from the ocean floor, which, when tested, turned out to be a piece of vitreous volcanic lava. Such lava can only form on land at atmospheric pressure. By radiocarbon analysis, it was established that the eruption of a mysterious volcano took place approximately 13,000 BC. But apart from lava, nothing else was found in this place.

1979 - The Soviet research ship Moscow University took a series of photographs of the Amper seamount. They depicted the remains of some artificial structures. But this mystery has remained unsolved. In addition, serious doubts arose about the correctness of the interpretation of the images in the images - most likely, it could be the natural topography of the seabed.

After the discovery of America, it was suggested that this mainland is the legendary Atlantis. With such a hypothesis, in particular, was Francis Bacon.

H. Schulten in 1922 came up with the idea that Atlantis should be understood as the city of seafarers known in ancient times, Tartessus, located in Spain, at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River, and which went under water around 500 BC.

In the 30s of the XX century, A. Herrmann suggested that Atlantis was located on the territory of modern Tunisia and was covered with the sands of the Sahara.

A scientist from France F. Gidon put forward a hypothesis that the legend of Atlantis tells the story of a dive into the sea of ​​the northwestern French coast. 1997 - this assumption was revived and developed by a Russian scientist - a member of the Geographical Society V. Kudryavtsev, who hypothesized that as a result of this event, the so-called Celtic Shelf - the bottom of the modern North Sea between France and South England - was flooded. This shelf is shallow and has some semblance of a flooded coastline.

Almost in the center of this flooded area is the Little Sol Bank - a remarkable underwater elevation, on which, as Kudryavtsev believes, the capital of Atlantis was located: "a city located on a hill with a cliff towards the sea." True, according to Kudryavtsev's hypothesis, Atlantis is not an island, but part of the European continent, but the author of the study believes that the ancient Egyptian language did not have separate words to convey the concepts of "land" and "island".

During the end of the ice age, as a result of rising ocean levels, a significant area in western Europe was under water, on which Atlantis was located, which was the center of a highly developed culture. Attempts to connect the death of Atlantis with the rise in the level of the World Ocean after the melting of the glaciers have always met with serious objections. It is believed that this increase was gradual and occurred at different rates over several thousand years.

Critics of this hypothesis argued that the flooding associated with this rise could not match the catastrophicity described by Plato: "Atlantis perished ... in one terrible day and one night."

But Plato says: "Then ... there were earthquakes and floods of extraordinary destructive power, and in one terrible day and one night all your warriors were swallowed up by the earth, and the island of Atlantis was also swallowed up by the sea and disappeared." The mention of earthquakes and floods accompanying the catastrophe in the plural indicates that the catastrophe did not occur in one day.

1988 - X. Heinrich, a paleoglaciologist from America, published data that were obtained as a result of a study of bottom sediments in the North Atlantic, which indicated that at least six times during the last ice age, large-scale rapid ice melted into the ocean from the territory current Canada. Judging by what is said about many millions of cubic kilometers of ice, such events could not but lead to a noticeable rise in sea level.

1953 - German pastor J. Shpanut put forward a version that Atlantis was in the Baltic Sea, near the island of Heligoland. He based his assumption on the fact that in this place at a depth of eight meters, in the highest part of the underwater Steingrund ridge, the remains of a destroyed settlement were found.

The version that Atlantis is Antarctica was put forward relatively recently by Rand Flem-At from America. He drew attention to Plato's phrase that from Atlantis “it was easy to move to other islands, and from them to the entire opposite mainland, which borders the true ocean. After all, the sea on this side of the Strait of Gibraltar is only a bay with a narrow passage into it. Flem-Ath made the assumption that Plato's Atlantis was in Antarctica. And he gave an argument in favor of his assumption. Comparison of the configuration of the legendary island with the outlines of Antarctica, according to Flem-Ath, shows their striking similarity. And although on the ancient Egyptian map Atlantis is placed in the Atlantic Ocean, Flem-Ath believes that this is a mistake, which Plato also believed.

