INDIA: The mystery of Atlantis continues to grabs the attention of explorers. One thing is certain: people are still curious to learn more about it which lead to multiple speculations about the lost city.
The world has tonnes of mysteries, and despite remarkable advancements in science, we humans still remain clueless about many aspects around us.
The ocean—home to many myths, mysteries, and legends—appears to be stranger to us than the land we live in. While many of the riddles have been explained by science, quite a few still remain unsolved.
The captivating marine world includes hidden treasures, lost cities, and mystic ships. Among all of the abounding mysteries, the lost city of Atlantis tops the list.
One of the greatest and oldest mysteries—the lost city of Atlantis—was first mentioned by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato in his works Timaeus and Critias around 360 BC.
The utopian island kingdom, as per Plato, existed for 9000 years before his time and disappeared mysteriously one day. This city is as mysterious as it is inviting, and it is renowned for having been the exhibit of all earthly delights.
Despite years of research, the actual truth about the lost city has not been found yet, and that only serves to enhance the folklore already associated with it. Read on to uncover fascinating facts and myths about the city.
Is the lost city of Atlantis real?
In Plato’s story of Atlantis, the founders of the lost city were half god and half human who created an utopian civilization and rose to become a strong naval power. Their residence consisted of a series of concentric islets that were separated by deep moats and connected by a canal that penetrated through the middle. The lush islands sustained a plethora of rare, exotic wildlife and were home to silver, gold, and other precious metals. On the center island, there was a great capital city.
Today, the lost city of Atlantis is thought of as a peaceful utopia, live science says, but archaeology professor Ken Feder says it was more like a technologically advanced but “morally bankrupt evil kingdom” that sought to “dominate the world by force.”
Few, if any, experts believe that Atlantis was a real place. According to Robert Ballard, the National Geographic explorer-in-residence who found the Titanic’s wreck in 1985, “The legend of Atlantis makes sense given the historical occurrences of volcanic eruptions and cataclysmic floods, including one that bears some resemblance to the story of the city of Atlantis’ destruction.”
The Aegean Sea island of Santorini, which is close to Greece, was completely destroyed by a major volcanic eruption about 3,600 years ago. Santorini was home to a highly developed Minoan civilization at the time. Around the same time as the volcanic eruption, the Minoan society abruptly disappeared.
Ballard, however, does not think that Santorini was Atlantis because the eruption on that island did not occur at the same time that Plato claimed Atlantis was devastated.
On the other hand, James Romm, a professor at Bard College in Annandale, New York, claims that Plato wrote the tale to illustrate some of his philosophical theories, primarily his vision of the ideal society.
Where is the mysterious city of Atlantis?
The biggest query that boggles the minds of scientists is “where is the Atlantic situated?” Narratives suggest that the city is believed to have sunk into the sea during a tsunami or earthquake. According to Plato, Atlantis was a sizable island close to the Rock of Gibraltar that featured a Poseidon statue, canals, and concentric walls.
Plato noted that the city beneath the sea should have been located somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. No such town on the ocean floor has, however, been found using technology.
Several theories contend that the Atlantis is situated in the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Spain, but others argue that it may be beneath Antarctica. For a long period of time, the Azores were thought to be the location of the lost city of Atlantis.
However, the most recent research has uncovered a brand-new location, and the scientists are confident that Atlantis can be located in Cadiz, someplace between the waters of Spain and Morocco.
“Pick a spot on the map, and someone has said that Atlantis was there. Every place you can imagine,” Charles Orser, history curator at the New York State Museum in Albany, told National Geographic.
Unknown size of the lost city of Atlantis
“For the ocean there was at that time navigable; for in front of the mouth which you Greeks call, as you say, ‘the pillars of Heracles,’ (i.e., Hercules), there lay an island that was larger than Libya and Asia together,” Plato wrote.
