English: Mythology:
                      Atlantis: We Will Never Know
                                                                                              July 12, 1998

                      To: termpapers@schoolsucks.com Atlantis Atlantis: We will never know
                      Fantasy is a tough sell in the twentieth century. The world has been fully
                      discovered and fully mapped. Popular media has effectively minimized the
                      legend and the fantastic rumor, though to make up for this it has generated
                      falsities not as lavish but just as interesting. Satellites have mapped and
                      studied the earth, leaving only a space frontier that is as yet unreachable. But
                      standing out is a charming fantasy the modern world has yet to verify or
                      condemn: the lost continent of Atlantis. The father of the modern worldÕs
                      perception of Atlantis is Plato (circa 428- circa 347 b.c.). (1) The Greek
                      philosopher spoke in his works Timaeus and Critias of a continent in the
                      Atlantic ocean larger than Africa and Asia Minor combined which rivaled
                      Athens as the most advanced in the world. (2) According to the legend
                      surrounding PlatoÕs dialogues, the island of Atlantis was violently thrown into
                      the sea by the forces of nature, and its few survivors managed to swim ashore
                      and relate their story. (3) There the legend was passed by word of mouth until
                      an Egyptian priest related the story to Solon, a character in Timaeus. The
                      priest admired the achievements of prehistoric Athenians, because when the
                      rulers of Atlantis threatened to invade all of Europe and Asia the Athenians,
                      on behalf of all Greeks, defeated the Atlanteans to avoid enslavement. (4)
                      The works of Plato opened the floodgates to endless speculation on whether
                      the continent described was fact or fiction. Atlantis has since been placed in
                      Spain, Mongolia, Palestine, Nigeria, the Netherlands, Brazil, Sweden,
                      Greenland and Yucatan. Every nook and cranny of the globe has been
                      hypothesized; mountain peaks, desert lands, the ocean floor and even the
                      barren wasteland of Antarctica have been mentioned in theories. (5) While
                      some of these theories are compatible with PlatoÕs works and are within
                      relative reason, numerous crackpot theories have been developed using the
                      lost continent as a basis. One of these theories, posted on the computer
                      internet where it has access to over fifteen million people, talks in twenty-one
                      pages of pre-historical lands with names like Oz and Luxor. These world wide
                      web pages list over two hundred separate articles of proof for the existence of
                      Atlantis, as in the following: (6) ÒMost all ancient civilizations believed in the
                      TITANS, the race of giant humans that inhabited Earth long ago. Different
                      races knew them by different names. These 7 to 12 foot humanoids were
                      thought to be legendary until the excavation of over a dozen skeletons 8 to 12
                      feet tall, around the world, shocked archeologists. These skeletons were
                      positively human. Some of these skeletal remains are on Maui in lava caves
                      near Ulupalakua and Olowalu. The Spanish Conquistadors left diaries of wild
                      blond-haired, blue-eyed 8 to 12 foot high men running around in the Andes
                      during the conquest of the Incas. A couple were reportedly captured but died
                      en route to Europe. If giant animals (dinosaurs) were possible then why not
                      giant men? And why are these goliaths populating both Eurasia and the
                      Americas? Only on a land bridge created by the vast continent of Antarctica
                      can there be a sufficient bridge for the spread of these giants.Ó(7) This text,
                      written by self-proclaimed Atlantologist Steve Omar, represents PlatoÕs text
                      taken to the extreme- using his ideas as a basis for outlandish and unfounded
                      ideas. These unverified fantasies make a dubious complement to the other
                      dark side of the Atlantean fantasy: hoaxes. Atlantis has been ÒdiscoveredÓ
                      many times, but most notably in the fall of 1912 by Dr. Paul Schliemann.
                      Schliemann introduced himself as the grandson of the famous Heinrich
                      Schliemann, the archeologist who discovered the ruins of ancient Troy in
                      1873. His ÒdiscoveryÓ made front page news (The New York American,
                      October 1912.) and boasted of an advanced civilization with aircraft,
                      power-driven boats and the like. Schliemann said his grandfather told him on
                      his deathbed of the familyÕs secret: the location of Atlantis. SchliemannÕs
                      claims made waves, but didnÕt hold water; when pressed for details,
                      Schliemann was unresponsive and eventually disappeared from public view.
                      (8) Unfortunately, the falsities concerning Atlantis frequently overshadow the
                      possibilities. The subject has gathered its share of honest journalists as well.
                      Ignatius Donnelly wrote the first extensive study of the possibility of existence
                      in 1882, and his views have not been found to be false with twentieth century
                      technology. Donnelly believed in Atlantis, but believed it to be worldly; his
                      reasons for AtlantisÕs existence are unable to be proven, but make sense.
                      Some examples: -There is nothing improbable in PlatoÕs narrative; it describes
                      rich, cultured and educated people but doesnÕt mention things of fantasy like
                      giants, hobgoblins etc. (9) -Plato speaks of hot and cold springs in the center
                      of Atlantis, a feature common to islands with volcanic activity. Chances are
                      Plato didnÕt know this. (9) -Plato says in his stories that the Poseidon, the
                      Greek god of the sea, is always seen on a chariot with horses because he was
                      originally the god of Atlantis, where horses were domesticated. But when
                      Atlantis fell to the sea, the Greeks believed Poseidon brought his horses with
                      him. (9) Responding partly to DonnelleyÕs theories and partly to the urge to
                      discover, some 20th century archeologists have used twentieth century
                      technology to look for Atlantis. But many have dismissed Atlantis as glorified
                      myths of volcanic eruptions in the island of Thera in 1450 b.c. The eruption
                      may have destroyed that island and caused a small earthquake and tsunamis
                      that ruined the civilization of Crete, but didnÕt sink a continent. (10) Therefore,
                      none of DonnelleyÕs theories can be proved without the actual discovery of the
                      continent. The legend of Atlantis is only a huge collection of theories and
                      guesses, but theories and guesses also led to the discovery of the lost Roman
                      cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, discovered after being buried and
                      preserved by the volcanic ash of nearby Mt. Vesuvius. Because of this, the
                      mystery of AtlantisÕs existence will tantalize the world until the continent is
                      either proven or disproven. (11)