It is traditionally believed that Antarctica has been covered in ice for the past 50 million years. However, in 90 of the XX century, geologists found the remains of trees frozen into ice, 2-3 million years old. And on the famous map of Piri Reis, compiled in 1513, Antarctica is depicted without ice. On the map of Orontius Finney, compiled in 1531, mountain ranges and rivers are indicated in Antarctica. Thus, it is possible that Antarctica was ice-free in the memory of mankind. And the catastrophe that occurred with Atlantis-Antarctica was the same catastrophe when the earth's poles shifted.

More substantiated today is the version that the metropolis of Atlantis was the island of Santorin in the Aegean Sea, and the civilization of Atlantis is identified with the Crete-Minoan civilization. True, like all the others, there are some stretches in this hypothesis, but it is confirmed by numerous data from archeology, history and geophysics.

1780 - the hypothesis that Atlantis was located in the Eastern Mediterranean was first proposed by Bortolli from Italy.

At the end of the 19th century, excavations by scientists from France drew attention to the island of Santorini. The central part of the island of Santorini sank many years ago, and the remains of it today are three islands - Thira, Thirasia and Aspronisi. indicated that a fairly high culture once flourished here. The inhabitants of Santorin knew the system of measures and the system of calculation, they mined lime and were engaged in the construction of complex vaulted structures, painted the walls with frescoes. They successfully developed agriculture, weaving, and pottery.

Santorini may have been one of the centers of the Cretan-Minoan civilization. Around 1500 B.C. This civilization was at its peak. The inhabitants of Crete early mastered the processing of metals and began to trade them. It is believed that Crete was the first major metal-working European center. The methods of agriculture in Crete and in Atlantis described by Plato practically coincide. There are many other coincidences - in the political system, social and cultural life.

The capital of the Cretan-Minoan state was Knossos - the "Great City", glorified by Homer. The fleet of the Cretans dominated the sea, and extensive trade and numerous wars contributed to the strengthening of the state. Around 1580-1500 B.C. Aegeus, the king of Athens, was defeated by the Cretan king Minos, and Athens was forced to pay tribute to Crete. But suddenly the Cretan civilization ceased to exist...

1972 - L. Figuy suggested that the legendary Atlantis is an island in the Aegean archipelago that sank as a result of a geological disaster. This island could only be Santorini, part of which sank into the sea, and the rest was covered with a thick layer of volcanic pumice.

1909, January 19 - K. Frost published in the London "Times" his version that Plato's story about Atlantis is a literary and philosophical story about the death of the Crete-Minoan civilization. And further excavations and research showed that around 1520 BC. On Santorini, a volcano exploded, as a result of which the central part of the island was destroyed and flooded. The explosion caused catastrophic consequences throughout the Mediterranean. The Minoan state suffered the most. Villages and fields were buried under volcanic ash and cinders, dozens of cities were washed into the sea by giant tsunamis ...

But what about the date of the death of Atlantis - 9,000 years ago from the date of Solon's conversation with the Egyptian priests? If we take 1,500 BC as the date of the catastrophe, then it turns out that the death of Atlantis took place not 9,000, but 900 years ago. Such an error, according to the researchers, could appear due to the difference in the calculation systems used in Egypt and Greece.

So what - the secret of Atlantis is revealed? Assume this most likely, no one dares. Although the "Creto-Minoan" version explains almost everything Plato said, questions still remain. And with them remains a mystery ...

The "fatal" mistake of Plato (Critias or Solon) is revealed, which led to confusion with the location of Atlantis.

Atlantis has not disappeared, it exists and lies in the depths of the sea. A lot has been said about Atlantis, thousands of research materials have been written. Historians, archaeologists, searchers have proposed fifty versions of a possible location around the world (in Scandinavia, in the Baltic Sea, in Greenland, North and South America, in Africa, the Black, Aegean, Caspian Sea, in the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and so on), but the exact location is not named. Why such confusion?

Starting to understand, you discover one pattern that all assumptions are initially tied to some kind of similarity, a find of antiquity, a single description, under which (which) the materials were subsequently “fitted”. As a result, nothing worked. There is a similarity, but Atlantis cannot be found.