Tertullian, an early Christian writer who held the idea that Atlantis had once lived in the Atlantic Ocean, agreed with Plato that the island would be larger than today’s Asia and Libya combined.
Narratives that scale the size of the city to Crete, the biggest island in Greece, have emerged as a result of numerous proposals to locate the city of Atlantis in the Mediterranean Sea.
Atlantis, however, was referred to as a giant city in many tales after Plato’s era without ever being given any precise dimensions. The American Christian mystic Edgar Cayce proposed that the scales of Atlantis and Eurasia were comparable.
Who built the city of Atlantis?
Legend says that Poseidon—the God of the Storms, Sea, and Earthquakes—built the city of Atlantis after falling in love with Cleito, a mortal lady. He built this fortress-like city, which he called Atlantis, on a remote island in the ocean to guard her.
Poseidon, according to the legend, travelled the globe in search of the largest island, but when he arrived at the largest of them all, Atlantis, he discovered that its inhabitants were more attractive and clever than the great of the world. There he met a woman named Cleito, with whom he fell in love.
Poseidon created rings of water and land around the new house he constructed for his beloved in the City of Atlantis. The five water circles were linked to the earth by five tunnels, and a huge canal connected the outer water circles to the ocean.
Ships could fit through the passageways, and every entrance to the city was guarded by towers and gates. In addition, the wall that surrounded the rings was made of red, black, and white rock and embellished with precious metals.
There was another hill nearby dubbed ‘the Hill of Cleito’ where it is believed that Poseidon ensnared his wife because he distrusted her loyalty. This hill was enclosed by enormous moats and piers.
Poseidon’s Golden Statue
The fable says that Cleito and Poseidon had five pairs of twin boys, the oldest of whom was known as Atlas. The great city was passed down to the ten boys, and Atlas, the firstborn, became the first king of Atlantis.
However, it’s also thought that they erected a sizable temple for their father, which featured a huge statue of Poseidon riding a chariot drawn by winged horses.
The statue was completely constructed of gold and was installed in a sanctuary with a spiral roof so tall that clouds floated through the spirals of the temple.
Prosperous city and its rise
Atlantis, a fertile and stunning metropolis where half-gods and half-humans coexisted, is thought to have been a self-sufficient area where people raised livestock and grew their own food.
With the aid of a well-maintained irrigation system, city farmers in the surrounding fertile plains used to produce crops. Using black and crimson stone, they also created stunning structures and other architectural works. Aside from having access to rare metals and even alloys like brass, they also frequently used crystals for entertainment and experimentation, had plenty of spare time, and enjoyed playing with volcanoes.
Edgar Cayce, an American faith healer, believed that the lost city of Atlantis would rise once again, like “the sun rising from the sea.” He prophesied that a new land would emerge off the east coast of North America.
Additionally, he suggested that many Atlanteans’ souls had been reincarnating in America in order to bring about a new period of enlightened human consciousness.
Extraterrestrial connection of Atlantis
Fabels says that the original Atlanteans are believed to have been beings of extraterrestrial origin who arrived there 50,000 years ago from the Lyrian star system.
These individuals were robust prototypes of the then-existing human species because they lived an average of 800 years despite being significantly taller and fairer than the average human being today.
Atlanteans’ exceptional power
The people of Atlantis City are thought to have possessed extraordinary powers, including the capacity to control the weather and alter volcanic eruptions, despite some claims that the Lost City of Atlantis was on Mars or merely a colony of an alien society.
Additionally, some accounts mention having access to a device that enabled them to channel energy from both space and time. Some people believe that Atlantis City is just a fictional depiction of a harsh way of life, despite the myth’s claim that its residents were superior beings.
In the story of the lost city of Atlantis, the extent of the truth is a mystery in itself. Questions about Atlantis’ existence and whether it is merely a fable remain unanswered. But until the truth buried beneath it can be completely unravelled, the world will continue to speculate about the existence of the greatest city of all time.
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