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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 »
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 »
Australia
Ophir
Ophir is referred to in the Bible as a source of gold, silver, precious stones and exotic animals. King Solomon was reputed to have received a cargo of such goodies every three years, a detail which seemingly points to Ophir having been a considerable distance from Israel.
>>The location of Ophir has been the subject speculation from at least the beginning of the 16th century, when Peter Martyr, In a letter written in May 1500, claimed that Christopher Columbus identified Hispaniola with Ophir(k).
Later in the same century, Benito Arias Montano proposed Peru as the location of Ophir, an idea popular with others at that time according to José de Acosta. The suggestion has not been abandoned as the American explorer, Gene Savoy (1927-2007), was still promoting it in the 21st century(l).<<
The exact location of Ophir is the subject of continuing controversy. In broad terms the most popular regions suggested are, or have been, India(g), Africa(f) and the Americas(a), but they were not the only proposed locations, even Australia and the Solomon Islands were considered. Emilio Spedicato has opted for Tibet, where an ancient goldmine fits the bill, which he outlines in his paper entitled Ophir, It’s Location Unveiled(h).
>>The Jewish Encyclopedia offers the suggestion that “The most probable view is that Ophir was situated in Arabia. This is indicated, as mentioned above, by the Biblical reference in Gen. x. 29. An old tradition recorded by Eupolemus (c. 150 B.C.) also assigns Ophir to this region, identifying it with the island of Uphre in the Red Sea.”(j)<<
There is also a claim that the Batanes Islands off the Northern Philippines held the site of Ophir(b). Further west, Dhani Irwanto has claimed that Punt was also known as Ophir(d) and was situated on Sumatera (Sumatra) in Indonesia(c). However, he went further and also located Atlantis in Indonesia in his book, Atlantis: The lost city is in the Java Sea [1093]. His chosen site is just north of Bawean Island in the Java Sea.
However, Irwanto was not the first to link Atlantis with Ophir, Theodore L. Urban was the author of a paper delivered to the Lancaster County Historical Society of Pennsylvania in 1897. In it, he denied that Atlantis had been completely destroyed and argued that the biblical Ophir was in fact Atlantis, suggesting that it had been located in the Americas, which explained the three years that the round trip took(e).
Jason Colavito has published articles written by Thomas Crawford Johnston in 1892(i) that he later developed into his 1913 book Did the Phoenicians Discover America [1902+] in which he places Ophir in America!
(a) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophir#Americas
(b) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZqYQpmRCx0
(c) https://atlantisjavasea.com/2015/11/14/land-of-punt-is-sumatera/
(d) https://atlantisjavasea.com/2019/06/16/land-of-ophir/
(e) https://openlibrary.org/works/OL10326701W/American_Indians (p.91)
(f) https://www.historicmysteries.com/lost-mine-ophir/
(g) https://www.britannica.com/place/Ophir
(h) Ophir, its location revealed (2010-q-conference.com) *
OPHIR 27-10-09 (2010-q-conference.com)
(i) Phoenicians in America – JASON COLAVITO
(j) OPHIR – JewishEncyclopedia.com *
(k) Ophir – Wikipedia *
Bee, The *
The Bee and its place in many cultures from prehistoric times is outlined in three lengthy articles(a)(b)(c) by Andrew Gough. Much of what he has written is news to me as I’m sure it will be to most readers here. They should be read along with an equally fascinating article in National Geographic magazine of March 2020. All three of Gough’s papers are highly informative and worthy of a read.
An article(c) on the BBC website refers to studies that indicate “that humans have been exploiting honeybees for almost 9,000 years” also noting that “traces of beeswax found on ancient pottery from Europe, the Near East and North Africa suggest the first farmers kept bees.”
Its medicinal and nutritional qualities have been identified in ancient societies as far apart as early Aboriginal Australia and Sumeria. The bee also featured “as the symbol of the constellation presently occupied by Libra” in the zodiac of the Dogon of Mali. Gough deals extensively with the place of the bee in ancient Egypt where the bee ideogram represents honey, and “Intriguingly, Northern Egypt – the land stretching from the Delta to Memphis was known as “Ta-Bitty”, or “the land of the bee”. Similarly in the bible, the Lord promises to bring the Israelites out of Egypt and into a land flowing with milk and honey.”
