Thorwald C. Franke
Cellarius, Christoph
Christoph Cellarius (1638-1707) was a German classics scholar and philologist who was appointed Professor of Eloquence and History at Halle University.
I had originally listed Cellarius as a supporter of an Atlantic Atlantis, but this appears to be incorrect, according to the research of Thorwald C. Franke. In his Critical History of Opinions and Hypotheses on Plato’s Atlantis, he says: ” In the work Geographia antiqua iuxta et nova, published in Latin in 1687 and later translated into German, Cellarius expressed briefly on the question of whether America is Atlantis: he considers it uncertain. In the second volume of his work Notitia orbis antiqui sive geographica plenior , published in 1706 [1304] , Cellarius became clearer: he now considered it probable that there was a core of truth in Plato’s Atlantis story, the one on America points out, and that these obscure tidings came from America, among other things, to the Greeks via Egypt.
Contrary to the opinion of Thomas Henri Martin, Cellarius does not explicitly speak out against the existence of Atlantis. The passages given by Martin deal with the spherical shape of the earth and other things, but not with Atlantis. Manfred Petri seems to have adopted this opinion from Martin without looking at it.“(a)
(a) Christoph Cellarius – Atlantisforschung.de (atlantisforschung-de.translate.goog)
Cosmas Indicopleustes
Cosmas Indicopleustes was a 6th-century AD theologian and geographer from Alexandria who became a monk in later life. He wrote of Atlantis as a large island in the western ocean, punished by god with submergence. He also added a twist to the tale by recording a tradition that Noah had resided in Atlantis. Cosmas was probably the first writer to use Plato’s tale as evidence for the veracity of the Bible. He contended that Atlantis was the Garden of Eden and that Plato’s 10 kings of Atlantis were the 10 generations between Adam and Noah!
His only extant book, Christian Topography, is a bizarre work that includes support for a Flat (Square) Earth. A translation[1245] by J. W. McCrindle was published by the Hakluyt Society in 1897(b).
>It seems to me that Cosmas has added little to the Atlantis story except for further confusion. However, Thorwald C. Franke has published an essay on the relevance of Cosmas Indicopleustes to Atlantis studies(c).<
One commentator described his work as a ‘monument of unconscious humour.’
Jason Colavito has traced(a) some of Graham Hancock’s theories back through Donnelly, Faber, and Bailly and even as far as Cosmas.
(a) https://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/a-byzantine-claim-about-atlantis-and-noahs-flood
(b) https://www.sacred-texts.com/earth/ct/index.htm
(c) Kosmas Indikopleustes – Atlantisforschung.de (atlantisforschung-de.translate.goog) *

