home Perch The legend of Atlantis. Mysterious Atlantis The myth of Atlantis summary

The legend of Atlantis. Mysterious Atlantis The myth of Atlantis summary

The mystery of Atlantis is described in many works, both adventure novels and serious scientific research. To date, scientists and enthusiastic researchers have put forward more than 1,700 hypotheses about the location of this mysterious continent and the reasons for its disappearance without a trace.

However, not so completely without a trace. One of the most outstanding scientists Ancient Greece , Plato, in the works “Critias” and “Timaeus”, mentions Atlantis, citing data from the diaries of his great-grandfather, the no less famous Athenian poet and statesman Solon. About existence big country the Atlanteans, who fought with the Greeks for 9000 years, was told to him by an Egyptian priest. According to this fragmentary information, the land of the Atlanteans was somewhere on the other side of the Pillars of Hercules. According to Plato, according to Solon, Atlantis was a large and rich country with big cities and a very developed economy at that time. Picturesque territory of the country

Scientists to this day have not reached a consensus regarding Plato's story about this mysterious country. Perhaps Atlantis was just the product of one of the ancient Greek legends? This assumption is supported by the fact that not all of Plato’s stories were believed even by his contemporaries. According to these scientists, in such ancient times, 9000 years before the birth of Plato, such a highly developed culture could not have existed. She couldn’t for the simple reason that at that time the end of the Ice Age had just happened. Many scientists agree that cavemen and highly developed Atlanteans could have lived at the same time. And can it really be that an entire country disappears without a trace overnight? However, most scientists argue that Atlantis could well have existed in reality, because the legends must have had at least some basis, and most of the myths reflected events that took place in reality.

After all, archaeologists found the ruins of the once mythical ancient Troy, which was also considered a figment of the imagination of blind Homer. And not so long ago, the fact was scientifically proven that the ancient Greeks could make quite long long journeys on their ships, and, like Odysseus, reach the shores of Colchis, the land of the Golden Fleece. As for the enormous and destructive power of earthquakes, then, according to geologists, it is really capable of burying a vast territory in a short time.

However, if we assume that Atlantis really existed, another rather important question arises. Where should researchers go, where should they look for this mythical land? Scientists from different times and countries could never come to a common opinion. Some of them believed that the mysterious Atlantis sank to the bottom of the central part of the Atlantic Ocean - somewhere between two continents, Europe and North America.

It is likely that this area was once dry land and sank to the ocean floor about 12 thousand years ago during a geological disaster. This period exactly coincides with the estimated time of the existence of Atlantis.

After this, the warm Gulf Stream finally reached the shores of Northern Europe, and as a result, the Ice Age ended in our part of the world. This version of warming in Europe was put forward by the Russian scientist N.F. Zhirov, as well as some other researchers. It is likely that the Azores and Madeira Islands are the very remnants of the lost continent. According to some scientists, not all the inhabitants of Atlantis died during the collapse of their continent - some survivors reached the shores of America, while others reached Europe. It was they who laid the foundation for the greatest civilizations of Mexico and Peru, as well as Egypt and Mesopotamia. This explains the striking similarities in their architecture, traditions and religions, all the more surprising because the countries were far from each other. Indeed, the inhabitants of both shores of the Atlantic equally worshiped the Sun, and believed in the myth of the global flood, widespread both in Mesopotamia and among the Indian tribes that inhabited the South and North America

. It is amazing that the language of the Basques living in northern Spain in the Pyrenees Mountains is completely different from other European languages, but at the same time is very similar to the languages of some Indian tribes. And the ancient pyramids created by our ancestors in Mexico and Egypt have a lot in common.

In addition, in both countries there is a custom of mummifying the dead, moreover, the same objects are placed in their graves. But the main thing is that in places where Mayan burials are located, archaeologists find jewelry made from green jade, the deposits of which simply do not exist in America. Maybe he got there from Atlantis?

Scientists include the ruins of ancient Indian cities, the remains of which are located in the Peruvian Andes and the impenetrable jungles of the Yucatan Peninsula, as evidence of the existence of Atlantis.