Gough, who had earlier been attracted to the Minoan Hypothesis, noted that the Minoans of Crete, like the Egyptians, also venerated the bee and added that “Although speculative, the notion of Atlantis as a centre of bull and Bee worship is alluring, and based on the evidence, not entirely unfounded.”(a) Throughout his three articles, Gough touches briefly on the subject of Atlantis including the books of Jürgen Spanuth and his North Sea Atlantis. In the same way, I should point out that in the case of another Atlantis candidate, Malta, its name is generally thought to be derived from the Greek word for honey meli and was later known to the Romans as Melita, the Latin equivalent. Malta was renowned in ancient times for the quality of its honey, which may explain why the light-fingered, 1st century BC Roman governor, Verres, stole 400 amphorae of it (about 2800 gallons) over a three-year period.
Eire Rautenberg has offered a more speculative Malta/Bee connection claiming “The first humans came 11,000 – 6,000 BC. BC, historically very early. ‘Malet’, the Punic name for Malta , means refuge and the Greek interpretation ‘Melita’ of -melas means a honeyed dark goddess. The bee structure of the Megalithic Temples of Malta everyone can study at the temple stones; they sometimes look like huge honeycombs that have been proven to be artificially created. The owl as a symbol of the dark, all-seeing eye goddess can also be found on a stele of the megalithic temple Hagar Qim on the southwest coast.(f)
Antoine Gigal, the French researcher, has drawn attention to a possible link between Egypt and Malta based on the bee and its honey.(d)
Eva Crane (1912-2007) the renowned British expert on bees and beekeeping has authored many papers and books on the subject among which is the 682-page tome The World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting [1870], a must for anyone with a keen apiarian interest.
(a) THE BEE: PART 1 – BEEDAZZLED | Andrew Gough (archive.org) *
(b) THE BEE: PART 2 – BEEWILDERED | Andrew Gough (archive.org) *
(c) THE BEE: PART 3 – BEEGOTTEN | Andrew Gough (archive.org) *
(d) EGYPT BEFORE THE PHARAOHS (gigalresearch.com)
(e) Prehistoric farmers were first beekeepers – BBC News
(f) Poseidon is not a Greek god! – Atlantisforschung.de (atlantisforschung-de.translate.goog)
Moore, Tom T.
Tom T. Moore is an American self-help author and self-declared telepath, who has written on a variety of 
subjects including Atlantis and Lemuria(a). He conventionally places Atlantis in the Atlantic Ocean and Lemuria in the Pacific. According to Moore, Atlantis was destroyed by a natural disaster 31,000 years ago and again 12,500 years ago as a result of a war!
Lemuria was larger than Australia and was formerly connected to Japan and for thousands of years was an idyllic place with its inhabitants vacationing in Hawaii!
However, Lemuria, also known as Mu, destroyed itself in an atomic war 7,500 years ago.
This ‘male cow effluent’, is expanded on in his Atlantis & Lemuria: The Lost Continents Revealed [1556].
(a) Atlantis & Lemuria—Latitudes & Longitudes | Ancient Code (archive.org)*
Hernandez, Jose D. C.
Jose D.C. Hernandez wrote an extensive article for the world-mysteries website in 2013, entitled A Celestial Impact and Atlantis(a). In this fully illustrated paper he outlines his belief that an impact around 12,000 years ago was responsible for the biblical Deluge, the creation of Australia and the destruction of Atlantis. He specifies the Richat Structure in Mauritania as the remains of Atlantis.
