An A-Z Guide To The Search For Plato's Atlantis

Latest News

  • NEWS September 2023

    NEWS September 2023

    September 2023. Hi Atlantipedes, At present I am in Sardinia for a short visit. Later we move to Sicily and Malta. The trip is purely vacational. Unfortunately, I am writing this in a dreadful apartment, sitting on a bed, with access to just one useable socket and a small Notebook. Consequently, I possibly will not […]Read More »
  • Joining The Dots

    Joining The Dots

    I have now published my new book, Joining The Dots, which offers a fresh look at the Atlantis mystery. I have addressed the critical questions of when, where and who, using Plato’s own words, tempered with some critical thinking and a modicum of common sense.Read More »
Search

Recent Updates

Michel de Montaigne

Montaigne, Michel de

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) was an influential leader of the French Renaissance. He had studied law but abandoned it to devote himself to writing, producing three volumeMichel_de_Montaigne_1s of essays(a) on a wide range of subjects. For over four centuries Montaigne has influenced western philosophy and literature. Ignatius Donnelly ascribed the essays of Montaigne as well as the plays of both William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe to Francis Bacon[0023]!

In one of his essays, On Cannibals[1019], Montaigne referred to Plato’s Atlantis and apparently accepted its reality. However, he did not express any opinion on the date of the lost civilisation or its location, apart from ruling out America, except to interpret Plato as saying that Atlantis was “situate directly at the mouth of the Straits of Gibraltar”. Modern commentators such as J. Warren Wells have also pointed out that in describing the location of Atlantis, Plato used the Greek word ‘pro’ means before and “that this in turn implies closeness.”[783.79] This conflicts with the idea that Atlantis was situated on or near the Azores, Canaries or Cape Verde archipelagos or further afield in the Americas or Antarctica.

Another small point is that Montaigne refers to ‘Africa and Asia combined’ (Timaeus 24e) rather than ‘Libya and Asia’ confirming that scholars in the 16th century understood that ‘Libya’ in Plato’s time had a broader meaning than just the territory west of Egypt.

(a) https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3600/3600-h/3600-h.htm