City of Baht
Arabic References (L)
Arabic References to Atlantis are discussed by the contemporary Iraqi scholar, Salah Salim Ali, in a twenty- page essay entitled Arabic References to Plato’s Lost Atlantis[077]. He quotes a number of medieval Arabic writers who refer to such places as the ‘City of Brass’ and the enigmatic ‘City of Baht’ (baht = stone of laughter). The city of Brass obviously echoing Plato’s description of the walls of Atlantis being covered with Orichalcum. Although the contexts of these references are somewhat confusing, Salah Salim Ali concludes that they probably refer to Atlantis and indicate a location in either Andalusia or North-West Africa.