(a) https://blog.world-mysteries.com/science/a-celestial-impact-and-atlantis/ (item 11)
Port Arthur
Port Arthur, is a small town and a former convict settlement in Australia’s Tasmania. It is now nominated as the location of Plato’s Atlantis(a). The promoter of the idea writes in the Above Top Secret website under the pseudonym of ‘bookofthoth’, * including a radical re-interpretation of Kircher‘s map of Atlantis. The article also includes a rant about British imperialism and Australia’s gun laws!*
It would be better that the author remains anonymous after the production of such a pathetic, facile explanation of what is a complex document from ancient Greece by one of the pillars of western philosophical thought. Perhaps it was written tongue-in-cheek!
Terra Australis
Terra Australis meaning Southern Land was an early concept of the ancient Greeks, who imagined a large landmass in the southern hemisphere. Cartographers from the 15th century onwards included this hypothetical land on their maps of the world. When Australia and Antarctica were eventually discovered by European explorers it was seen as justification for the earlier.speculation.
Riaan Booysen, a South African researcher contends that these early maps reflected geographical realities, namely Australia and Antarctica,but goes further and locates Plato’s Atlantis close to Australia. He bases much of his theory on his interpretation of Johann Schöner’s 1515 globe, which he discusses on his extensively illustrated website(a).
>Booysen has now (Nov 2023) developed his Atlantis theories further and self-published them in book form, Atlantis Revealed [2079] explaining that “I have since (end 2022) decided to revisit and thoroughly study and expand, where necessary, my Atlantis theory once more, with the intent of having it formally published. My latest studies include significantly more information than previously available on my website, and several additional hypotheses about the fate of the Atlanteans after their continent had been ‘sunk’. This occurred when a comet glanced off the face of the earth ca. 11,600 years ago, knocking a dent of around 8,000m in its crust and thereby ‘sinking’ Atlantis (parts of Terra Australis are clearly visible on NASA’s submarine topography maps of the world).”
In the promotional blurb for the book he adds “During my research into the gods of antiquity, it was inevitable that I would come across Plato’s legend of Atlantis. Plato introduced Atlantis to the world around 360 BCE in his dialogues Timaeus and Critias, quoting Solon of Athens who had visited Egypt between 590 and 580 BCE. According to Solon, the mighty civilisation of Atlantis existed and perished about 9,000 years before his time, thus about 11,600 years ago. He described Atlantis as an ‘island’ that sank beneath the ocean in a single day and night, along with, apparently, the rest of the civilised world. However, this ‘island’ was larger than ancient Libya and Asia together: an enormous continent. I also became familiar with the massive ‘imaginary’ continent called Terra Australis Incognita (the Unknown Land in the South), which had – apparently out of the blue – appeared on practically all medieval maps of the world. (link broken seeI recall quite clearly: I almost immediately realised that, as it no longer exists (having disappeared beneath the waters?), Terra Australis would be a prime candidate for Plato’s Atlantis.”<
(a) http://www.riaanbooysen.com/terra-aus (link broken – See (b))
Micropatrology
Micropatrology or the study of small countries is quite peripheral to the subject of Atlantis, but it is a curious fact that a number of the attempts to establish new independent states have their titles inspired by the name of Plato’s lost island. They include Atland, Atlantis, and the Principality of Atlantis & Lemuria. There was even an attempt by Leicester Hemingway, the younger brother of the famous author, to have New Atlantis established and recognised internationally(a). Its ‘territory’ just consisted of a thirty-foot barge off the coast of Jamaica and had as its primary objective the generation of revenue through the issuing of postage stamps.
The Madeira archipelago (a minor Atlantis candidate) in the Atlantic includes the tiny independent Principality of Pontinha(e), which today has bitcoin as its official currency!
Arguably one of the most attractive micronations is the Republic of Uzupis, which occupies less than one sq.km of Vilnius the capital of Lithuania(f). The Republic of Le Saugeais, sandwiched between France and Switzerland is also popular with tourists(g)
In East Germany, we have “Königreich Deutschland” (Kingdom of Germany) ruled by Peter the First (Peter Fitzek)(j).
Coins have been issued in the name of a non-existent ‘Kingdom of Atlantis’, by the World Proof Numismatic Association(h), which is a one-man show owned by Edward J. Moschetti.
