Atlantis : Paradise Lost?
It is said that much before summerian civilization, a great civilisation existed in the Atlantic Ocean. It was a paradise, where civilisation was at its Zenith. But then a volcano erupted and the entire grand civilisation was washed away.
The story reads like a fairy tale.
The time is 3,500 years ago. A long hazy summer day was coming to an end. The rays of the sun were shining on a tiny island. The island appeared inexplicably beautiful with sun rays highlighting the volcano. The narrows streets were filled with people. Women were enjoying the pleasant evening. They were laughing and chattering.
The evening passed away.Night came. And with time the pleasant, peaceful atmosphere changed into a turbulent, violent one. The sea changed its colour. From within the earth came muffling voices. The islanders grew worried . They thought that 5000ft high volcano was about to erupt. They thought that the God controlling the violent forces of the earth had awakened from his long slumber. The people of Atlantis ,erely thought on these lines. They did not know that those were just signs of a great cataclysm.And that happened. Their whole civilisation was destroyed.
First a dark smoke engulfed the entire island . Then a blitzkrieg of pumice stones occured. This was followed by a ash which poured down heavily. A big bang occured. The great volcano erupted forming a crater of 37 miles. Into this gasp ushed the sea water and the great civilisation finished, leaving behind no trace.
Scientists believe that Kalliste is the only particle which can solve the riddle that has made the historiansa and geographers mum on the topic, which the greek philosopher, Plato had extensively described in his discoveries.
According to Plato, Atlantis was a paradise. It was a vast island with green plains and impressive mountain ranges. The island had variety of animals, even elephants and fruit gardens. The island was rich with precious metals alloy of copper and orichalc. The city was arranged in five zones and was built in perfect concentric circles. The ports werte served with canals.
Plato also says that the city had a great palace and a temple, which were covered with silver and gold. The interior of the temple was ivory and walls,pillars and floors were coated with orchil. A statue of the God was built with gold. This God, standing on a chariot with six winged horses has been described as the God of the Sea and Shaker of the Earth. The inhabitants worshipped this God.
Plato has not only described the good points of the society, but, being a great judge of human nature describes,'When the divine portion began to fade away, and became full of avarice and unrighteous power".Atlantis embarked on the carrer of war and conquests. They defeated most of the surrounding areas. The onlypower that stood against them brilliantly, was of Athens. But the defeat was not enough to teach Atlantis a lesson. After the mortal decay, even Gods grew against Atlantis and punished them with severe earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. And Plato describes,"Afterwards there occured violent earthquakes and floods and in a single day night of misfortune...the island of Atlantis disappeared into the depths of sea."
Plato's story passed from generations to generations. The main source of Plato's story was his nephew Critias. And Critias claimed that he heard the story from his grandfather- Dropides and the latter heard it from Solan, who was famous for his truthfulness and was considered to be one of the wisest law givers and the seven sages of Greece. Solan lived from 640 B.C to 558B.C. Plato wrote the story two centuries later.
Solan himself claimed that the story was not original. He heard it from a priest in Egypt. Solan was so impressed with the story that he translated into a poem in Greek.
From this account, it appears that Egyptions knew about the Atlantis or perhaps trade existed between them.
However, as far as Plato;'s version matters, it was more philosophical than historical. Plato's student, Aristotle believed that it was not more than a poetic fiction. Many scholars think on the lines of Aristotle.
But there are some scholars who believe in the truthfulness of the story. Crantor 300B.C who was the first commentator on Plato's work, believed that the account was true. Even Stoic philosopher and scholar Posidonius(135-50B.C) refused to believe it ad mind's imagination.
Even after 23 centuries, the controversy haunts- truth or fiction? So much so that many have taken advantage of the situation and have started weaving uncommon stories about black magic, clairvoyancy etc.
Plato believed that Atlantis was in the Atlantic itself. This led to serious research and historians found out that once there existed a continent in the middle of the ocean. According to these historians, the Azores, the Cape Verde Islands, the Canaries and Madeira were the mountain peaks of Atlantis.
The 15 centuray cartographers included Atlantis into the world map, purely out of imagionation. When America was discovered, it was thought that Atlantis had been unearthed. Gradually the interest in this mysterious island gave birth to a new science department Atlantology, in the 19th centuary. The prominent member of Atlantology was the American politician and member of the US Congress, Ignatius Donnelly. He published a book "Atlantis: The Antediluvian World". The book became a best seller.
Donnelly observed some comparisons between pre-Coloumbian civilisations and ancient Egyption culture. He gave the examples of pyramids, mummy and the art of developing 365 day calender. He emphasised that the two civilisations had a common seed - Atlantis. And after its destruction, both the civilisations grew up differently.
Donnelly took the help of archaeology,mythology,ethnology,geology and botany. He scientifically prepared the documents and proved that Atlantis existed. Many believed in Donnelly's theory.
The story reads like a fairy tale.
The time is 3,500 years ago. A long hazy summer day was coming to an end. The rays of the sun were shining on a tiny island. The island appeared inexplicably beautiful with sun rays highlighting the volcano. The narrows streets were filled with people. Women were enjoying the pleasant evening. They were laughing and chattering.
The evening passed away.Night came. And with time the pleasant, peaceful atmosphere changed into a turbulent, violent one. The sea changed its colour. From within the earth came muffling voices. The islanders grew worried . They thought that 5000ft high volcano was about to erupt. They thought that the God controlling the violent forces of the earth had awakened from his long slumber. The people of Atlantis ,erely thought on these lines. They did not know that those were just signs of a great cataclysm.And that happened. Their whole civilisation was destroyed.
