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

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    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

    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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Santorini

Wyatt, Timothy

Timothy Wyatt delivered a paper to the 2005 Atlantis Conference on Melos entitled Constraints on the Search for Atlantis [629.59]. He notes that “if the myth contains germs of real events, and is neither pure fiction nor political propaganda, then any naturalistic interpretation of them is almost bound to hinge on catastrophic geological or astronomical events, and we can ask questions about when and where.”

Wyatt recognises that Plato’s Atlantis date of 9,000 years is unrealistic and understands why the inundation of Atlantis ‘in a day and a night’ has forced researchers to propose the eruption of Thera (Santorini) in the 2nd millennium BC as a possible cause. This rapid flooding also raises questions of when catastrophic floods capable of sinking Atlantis occurred At least three have been identified and of them, Wyatt sees Ryan & Pitman‘s Black Sea Deluge as the most likely candidate.

In reviewing the where problem he accepts that the flooded Atlantis must lie in relatively shallow waters, which throws up a number of possibilities with many in the east, which he rules out because of remoteness. If the constraint of the Pillars of Hercules located at Gibraltar is accepted, the Mediterranean is also excluded, and Wyatt believes we are then forced to look at the Celtic Shelf.

Wyatt’s idea of identifying constraints and building your theory around them was taken further by the late Michael Hübner and developed into an elegant theory. Unfortunately, I perceived a small flaw in his presentation, which, for me, unravelled his entire theory and led me to write Joining the Dots, in which I think most of the constraints identified by Wyatt and Hübner have been more adequately addressed.

Welsh, Sean

Sean Welsh is an American physician who has authored Apocalypse [1874] in an attempt to revive the ailing Minoan Hypothesis, but in my opinion, even with Dr Welsh’s professional skills a ‘do not resuscitate’ sign still hangs over the patient.

Simply put, Welsh attributes the eruption of Santorini (Thera), the capital of Atlantis, to its destruction and the creation of a tsunami that generated the story of the biblical Deluge.

He identifies the Sea Peoples as former refugees from Atlantis! He has the tsunami generated by the Theran eruption flooding the plains of Mesopotamia! Also controversially he lands Noah‘s* Ark on a hill called Ararat in Crimea!

While I was not convinced, I can commend the book as a courageous attempt to solve two of history’s great mysteries.

Miller, Frank

Frank Miller, who describes himself as a scientist, offers the 2nd millennium BC eruption of Santorini as the event behind the Atlantis story. Miller claims that no catastrophe matches Plato’s account as well as the Santorini eruption(a). This is strange as Plato clearly describes the catastrophe as the result of an earthquake, not a volcanic event. Not a convincing offering.

(a) https://theshadowlands.net/atlantis/index.html

Lacedaemon

Lacedaemon and Laconia were the ancient names for a city state centred on Sparta, whose name eventually superseded theirs. Lacedaemon is the preferred location of Atlantis of Dr Theodore Spyropoulos, a Greek archaeologist, who is author of a three-volume work entitled Lacedaemon.

 He was one of the archaeologists who discovered the ruins of Akrotiri on Santorini in 1967. In 2007, he was took part in the excavations at Pellana(c), now a village 27 km north of Sparta. Spyropoulos believes that Pellana was the Mycenaean capital of Lyconia mentioned by Homer.

In June 2014 he published two short papers(a)(b) on the Ancient Origins website arguing for Lacedaemon as the location of Plato’s Atlantis. In his own words;

“There is a vast bibliography about Atlantis, but the modern scholarship concluded that to locate Atlantis and to prove the validity of its identification, four points of agreement must be met and generally accepted. (See E. Bloedow. ‘Fire and Flood from Heaven: Was Atlantis at Troy?’ La Parola del Passato 48, 1993, pp.109-160

Atlantis was an island.

It lay beyond the ‘Pillars of Hercules’.

It was larger than Asia and Libya together.

Its destruction (sinking) produced a barrier of impassable mud.

These four prerequisites are completely fulfilled in the case of Lacedaemon.”