One of the more ambitious creations is the Empire of Atlantium(b)(c), established in 1981 by three Australians when they declared their independence from the Commonwealth of Australia and proclaimed George Francis Cruickshank as its ruler with the title of His Imperial Majesty George II. Understandably, I worry about the fate of George I! Australia has a number of other micronations as recently reported by the BBC(d).
Places That Don’t Belong is a fascinating “BBC Travel series that delves into the playful side of geography, taking you through the history and identity of geo-political anomalies and places along the way”(i).
There are currently (March 2023) five micronations within the United States(k), none of which claim any association with Atlantis(k).
>>I was not really surprised that one of the more recent claims related to Antarctica, where Grand Duke Travis rules over Westarctica(l).<<
This strange subject is discussed in a book by Erwin S. Strauss [482] and additional information can be obtained from the International Micropatrological Society, 4554 McPherson Ave., Saint Louis, Missouri, 63108.
(b) See: https://web.archive.org/web/20191123080317/https://www.atlantium.org/
(c) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_Atlantium
(d) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-38964465
(e) See: https://web.archive.org/web/20170905084632/https://principality-pontinha.com/index.html
(f) https://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20181014-uupis-a-tiny-republic-of-free-spirits
(g) https://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20200311-a-tiny-country-between-france-and-switzerland
(h) Kingdom of Atlantis Coin, Ruler and brief History (archive.org)
(i) Places That Don’t Belong – BBC Travel
(j) The self-proclaimed kingdom that doesn’t recognise Germany – BBC News
(k) The kingdom in my backyard: 5 micronations within the United States (msn.com)
(l) Westarctica: The micronation with a real-world purpose – Big Think *
Clarke, Hyde
Hyde Clarke (1815-1895) was English philologist, engineer and historian who 
suggested[242] in 1885, that “the head seat of the great king (of Atlantis) was possibly in the Caribbean Sea; it may be in St. Domingo (Hispaniola)”. His book can be read online(a).
Clarke also held the view that ‘Atlantis’ was the name of the king rather than the kingdom. Another of his odd suggestions was that the elephants of Atlantis were in fact tapirs! He further claimed that Australia had been known in remote antiquity(d).
>In 1874 Clarke delivered a paper to the Royal Anthropological Institute, in London, in which he claimed that the Caucasus had been home to an Egyptian colony(f). A few decades later Flinders Petrie suggested that the Egyptians had originated in the Caucasus(e). Both cannot be right!<
Jason Colavito reviewed Clarke’s Atlantis ideas in a June 2014 blog(b), the following day, Colavito’s article was republished under the name of author Gabriel Cohen!(c)
(a) https://www.archive.org/stream/examinationlege00clargoog#page/n6/mode/1up
(b) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/hyde-clarkes-unusual-opinions-about-atlantis
(c) See: Archive 2466
(e) https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/abs/connexions-between-egypt-and-russia/5CC9FECE9A13B6B336F6F4A57386B2DC Antiquity, Vol. 15, Issue 60, Dec. 1941 p.384-386 *
Booysen, Riaan
Riaan Booysen is a South African researcher (and avid tennis fan) who has written articles on a number of ancient mysteries, which can be found on his website(e). Among his controversial ideas are that the Queen of Sheba, Nefertiti and Helen of Troy were a single person(d).
He offers a major paper on Atlantis(a), in which he bravely identifies its location as an extensive landmass which included present day Australia. Unlike other writers who have offered similar suggestions based on guesswork, Booysen offers a more coherent thesis based on the geology of the South Pacific and early cartography.
His theory requires a radical redating of the Antarctic ice cap, which has led to continued debate on the internet(c).
>Booysen has now (Nov 2023) developed his Atlantis theories further and published them in book form, Atlantis Revealed [2079] explaining that “I have since (end 2022) decided to revisit and thoroughly study and expand, where necessary, my Atlantis theory once more, with the intent of having it formally published. My latest studies include significantly more information than previously available on my website, and several additional hypotheses about the fate of the Atlanteans after their continent had been ‘sunk’. This occurred when a comet glanced off the face of the earth ca. 11,600 years ago, knocking a dent of around 8,000m in its crust and thereby ‘sinking’ Atlantis (parts of Terra Australis are clearly visible on NASA’s submarine topography maps of the world).”<
Booysen published another contentious offering in 2013, entitled Thera and the Exodus [1025] in which he argues that there were at least two Theran eruptions which led to two separate ‘Exodus’ events by the biblical Israelites, whom he identifies as the Hyksos!