We'll go the other way

Let's look for Atlantis in a different way, which in this case (judging by the well-known proposals), has not been used by anyone before. First, let's take the method of elimination, where Atlantis could not be. As the circle narrows, we will use all the "benchmarks" that were proposed by the ancient Greek scientist, the sage (428-347 BC) Plato (Aristocles) in his works - Timaeus and Critias. In these documents, the only and rather detailed description of Atlantis, its inhabitants and historical events related to the life of the legendary island is given.

“Aristotle taught me to satisfy my mind only with what reasoning convinces me, and not just the authority of teachers. Such is the power of truth: you are trying to refute it, but your attacks themselves elevate it and give it great value, ”said the Italian philosopher, physicist, mathematician Galileo Galilei in the 16th century.

Below is a map of the world, as it was presented in Greece during the time of Plato, Herodotus (IV - V century BC).

Mediterranean Sea

So, let's start "cutting the ends." Atlantis could not be in any far corner of the world, and even it was not in the Atlantic Ocean. You will ask why? Because the war (according to the history of the story) between Athens and Atlantis could not be anywhere except in the Mediterranean Sea on this “patch of civilization” due to the limited development of mankind. The world is big - but the developed one is small. Close neighbors fight among themselves more often and constantly than distant ones. Athens simply could not, with her army and navy, reach the limits of Atlantis if she were somewhere far away. Water and vast distances were an insurmountable obstacle.

“This barrier was insurmountable for people, because ships and shipping did not yet exist,” Plato narrates in his work Critias.

In ancient Greek mythology, which arose many thousands of years later than the time of the death of Atlantis, the only (!) hero Hercules (according to Homer in the XII century BC) performed a feat, traveling to the farthest western point of the world - to the edge of the Mediterranean Sea.

“When the Atlas Mountains arose on the path of Hercules, he did not climb them, but made his way through, thus paving the Strait of Gibraltar and connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic. This point also served as a border for navigators in the ancient era, therefore, in a figurative sense, “Hercules (Hercules) pillars” is the end of the world, the limit of the world. And the expression to reach the pillars of Hercules "means" to reach the limit.

See picture The Strait of Gibraltar today is the place reached by the historical hero Heracles.

In the foreground is the Rock of Gibraltar on the edge of mainland Europe, and in the background on the coast of Africa is Mount Jebel Musa in Morocco.

What western limit of the earth reached Hercules (“end of the world”) was unattainable by other mortals. Thus, Atlantis was closer to the center of the ancient civilization - it was in the Mediterranean Sea. But where exactly?

There were seven pairs of Pillars of Hercules (according to Plato's story, behind which lay the island of Atlantis) in the Mediterranean Sea at that time (Gibraltar, Dardanelles, Bosporus, the Kerch Strait, the Nile Mouth, etc.). The pillars were located at the entrances to the straits, and all had the same name - Heracles (later Latin name - Hercules). The pillars served as landmarks and beacons for ancient sailors.

“First of all, let us briefly recall that, according to legend, nine thousand years ago there was a war between those peoples who lived on the other side of the Pillars of Hercules, and all those who lived on this side: we will have to tell about this war ... How we have already mentioned that it was once an island larger than Libya and Asia (not their entire geographical territory, but rather areas inhabited in antiquity), but now it has failed due to earthquakes and has turned into impenetrable silt, blocking the way for sailors who would try to swim from us to the open sea, and making navigation unthinkable. (Plato, Critias).

This information about Atlantis, which dates back to the 6th century BC. came from the Egyptian priest Timaeus from the city of Sais, located on the coast of Africa, in the western delta of the Nile. The current name of this village is Sa el-Hagar (see below the picture of the Nile River Delta).

When Timaeus said that the barrier from the remains of the sunken Atlantis blocked the way "from us to the open sea", then speaking about us (about himself and about Egypt), this clearly testified to the location of Atlantis. That is, it lies in the direction of travel from the Egyptian mouth of the Nile to the wide waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

Pillars of Hercules in ancient times was also called the entrance to the main navigable (western) mouth of the Nile, nicknamed the mouth of Hercules, that is, Hercules, where the city of Heracleum was located and there was a temple in honor of Hercules. Over time, the silt and floating material from the sunken Atlantis was blown across the sea, and the island itself went even deeper into the abyss.