First a dark smoke engulfed the entire island . Then a blitzkrieg of pumice stones occured. This was followed by a ash which poured down heavily. A big bang occured. The great volcano erupted forming a crater of 37 miles. Into this gasp ushed the sea water and the great civilisation finished, leaving behind no trace.
ATLAS
The scientists and seismologists see the destruction of the island in this way. According to them the destructive forces must have been equivalent to 500-1000 atomic bombs. According to them the dark ash which fell down on the Aegan must have plunged the entire area into darkness. The deposits of it were found on the remains of the island and the ancient Greeks called it 'Kalliste'.Scientists believe that Kalliste is the only particle which can solve the riddle that has made the historiansa and geographers mum on the topic, which the greek philosopher, Plato had extensively described in his discoveries.
According to Plato, Atlantis was a paradise. It was a vast island with green plains and impressive mountain ranges. The island had variety of animals, even elephants and fruit gardens. The island was rich with precious metals alloy of copper and orichalc. The city was arranged in five zones and was built in perfect concentric circles. The ports werte served with canals.
Plato also says that the city had a great palace and a temple, which were covered with silver and gold. The interior of the temple was ivory and walls,pillars and floors were coated with orchil. A statue of the God was built with gold. This God, standing on a chariot with six winged horses has been described as the God of the Sea and Shaker of the Earth. The inhabitants worshipped this God.
Plato has not only described the good points of the society, but, being a great judge of human nature describes,'When the divine portion began to fade away, and became full of avarice and unrighteous power".Atlantis embarked on the carrer of war and conquests. They defeated most of the surrounding areas. The onlypower that stood against them brilliantly, was of Athens. But the defeat was not enough to teach Atlantis a lesson. After the mortal decay, even Gods grew against Atlantis and punished them with severe earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. And Plato describes,"Afterwards there occured violent earthquakes and floods and in a single day night of misfortune...the island of Atlantis disappeared into the depths of sea."
PLATO
According to Plato this happened 12,000 years ago in the Straits of Gibralter. And from this point starts the great controversy of Atlantis. Historians ask whether Plato's story can be trusted? And then what were the circumstances in which he wrote it.Plato's story passed from generations to generations. The main source of Plato's story was his nephew Critias. And Critias claimed that he heard the story from his grandfather- Dropides and the latter heard it from Solan, who was famous for his truthfulness and was considered to be one of the wisest law givers and the seven sages of Greece. Solan lived from 640 B.C to 558B.C. Plato wrote the story two centuries later.
Solan himself claimed that the story was not original. He heard it from a priest in Egypt. Solan was so impressed with the story that he translated into a poem in Greek.
From this account, it appears that Egyptions knew about the Atlantis or perhaps trade existed between them.
However, as far as Plato;'s version matters, it was more philosophical than historical. Plato's student, Aristotle believed that it was not more than a poetic fiction. Many scholars think on the lines of Aristotle.
But there are some scholars who believe in the truthfulness of the story. Crantor 300B.C who was the first commentator on Plato's work, believed that the account was true. Even Stoic philosopher and scholar Posidonius(135-50B.C) refused to believe it ad mind's imagination.
Even after 23 centuries, the controversy haunts- truth or fiction? So much so that many have taken advantage of the situation and have started weaving uncommon stories about black magic, clairvoyancy etc.
Plato believed that Atlantis was in the Atlantic itself. This led to serious research and historians found out that once there existed a continent in the middle of the ocean. According to these historians, the Azores, the Cape Verde Islands, the Canaries and Madeira were the mountain peaks of Atlantis.
The 15 centuray cartographers included Atlantis into the world map, purely out of imagionation. When America was discovered, it was thought that Atlantis had been unearthed. Gradually the interest in this mysterious island gave birth to a new science department Atlantology, in the 19th centuary. The prominent member of Atlantology was the American politician and member of the US Congress, Ignatius Donnelly. He published a book "Atlantis: The Antediluvian World". The book became a best seller.
Donnelly observed some comparisons between pre-Coloumbian civilisations and ancient Egyption culture. He gave the examples of pyramids, mummy and the art of developing 365 day calender. He emphasised that the two civilisations had a common seed - Atlantis. And after its destruction, both the civilisations grew up differently.
Donnelly took the help of archaeology,mythology,ethnology,geology and botany. He scientifically prepared the documents and proved that Atlantis existed. Many believed in Donnelly's theory.
However, 20th centuary oceanographic studies have completely negated the work of Donnelly. According to the oceanographers, the 36 million sq. miles Atlantic shows no evidence that a cataclysm ever took place and there existed a continent. Although 12,500 miles long mountain range runs from north to south in the Atlantic ocean, this is no way could be remains of the Atlantis, as it is rising up at the place where Atlantis should have subsided.
In 1912, the controversy was again flared up. An article appeared in the newspaper- New York American. The titile of the article was How I found the lost Atlantis, the source of all civilisations and the author was Dr. Paul Schliemann, grandson of the discovere of Troy.
Dr. Paul claimed that he possessed some valuable documents and articles passes on by his grandfather. Dr. Paul showed the bronze vase which was unearthed at Troy and which bore the inscription : "This was the gift of Cronos, king of Atlantis". Dr. Paul tried to prove his evidence but nobody believed him.
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