He dates these events to ca. 1613 & 1450 BC.
Booysen has now commented on negative feedback from his book(b).
A year later he ventured into even more contentious territory with the publication of BARBELO – The Story of Jesus Christ, now available as a free ebook(f).
(a) https://www.riaanbooysen.com/terra-aus (link broken) See (g).*
(b) https://www.riaanbooysen.com/thera
(c) https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=265894&st=0
(d) https://www.grahamhancock.com/forum/BooysenR1.php
(e) https://www.riaanbooysen.com/theories
(f) https://www.riaanbooysen.com/barbelo
(g) https://riaanbooysen.com/atlantis *
Australia *
Australia has not been totally ignored in the search for Atlantis. As early as 1852, an Australian newspaper claimed(b), obviously tongue-in-cheek, that Australia was Atlantis, as they were both spelled with a capital ‘A’ and both had gold!
Rex Gilroy is a maverick researcher from ‘Down Under’ who has published a book[598] that bravely claims an antipodean location for Atlantis. 
Gilroy has been working on the ‘unexplained’ in his home country for over fifty years and has written several books on ‘mysterious’ Australia. He has claimed evidence for Egyptian and Phoenician connections with Australia. He has also named the ancient megalith-building civilisation of Australia, ‘Uru’(d).
His most recent exploit is to mount a search in the Urewera Ranges of New Zealand for the ‘extinct’ Moa.
Australian Paul White among others has claimed that Egyptians reached Australia(i) offering photo evidence(j). These appear to be images of the Gosford Glyphs, also known as Kariong Hieroglyphs, in New South Wales and although they have been long identified as fakes(k), from time to time attention-seeking ‘researchers’ try to revive interest in them.
A completely different link between Australia and Atlantis was suggested by a Russian writer, S. Bashinsky, in 1914, when he claimed that Australia had been created as a result of an impact with an asteroid that split a pre-existing landmass, part of which moved eastward to become Atlantis/America. The idea was so totally at variance with geological realities that it got no support.
An anonymous writer on an Internet message board also supports an Australian Atlantis concept referring to a book, Ayer’s Rock: Its People, Their Beliefs and Their Art[133]; allegedly banned by the Australian government, by Charles P. Mountford that provides evidence of very early white visitors to the vast southern island continent.
In 2009, Riaan Booysen, a South African, published on his website(a) a reasoned argument for identifying Australia with Atlantis, based on geology and cartography.
Over the past few years, the father and son team of Steven & Evan Strong have been offering an alternative view of Australia’s prehistory(h), including a claim that Atlantis had existed in Australia(f)(g) and that there was also a connection with Lemuria(l)!
2014 brought us an anonymous blog placing Atlantis at Port Arthur in Tasmania (a former penal settlement) and offering a radical re-interpretation of Kircher‘s famous map of Atlantis(c).
(a) https://www.riaanbooysen.com/
(b) https://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/91928781?searchTerm=Atlantis&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc
(c) https://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread1045202/pg1
(d) Rex & Heather Gilroys Mysterious Australasia (archive.org) *
(f) https://www.migration-diffusion.info/article.php?year=2019&id=632
(g) https://www.migration-diffusion.info/article.php?year=2019&id=633
(h) https://www.ancient-origins.net/opinion-author-profiles/steven-and-evan-strong-00665
(i) http://members.ozemail.com.au/~classblu/egypt/article.htm (link broken)
(j) http://members.ozemail.com.au/~classblu/egypt/glyphpic.htm (link broken)
(k) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gosford_Glyphs
(l) https://forgottenorigin.com/the-little-man-lemuria-revisited-in-australia