“Since in nine thousand years there have been many great floods (namely, so many years have passed from those times to Plato), the earth did not accumulate in the form of any significant shoal, as in other places, but was washed away by waves and then disappeared into the abyss.” (Plato, Critias).

Crete

Next, we exclude other, impossible locations. Atlantis could not be located in the Mediterranean Sea north of the island of Crete. Today in that area there are countless small islands scattered over the water area, which does not correspond to the story of flooding (!), and by this very fact excludes the entire territory. But even this is not the main thing. There would not have been enough space for Atlantis (according to the description of its size) in the sea north of Crete.

The expedition of the well-known explorer of the sea depths of the French oceanographer to the area north of Crete on the periphery of the islands of Thira (Strongele), Fera discovered the remains of an ancient sunken city, but from the above it follows that it belongs to another civilization rather than Atlantis.

In the archipelago of the islands of the Aegean Sea, earthquakes are known, catastrophes associated with volcanic activity, which led to local subsidence of the earth, and according to new evidence, they occur in our time. For example, a recently sunken medieval fortress in the Aegean Sea near the city of Marmaris in a bay on the coast of Turkey.

Between Cyprus, Crete and Africa

Narrowing the search circle, we come to the conclusion that only one thing remains - Atlantis could only be in one place opposite the mouth of the Nile - between the islands of Crete, Cyprus and the northern coast of Africa. She is there today at a depth and lies, having fallen into a deep basin of the sea.

The failure of an almost oval water area with influx from the coast, horizontal wrinkling (from sliding) of sedimentary rocks to the center of the "funnel" is clearly visible from the Internet survey of the seabed from space. The bottom in this place resembles a pit, sprinkled with soft sedimentary rock on top, there is no solid "crust of the continental mantle" under it. Only visible on the body of the Earth is a hollow inside that is not overgrown with firmament.

The Egyptian priest Timaeus, in his story about the location of the silt from the flooded Atlantis, gives a reference to the Pillars of Heracles (it was logical for him to say - closest to him), located at the mouth of the western Nile.

In another case (later already in Greece), when Plato described the power of Atlantis, we are already talking about other pillars, as mentioned above, there were seven of them in the Mediterranean at that time. When Plato expounded the text of the work (according to the retelling of Solon and Critias), the Egyptian priest Timaeus (the primary source of the story) had not been there for 200 years by that time, and there was no one to clarify the information about which pillars the conversation was about. Therefore, the subsequent confusion arose with the location of Atlantis.

“After all, according to our records, your state (Athens) put an end to the insolence of countless military forces that set off to conquer all of Europe and Asia, and kept their way from the Atlantic Sea. […] On this island, called Atlantis, there arose a kingdom amazing in size and power, whose power extended to the whole island, to many other islands and to part of the mainland, and moreover, on this side of the strait they took possession of Libya (northern Africa ) as far as Egypt and Europe as far as Tirrenia (west coast of Italy). (Plato, Timaeus).

The sea that washed the island of Atlantis (between Crete, Cyprus and Egypt) was called the Atlantic in ancient times, it was located in the Mediterranean Sea, as well as the modern seas: the Aegean, Tyrrhenian, Adriatic, Ionian.

Subsequently, due to an error in tying Atlantis not to the Nile, but to the Pillars of Gibraltar, the name "Atlantic" Sea automatically spread to the ocean beyond the strait. The once inland Atlantic Sea, due to the inaccuracy of the interpretation of the story of Timaeus and the description (Plato, Critias or Solon), became the Atlantic Ocean. As the Russian proverb says: “We got lost in three pines” (more precisely, in seven pairs of pillars). When Atlantis went into the abyss of the sea, the Atlantic Sea disappeared with it.

