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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 »
Cotton Mather
Varenius, Bernhard (N)
Bernhard Varenius (1622-1650) was a German geographer, who in spite of an early death, managed to have a number of works published, the best known of which was Geographia Generalis[1414]. Like many others at this period Varenius considered the possibility of America as Atlantis[p.333-335]. Cotton Mather noted that Varenius considered the northern part of America to have been joined to Ireland until separated by earthquakes!
Mather, Cotton *
Cotton Mather (1663-1728) was a Puritan minister who played a leading role in the notorious Salem witch trials of 1692. What is not generally known, is that Mather played a part in the development of inoculation as a means of fighting infections (a). He also experienced the wrath of an early anti-vaxxer who threw a bomb into Mather’s home, which, fortunately, failed to explode(c).
While the name ‘America’ is generally accepted to be derived from Amerigo Vespucci, the title ‘Americans’ used to describe the citizens of the United States, is sometimes attributed to the prolific Cotton Mather.
Paul Tudor Angel in his paper on the Megaliths of New England(b) noted that in 1712 Cotton Mather “discovered some strange incisions on an exposed seaside rockface in Dighton, Massachusetts—far from where any plow could have marked it. He immediately wrote to the Royal Society in London, England, to inform them of his find and to convey his belief that the rock carvings were in fact an ancient scriptural alphabet—perhaps several differing ancient alphabets. Unexpectedly, his letter generated little interest.”
In 1721, Mather published The Christian Philosopher, which has been described as the first comprehensive book on science to be written by an American. In it, he wrote, “I know not what we shall think of the huge Atlantis, mentioned by Plato, now at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.”[1415.109]
(a) National Geographic, August 2020, p.48
(b) The Mysterious Megaliths of New England (archive.org) *
(c) Historical Blindness (near the end of page)