His contention is that in ancient times Lacedaemon had been a large lake or lagoon containing a number islands, both natural and artificial, one of which was the island of Atlantis.

His explanation for Atlantis being greater than Asia and Libya combined is that they were local names for two of the other islands in Lake Lacedaemon! He alone has identified the ‘Pillars of Heracles’ with Columns on Mt. Thornax, 2 km from the Lagoon of Lacedaemon! For example, Atlantis attacked Athens and Egypt from their base in the west (Tim.25b & Crit.114c), not something that could be attributed to Lacedaemon.

I would have expected something more convincing from such an experienced academic, considering the range of other details on offer in Plato’s narrative.   

(a) https://www.ancient-origins.net/opinion-guest-authors/ancient-city-lacedaemon-it-legendary-atlantis-001723

(b) https://www.ancient-origins.net/opinion-guest-authors/ancient-city-lacedaemon-it-legendary-atlantis-part-two-001725

(c) https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-europe/greek-government-blocks-discovery-mythical-city-lacedaemon-00848

Cavallaro, Luciana *

Luciana Cavallaro is an Australian secondary school teacher of Italian descent with a fascination for ancient history and mythology. In 2015, she published two papers(a)(b) on her website in which she explored the current Atlantis theories. At the end of part one, she wrote that I do think Santorini is the site of Atlantis” but then goes on to suggest that Malta or Cadiz are also possibilities.

Part two begins with a new conclusion, namely that the Atlantic was the home of Plato’s lost island! She wanders about some more before finishing inconclusively. For me the only redeeming detail was her reference to the fact that Plato located Atlantis in a ‘sea’ rather than an ‘ocean’, a point that is often overlooked.

(a) The Elusive Location of Atlantis Part 1 | Eternal Atlantis (archive.org) *

(B) The Elusive Location of Atlantis Part 2 | Eternal Atlantis (archive.org) *

 

National Geographic *

National Geographic or Nat Geo are the registered trademarks of the National Geographic Society and are now, sadly, part of the Murdoch communications empire. Its magazine and TV channel enjoy global recognition. Undoubtedly, NG has enhanced our view of the world around us. One piece of NG trivia is that the word ‘tsunami’ first appeared in an English language publication in the September 1896 edition of National Geographic Magazine.

In May 1922 NG published its first picture of Stonehenge, now a century later it returned to this remarkable monument for its cover story in its August 2022 edition. It highlights how the use of new technologies has greatly enhanced our knowledge of the site and the people who built it. Jim Leary, a lecturer in field archaeology at the University of York admits that “a lot of the things we were taught as undergraduates in the 1990s we know now simply aren’t true.”  This beautifully illustrated article is a useful update on developments at this huge UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Generally, NG has avoided controversy, but not always(a), so it will be interesting to see how its new chief James Murdoch, a climate change denier(b), will deal with the NG views on the subject up ’til now(c). However, for me, it was something of a surprise when NG tackled the subject of Atlantis.

In 2004 NG News published a short article(d) highlighting the theories of Ulf Erlingsson and Rainer Kühne, who, respectively, were advocates for Ireland and Spain as Atlantis locations. Also in 2004, Zeilitsky and Weinzweig claimed to have found submerged man-made structures near Cuba and subsequently sought US government funding for further research there. It has been suggested that NG objected and further exploration did not take place! In 2006 NG gave the Atlantis in America theory of Zapp & Erikson an airing(e).

However, in 2012, Andrew Collins offered a different account of the Zelitsky funding difficulties(m).

In a short 2011 article(l)., NG trotted out the now generally abandoned idea that Atlantis had been a continent. The idea was obviously later dumped by NG as well when James Cameron et al. went looking for Atlantis in Malta, Sardinia and Santorini in 2016.

December 2012 saw NG publish an article on Doggerland, without any reference to the suggestion that there might be an Atlantis connection. NG has also voiced the scepticism of well-known commentators, such as Robert Ballard and Charles E. Orser jnr(f).

