Mariolakos, Ilias D.

Ilias D. Mariolakos is professor emeritus of Geology and Palaeontology at Athens University. In 2010 he presented a paper^(a) to the 12^th International Congress of the Geological Society of Greece, in which he concluded that the prehistoric Greeks were quite familiar with the Atlantic and its Gulf Stream. He also identifies Iceland as Ogygia, based on his interpretation of the writings of Plutarch.

>Mariolakos focussed on Plutarch’s comment that “An isle, Ogygia, lies far out at sea, a run of five days off from Britain as you sail westward” and from that he calculated that “Accepting that vessels similar to Argo (the ship of the Argonauts), could develop speeds approximately 4 – 5 miles/hour, then the distance traveled within 5 days must have been in the order of 5 x 24 = 120 hours, 120 x 4 m/h = 480 miles ? 900 km. According to these, and using a simple school atlas, Ogygia should correspond to present-day Iceland.”<

Mariolakos further maintains that the ancient Greeks exploited the Michigan copper mines to supply the needs of their bronze industry. Their expertise was accumulated between the beginning or end of the 3^rd millennium BC until shortly after the conclusion of the Trojan War towards the close of the Mycenaean period at the end of the 1^st millennium BC. The onset of the ‘Dark Ages’ saw this maritime knowledge ‘forgotten’ until the ensuing Archaic Period when Greek civilisation revived.

Jason Colavito has accused Mariolakos of borrowing heavily, without attribution from the work of Wilhelm Christ who associated Atlantis with the SeaPeoples^(c).

Mariolakos bases his conclusions on the works of Homer, Hesiod, Orphic poetry and Plutarch as well as the 20th-century writer Henriette Mertz.

^(a) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313128161_THE_FORGOTTEN_GEOGRAPHIC_AND_PHYSICAL_-_OCEANOGRAPHIC_KNOWLEDGE_OF_THE_PREHISTORIC_GREEKS  (p.92)

^(b) https://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/geosociety/article/view/11163/0

^(c) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/greek-scientists-claim-plutarch-recorded-ancient-greek-voyages-to-canadian-colony