Timaeus, narrating the history of Atlantis, noted that the victory of Athens brought freedom from slavery to all other peoples (including the Egyptians), who had not yet been enslaved by the Atlanteans - "on this side of the Pillars of Hercules", speaking about himself - about Egypt.

“It was then, Solon, that your state showed the whole world a brilliant proof of its valor and strength: all, surpassing all in fortitude and experience in military affairs, it first stood at the head of the Hellenes, but because of the betrayal of the allies, it turned out to be left to itself, met alone with extreme dangers and yet defeated the conquerors and erected victorious trophies. Those who were not yet enslaved, it saved from the threat of slavery; all the rest, no matter how much we lived on this side of the Pillars of Heracles, it generously made free. But later, when the time came for unprecedented earthquakes and floods, in one terrible day, all your military strength was swallowed up by the cracked earth; likewise, Atlantis disappeared, plunging into the abyss. After that, the sea in those places has become unnavigable and inaccessible to this day due to the shallowing caused by the huge amount of silt that the settled island left behind. (Plato, Timaeus).

Description of the island

You can even more clarify the place of Atlantis from the description of the island itself.

“Poseidon, having received the island of Atlantis as his inheritance ..., approximately in this place: from the sea to the middle of the island, a plain stretched, according to legend, more beautiful than all other plains and very fertile.” (Plato, Timaeus).

“This whole region lay very high and steeply cut off to the sea, but the whole plain that surrounded the city (capital) and itself surrounded by mountains that stretched to the sea itself, was a flat surface, three thousand stadia long (580 km.), And in the direction from the sea to the middle - two thousand (390 km.). All this part of the island was turned to the south wind, and from the north it was closed by mountains. These mountains are praised by legend because they surpassed all the present ones in their multitude, size and beauty. The plain ... was an oblong quadrangle, mostly rectilinear. (Plato, Critias).

So, following the description - approximately to the middle of the island of Atlantis stretched a rectangular plain measuring 580 by 390 kilometers, open to the south and closed from the north by large and high mountains. Fitting these dimensions into a geographical map north of the mouth of the Nile, we get that the southern part of Atlantis could completely adjoin Africa (near the Libyan cities of Tobruk, Derna and Egyptian cities on the coast west of Alexandria), and its northern mountainous part could be (but not a fact) - the island of Crete (in the west), and Cyprus (in the east).

In favor of the fact that Atlantis in earlier times (than its mention in the ancient Egyptian papyri), namely tens of thousands of years ago, was connected with Africa - says the story of the animal world of the island.

“Even elephants were found on the island in great abundance, for there was enough food not only for all other living creatures that inhabit the swamps, lakes and rivers, mountains or plains, but also for this beast, of all the animals, the largest and voracious.” (Plato, Critias).

It should also be taken into account that with the end of the ice age, with the beginning of the melting of the northern glaciers, the level of the world ocean rose by 100-150 meters and, probably, the part of the land that once connected Atlantis and the mainland was gradually flooded. Elephants and the inhabitants of the island of Atlantis (named after their king Atlanta), who came here earlier from the depths of Africa, remained on a large island surrounded by the sea.

The Atlanteans were ordinary people of a modern look, and not four-meter giants, otherwise the Hellenes from Athens would not have been able to defeat them. The insular, isolated position of the inhabitants prompted civilization to a separate active, ahead of external warring barbarians, development (fortunately, everything needed was on the island).

On Atlantis (in its capital, similar to the hill of an extinct volcano), hot springs of mineral water flowed from the ground. This indicates a high seismic activity of the territory located on the "thin" mantle of the earth's crust... "a spring of cold and a spring of hot water, which gave water in abundance, and, moreover, amazing both in taste and in healing power." (Plato, Critias).

Immersion under water

I will not now assume what caused the internal "hiccups" of the Earth, as a result of which Atlantis sank into the basin of the Mediterranean Sea in a day, and then even deeper. But it should be noted that exactly in that place along the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea there is a fault boundary between the African and European continental tectonic plates.

The depth of the sea there is very large - about 3000-4000 meters. It is possible that a powerful impact of a giant meteorite in North America in Mexico, which, according to the US National Academy of Sciences, occurred 13 thousand years ago (about the same time) and caused an inertial wave and plate movement in the Mediterranean.