However, I find that the NG treatment of Atlantis is inconsistent. In October 2011 an anonymous article(k) on one of their sites, entitled The Truth Behind Atlantis: Facts, declared that Atlantis was continental in size (and so must have been located in an Ocean?) This is based on a misinterpretation of the Greek word meison. Nevertheless last year NG had Simcha Jacobovici, remotely guided by James Cameron, scouring the Mediterranean, from Spain to Sardinia, Malta, and Crete for evidence of Atlantis. This attention-seeking exercise found nothing but a few stone anchors that proved nothing and inflicted on viewers an overdose of speculation!

NatGeo TV aired a documentary(g) in 2015 relating to earlier excavations in the Doñana Marshes of Southern Spain by a Spanish team and partly hijacked by Richard Freund. A new NG documentary, hyped with the involvement of James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici, was filmed in 2016, and later broadcast at the end of January 2017. Initially, it was thought by Robert Ishoy to be in support of his Atlantis location of Sardinia, but at the same time, Diaz-Montexano was convinced that his Afro-Iberian theory was to be the focus of the film. To coincide with the airing of the new documentary D-M has published a new book, NG National Geographic and the scientific search for Atlantis[1394] with both English and Spanish editions.

Jason Colavito was promised a screener but had the offer subsequently withdrawn. One wonders why.

Once again NG promotes the region of the Doñana Marshes as a possible location for Atlantis(i), based on rather flimsy evidence, such as six ancient anchors found just outside the Strait of Gibraltar. They estimate the age of the anchors at 3,000-4,000 years old. unfortunately, they are not marked ‘made in Atlantis’. Rabbi Richard Freund, never afraid to blow his own shofar, makes another NG appearance. Jacobovici throws in the extraordinary claim that the Jewish menorah represents the concentric circles of the Atlantean capital cut in half, a daft idea, previously suggested by Prof. Yahya Ababni(k).

What I cannot understand is why this documentary spends time dismissing Santorini and Malta as possible locations for Plato’s Atlantis and at the same time ignoring the only unambiguous geographical clue that he left us, namely that the Atlantis alliance occupied part of North Africa and in Europe the Italian peninsula as far as Tyrrhenia (Tuscany) and presumably some of the islands between the two.

Overall, I think the NG documentaries have done little to advance the search for Atlantis as they seem to be driven by TV ratings ahead of the truth. Perhaps, more revealing is that Cameron is not fully convinced by the speculative conclusions of his own documentary.

Jason Colavito, an arch-sceptic regarding Atlantis has now published a lengthy scathing review(j) of  NG’s Atlantis Rising, which is well worth a read. While I do not agree with Colavito’s dismissal of the existence of Atlantis, I do endorse the litany of shortcomings he identified in this documentary.

For me, NG’s credibility as a TV documentary maker has diminished in recent years.  Just one reason is the “2010 National Geographic Channel programme, 2012: The Final Prophecy, enthused about an illustration in the Mayan document known as the Dresden Codex (because of where it is now kept), which was claimed to show evidence of a catastrophic flood bringing the world to an end in 2012. This illustration included a representation of a dragon-like figure in the sky spewing water from its mouth onto the Earth beneath, which has been taken by some, although by no means all, experts in Mesoamerican mythology to indicate the onset of a terminal world-flood. However, no date was given, so the link with 2012 is entirely spurious (Handwerk, 2009; Hoopes, 2011).”(n)

(a) National Geographic Shoots Itself in the Foot — Again! (archive.org) 

(b) https://gizmodo.com/national-geographic-is-now-owned-by-a-climate-denier-1729683793

(c) https://web.archive.org/web/20200717231929/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/climate-change/

(d) See: Archive 3582

(e) https://www.dcourier.com/news/2006/oct/02/atlantis-theory-by-local-anthropologist-makes-nat/ (not available in EU) *

(f) http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/archaeology/atlantis/

(g) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyEY0tROZgI & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=choIyaPiMjo

(h) https://mosestablet.info/en/menorah-tablet.html

(i) https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/more-signs-mythical-city-atlantis-its-mysterious-civilisation-found-spanish-marsh-1603470

