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

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    NEWS October 2024

    OCTOBER 2024 The recent cyber attack on the Internet Archive is deplorable and can be reasonably compared with the repeated burning of the Great Library of Alexandria. I have used the Wayback Machine extensively, but, until the full extent of the permanent damage is clear, I am unable to assess its effect on Atlantipedia. At […]Read More »
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    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 »
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Atalya

Atalya

(1) is the name of an ancient ceremonial mound in Biarritz in the French Basque country.

(2) is the name of a sacred mountain in the Valley of Mexico venerated by the Aztecs.

(3) is in Gran Canaria in the Canaries, where the Guanches built a pyramid of black, red and white volcanic rock.

*(4) Frank Joseph has suggested[104.33] that Atalya or Atalia was, through time, transformed into Italy, adding that Atalia means ‘Land of Atlas’. This entry in The Atlantis Encyclopedia has been copied on a number of websites.*

However, the etymology of ‘Italy’ is not clear, but the most common proposal is that  “Latin Italia may derive from Oscan víteliú, meaning “[land] of young cattle” (Latin vitulus “calf”, Umbrian vitlu), via Greek transmission (evidenced in the loss of initial digamma). The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes”(b). In passing I should mention that Plato tells us that the Atlanteans who controlled southern Italy as far as Tyrhennia(c) also had a bull cult.

At their best, none of these references can be offered as having anything more than the most tenuous link with the original Atlantis.

Also See: Atalaia

(b) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_Italy

(c) Timaeus 25b & Critias 114c