Just like continental plates, crawling on top of each other, breaking edges, uplift mountains - the same process, but in the opposite direction, when diverging, it forms subsidence and deep depressions. The African plate slightly moved away from the European one, and this was quite enough to lower Atlantis into the abyss of the sea.

The fact that Africa in the history of the Earth has already moved away from Europe and Asia is clearly evidenced by the huge intercontinental fault that runs through the Mediterranean Sea. The fault is clearly visible on the geographical map along the lines (seas) of the split in the earth's crust, which go in the directions - the Dead Sea, the Gulf of Aqaba, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Persian and Oman.

See the picture below, how the continent of Africa moves away from Asia, forming the above seas and bays at the break points.

Crete - Atlantis

It is possible that the current island of Crete was earlier that very northern, high mountainous part of Atlantis, which did not fall into the abyss of the sea, but, having broken away, stayed on the "European continental cornice". On the other hand, if you look at Crete on a geographical map, then it does not stand on the very cliff of the mantle of the European mainland, but about 100 kilometers from the basin of the Mediterranean (Atlantic) Sea. This means that there was no catastrophic break of Atlantis along the current coastline of the island of Crete.

But here we must also take into account the fact that since then the sea level has risen by 100-150 meters (or more) due to the melting of glaciers. It is possible that Crete and Cyprus, as independent units, were part of the archipelago of the island Atlantis.

Historians and archaeologists write: “Excavations in Crete show that even four or five millennia after the alleged death of Atlantis, the inhabitants of this Mediterranean island sought to settle away from the coast. (Memory of ancestors?). Unknown fear drove them to the mountains. The first centers of agriculture and culture are also located at some distance from the sea”…

The former proximity of the location of Atlantis to Africa and to the mouth of the Nile is indirectly evidenced by the extensive Kattara depression in North Africa in the Libyan Desert, 50 km from the Mediterranean coast, west of the Egyptian city of Alexandria. The Qattara depression is minus 133 meters below sea level.

See the picture above - the huge Qattara depression near the Mediterranean coast in Egypt.

There is also another lowland on the tectonic fault line - this is the Dead Sea (minus 395 meters) in Israel. They testify to a once-completed territorial catastrophe, common to all, associated with the subsidence of large tracts of land from the divergence in different directions of the European and African continental plates.

What gives the establishment of the exact location of Atlantis

The depression of the Mediterranean at the site of the former Atlantis is too deep. At first, the silt that rose and then settled to the bottom and subsequent sedimentary deposits somewhat covered Atlantis. The golden capital with its countless treasures in the temple of Poseidon turned out to be at great depths.

The search for the capital of Atlantis in the southern part of the Mediterranean Sea in the "triangle" between the islands of Crete, Cyprus, the mouth of the Nile will bring a useful result to the "treasury" of the world history of mankind, but this requires research by deep-sea vehicles.

There are guidelines for the attentive reader to search for the capital... There are two Mir underwater stations in Russia that could survey and study the bottom.

For example, Italian explorers-oceanographers in the summer of 2015 on the shelf of the island of Pantelleria, located approximately in the middle between Sicily and Africa, at a depth of 40 meters at the bottom of the sea found a giant man-made column 12 meters long, weighing 15 tons, broken in half. Traces of drilling holes are visible on the column. Its age is estimated at about 10 thousand years (comparable to the era of the Atlanteans). Divers also found the remains of a pier - a ridge of stones half a meter in size, laid out in a straight line, protecting the entrance to the ancient ship harbor.
These findings suggest that the search for the capital of Atlantis is not hopeless.

It is also encouraging that the confusion with the "Pillars of Hercules" has been successfully resolved and the location of Atlantis has finally been established.

Already today, for the sake of historical truth, the Mediterranean basin, at the bottom of which lies the legendary island in memory of Atlantis and its inhabitants, can and should be returned to its ancient name - the Atlantic Sea. This will be the first important world event in the search and discovery of Atlantis.