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

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    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 »
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Yarmuta

Tyre

Tyre was located in what is modern Lebanon and is considered to have been originally a colony of Sidon. According to LebanonEgyptian records they ruled it during the middle of the second millennium BC, but lost control when their influence in the area declined. Independence brought commercial success that saw Tyre surpass Sidon in wealth and influence and eventually establish its own colonies across the Mediterranean. One of these was Carthage in North Africa, which in time became independent and eventually rivalled the Roman Empire in the west. It also had colonies in Greece and frequently fought with Egypt.

The location of Tyre, on an island with a superb natural harbour and which had great wealth and was supported by its many colonies, has been seen as a mirror of Atlantis. The Old Testament prophecies of Ezekiel, writing around 600 BC, described (26:19, 27: 27-28) the destruction of Tyre in terms that have prompted some to link it with Plato’s description of Atlantisdemise, written two hundred years later.*The earliest claim that Ezekiel’s Tyrus was a reference to Atlantis was made by Madame Blavatsky in The Secret Doctrine [1495]  in 1888.

However, although both J.D. Brady and David Hershiser promote the idea of a linkage between Ezekiel’s Tyrus and Atlantis, they are certain that Tyrus is not the Phoenician city of Tyre. Beyond that, Brady identifies Tyrus/Atlantis with Troy, while Hershiser has placed his Tyrus/Atlantis in the Atlantic just beyond the Strait of Gibraltar(b).

Early in the 20th century Hanns Hörbiger also cited Ezekiel as justification for identifying Tyre as Atlantis.*

Recently, a sunken city has been discovered between Tyre and Sidon and according to its discoverer, Mohammed Sargi, is the 4,000 year old City of Yarmuta referred to in the Tell al-Amarna letters.

Carl Fredrich Baer, the imaginative 18th century writer, proposed a linkage between Tyre and Tyrrhenia. This idea has been insula-herculisrevived recently by the claims of Jaime Manuschevich[468] that the Tyrrhenians were Phoenicians from Tyre. Other supporters of a Tyrrhenian linkage with Tyre are J.D.Brady, Thérêse Ghembaza and most recently Dhani Irwanto. J.S. Gordon also claims[339.241] that Tyre was so named by the Tyrrhenians.

In Greek mythology it is said that Cadmus, son of the Phoenician king Agenor, brought the alphabet to Greece, suggesting a closer connection than generally thought.

J.P. Rambling places the Pillars of Heracles on Insula Herculis, now a sunken island, immediately south of Tyre(a).

(a) https://redefiningatlantis.blogspot.ie/search/label/Heracles

*(b) See: Archive 3395*

Sunken Cities, Harbours and Islands

Sunken Cities, Harbours and Islands are to be found all over the world. Sometimes these were caused by local seismic, tectonic or volcanic events. A greater number were undoubtedly caused by the rising sea levels that followed the deglaciation at the end of the last Ice Age. This deglaciation continues today as the greenhouse gases produced by human activity threaten to raise sea levels further which could inundate a number of our major cities and could lead to dramatic social and economic consequences.

The flooding of Atlantis, as recorded by Plato, continues to prompt opportunistic writers to try to link any new discovery of submerged structures with this prehistoric catastrophe. Cuba, The Baltic Sea, Malta, and Southern Spain, among others, have all been touted as Atlantis on this basis. Many more are yet to be discovered that will attract this same spurious identification. There is also the possibility that a sunken structure from Atlantis will be discovered that will not be identified as such.

Even more depressing is the possibility that mankind may have to wait until the inevitable next ice age when the sea levels again drop before we will have our best opportunity to identify the true location of Plato’s city. That is assuming that we are still around and in a position to scientifically search for the site of this enduring mystery.

The most spectacular sunken city recently discovered is undoubtedly that of Thonis-Heracleion off the coast of modern Alexandria(c). A close second might be the city found in the Gulf of Cambay in India, for which claims of extreme antiquity have been made, in a paper(f) by Badrinaryan Badrinaryan.

However, archaeologist Justin Morris from the British Museum said more work would need to be undertaken before the site could be categorically said to belong to a 9,000-year-old civilisation.

The sunken town of Dunwich was once the 10th largest settlement in England and is frequently referred to as ‘Britain’s Atlantis’.  However, it was inundated relatively recently, in 1286 AD, and obviously has no connection with Plato’s Atlantis. Modern technology has now enabled accurate mapping of this old town(b). Less than a century later, in 1362, Ravenser Odd ( Ravensr Aude) situated near the entrance to Britain’s Humber Estuary, disappeared beneath the waves.

Similarly, the German city of Rungholt was flooded by the Wadden Sea less than a century later(d).

>In 2007, an undersea city was discovered off the coast of Lebanon at depths between three and seventeen metres. It has been identified as Yarmuta, a 4,000-year-old city mentioned in the Amarna tablets(h).<

In 2009, the lost city of Bathonea was rediscovered just 20 km from Istanbul. Evidence of human habitation in an area dating to earlier than 10,000 BC has been found. Millennia later, a Greek settlement was established on the site and later expanded by the Romans. Excavation of the partially submerged city may take up to a century. The discovery of cities such as Bathonea understandably raises hopes that someday the remains of Atlantis may also be found.

In 2017, also in Turkey, a sunken city was found in the waters of Lake Van in the far east of the country(e).

A Swedish website dedicated to underwater archaeology lists a number of known sunken cities(a).

(a) See: https://web.archive.org/web/20190525231859/https://www.abc.se/~pa/uwa/sunkcity.htm

(b) https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/10414260.How_I_helped_discover_Britain_s_Atlantis/?ref=rss

(c) https://www.latinospost.com/articles/18053/20130501/thonis-heracleion-archaeologists-piece-together-clues-ancient-egypts-sunken-city.htm

(d) https://www.welt.de/wissenschaft/umwelt/article9750988/Wie-eine-Flut-das-Atlantis-der-Nordsee-verschlang.html (German)

(e) https://www.magicalrecipesonline.com/2017/11/atlantis-found-ancient-underwater-castle-discovered.html

(f) https://web.archive.org/web/20060226235141/http://www.grahamhancock.com/forum/BadrinaryanB1.php?

(g) Haven’t we been looking for Atlantis in the right place yet? They found something very strange off the coast of England (archive.org) *

(h) https://www.news24.com/news24/remains-of-ancient-city-discovered-20010331 *