(j) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/nat-geos-atlantis-rising-a-stew-of-fake-experts-motivated-reasoning-and-weird-claims-that-judaism-contains-atlantean-theology

(k) https://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/5/5/1659107/-Descendants-of-Lost-Atlantis-may-be-wait-for-it-Jews

(l) https://channel.nationalgeographic.com/the-truth-behind/articles/the-truth-behind-atlantis-facts/

(m) https://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread374842/pg11

(n) Doomsday Cults and Recent Quantavolutions, by Trevor Palmer (q-mag.org)  (about 2/3rds down page)

Moreau, Alain

alain_moreauAlain Moreau is a French writer who has written a series of articles debunking a number of the suggested locations for Atlantis including, the North Sea(a), Antarctica & Spartel Island(b), Socotra(c) and Santorini(d). Throughout his criticisms he loses no opportunity to promote his own preferred Atlantis location. in the Atlantic Ocean.

>(a) https://web.archive.org/web/20191230031404/http://www.mondenouveau.fr/continents-disparus-les-fausses-atlantides-l-atlantide-n-etait-pas-en-mer-du-nord-partie-3/

(b) https://web.archive.org/web/20191230031434/http://www.mondenouveau.fr/(c)continents-disparus-les-fausses-atlantides-antarctique-ile-du-cap-spartel-partie-4/

(c) https://web.archive.org/web/20191230031359/http://www.mondenouveau.fr/continents-disparus-fausses-atlantides-partie-1/

(d) https://web.archive.org/web/20200926061503/http://www.mondenouveau.fr/continents-disparus-les-fausses-atlantides-de-santorin-partie-2/<

Cameron, James

James Cameron the renowned director of Titanic has now worked James Cameronas executive producer on a documentary about Atlantis for National Geographic(a). Simcha Jacobovici, who previously teamed with Cameron on the 2006 TV movie The Exodus Decoded  also joined the production team.

This was NG’s second film on the subject and it was hoped, better than the first. Although Spain and Santorini featured in the two-hour show, the focus seemed has moved from Spain to the Central Mediterranean, where filming is taking place on Malta, Sardinia and Sicily.>In my view, this region contained most, if not all, of the Atlantean territory, from southern Italy to northwest Africa along with a number of the islands. This accords completely with Plato’s description (Tim.25 a-b & Crit.114c).<

Cameron and Jacobovici joined forces again as co-producers for this new NG documentary, which was expected by Robert Ishoy to explore his belief that Atlantis was situated on Sardinia(b). I think it reasonable to question why NG did not approach Sergio Frau who has done more than Ishoy in terms of publicising the possible relevance of Sardinia to the Atlantis mystery. It has now emerged that Georgeos Diaz-Montexano has also been interviewed, which suggests that Sardinia may not be the sole focus of the documentary as Ishoy was apparently led to believe.

This new NG offering aired early in 2017. However, in subsequent interviews Cameron expressed continuing scepticism(c), which begs the question; if Cameron was not fully convinced by the documentary, why should the viewers be?

Readers might find Jason Colavito’s critique of the NG documentary enlightening(d). 

(a) https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/television/2016/06/13/james-cameron-joins-search-for-atlantis-project.html

(b) See: https://web.archive.org/web/20190331144818/https://www.myheraldreview.com/free_access/national-geographic-calls-on-sierra-vista-researcher-about-atlantis/article_c3685cf8-7229-11e6-9512-b390b32f6ba7.html

(c) https://calgaryherald.com/entertainment/television/blockbuster-filmmaker-james-cameron-searches-for-atlantis

(d) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/nat-geos-atlantis-rising-a-stew-of-fake-experts-motivated-reasoning-and-weird-claims-that-judaism-contains-atlantean-theology

 

Koukoulas, Giorgos (L)

KoukoulasGiorgos Koukoulas (1973- ) is an Air Traffic Safety Electronic Engineer at Santorini airport. He is also the author of a novel, Atlantis Never Lost[1196] , which although a work of fiction it contains a serious attempt by the author to link Santorini with Atlantis.