Aelian *

Claudius Aelian (170-235 AD) was a Roman teacher of rhetoric, who wrote in Greek. In his Natura Animalium he has recorded ^[619.xv.2] how the natives who live on the shores of ‘Ocean’ have a legend that tells of the Atlantean kings, who, to symbolise their authority from Poseidon,, wore a crown reminiscent of the white band that ran around the forehead of the male ‘ram fish’ while their queens wore headgear made from the skins of  ’marine ewes’.

“Ram-fishes, whose name has a wide circulation, although information about them is not very definite except in so far as displayed in works of art, spend the winter near the strait between Corsica and Sardinia and actually appear above water. And round about them swim dolphins of very great size.” (15.2)^(b)

Although these animals have not been clearly identified, their size might refer to a species of whale. The best that I can come up with is that it was a fin whale that has a grey or white chevron marking on top of its head and is frequently found in the Strait of Bonifacio at the southern end of the Pelagos Sanctuary^(c).

“Fin whales, the second largest animal on the planet after blue whales, are represented in the Mediterranean by a resident population separated from the Atlantic.“^(a)

Nevertheless, it would appear obvious from this excerpt that Aelian did not have any doubt regarding the reality of Atlantis. Perhaps even more interesting is that Aelian seems to also associate these kings of Atlantis with Corsica and Sardinia! For me, this is compatible with a Central Mediterranean location for Atlantis.

^(a) https://tethys.org/activities-overview/research/fin-whales/ 

^(b) http://www.attalus.org/translate/animals15.html

^(c) https://tethys.org/activities-overview/conservation/pelagos-sanctuary/ *