In the fall of 1970, while inspecting the coastal waters of the Bahamas in the Atlantic Ocean from a seaplane, D. Rebikov, a French archaeologist and aquanaut, noticed strange ruins of some buildings on the ocean floor near the island of North Bimini. Divers who went underwater discovered giant walls more than a hundred meters long. They were made of giant blocks, each of which weighed about 25 tons. Who were they built by? Perhaps Atlanteans? True, it was soon discovered that these “walls” arose as a result of cracking of coastal rocks that sank under water due to gradual sinking to the bottom.

Bahamas

They are also looking for Atlantis in the Mediterranean Sea. The most plausible is the opinion of the Russian scientist A.S. Norov, who considered the island of Crete and many small Greek islands to the north of it to be the remnants of a continent that had sunk into oblivion. The famous Soviet geographer L. S. Berg agreed with this opinion. Today, the vast majority of scientists adhere to this theory. This version is supported by recent studies in this area and in the Atlantic Ocean.

When studying the area of the supposed death of Atlantis at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, scientists found that the average thickness of sedimentary rocks in this zone is about 4 meters. Moreover, at the current rate of accumulation of such rocks, amounting to 10-15 mm per thousand years, this will require at least 300 thousand years, and certainly not 12 thousand, as claimed by supporters of the Atlantean origin of the mysterious Atlantis. In addition, according to recent oceanographic research, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is the result of a geological event, during which the continents of Africa and South America . Scientists separately noted the features of the drawing coastlines

Accordingly, there is simply no room for Atlantis to be located in the Atlantic Ocean. But what then to do with Plato’s message about the location of the disappeared country, supposedly located in front of the Pillars of Hercules, that is, the Strait of Gibraltar? Before Plato, the name “Pillars of Hercules” could have meant a completely different place. Which one? The debate among researchers has not subsided to this day.

Regarding the Mediterranean location of Atlantis, assumed by most scientists, they provide a number of quite significant evidence.

For example, it has been established that on the island of Thira (Santorini), located in the Aegean Sea, about 3.5 thousand years ago there was a volcanic explosion of destructive force, similar to the one that was noted in 1883 on the island of Krakatoa in the southeastern Asia, among the islands of Indonesia. Apparently, this was the greatest geological disaster in the entire history of our planet.

The force of the explosion of the Santorini volcano was equal to the explosion of about 200 thousand atomic bombs, identical to those that were dropped on Hiroshima at one time.

Scientist Harun Taziev gives the approximate date of the explosion - 1470 BC and claims that as a result, about 80 billion cubic meters rose into the air. m of crushed rock, and the waves that arose in the process reached 260 m. Danish scientists reasonably believe that the explosion took place in 1645 BC. e., almost 150 years earlier.

Just at that time, the islands located in this part of the Aegean Sea were ruled by the Minoans, who achieved enormous success in science and craftsmanship.

As a result of a powerful volcanic explosion, it was established that one of the developed cities on the island of Thira and the center of Minoan civilization, located on Crete - Knossos, perished.

In other words, according to fans of this hypothesis, in Plato’s descriptions we are talking specifically about the state of the Minoans. After all, according to his data, Atlantis was a developed maritime power, and the same could be said about the country of the Minoans, which had an impressive navy. Plato said that on the island of the Atlanteans, fat herds of sacred bulls grazed, of which the Minoans had a lot, and they were also considered sacred. On seabed near Thira a ditch was discovered similar to the one with which, according to Plato, the fortress in the capital of Atlantis was protected.

Now the island of Thira is a fragment left after the explosion of a giant volcano. The ruins of the Minoan city, excavated in 1967, lay under a thick layer of volcanic ash and, like Pompeii, are perfectly preserved. Archaeologists have found many colored frescoes and even wooden objects here. In 1976, the famous French scientist and aquanaut Jacques Cousteau at the bottom Aegean Sea near the island of Crete the remains of an ancient

Minoan civilization

. According to his calculations, it was destroyed during the devastating eruption of the Santorini volcano that occurred in 1450 BC. e. However, Cousteau always considered Atlantis a beautiful fairy tale by Plato.

The authority of Cousteau's opinion forced many scientists to “return” to the hypothesis of the Atlantean Atlantis. The impetus for this decision was the discovery west of Gibraltar of a group of seamounts with table-like peaks located only 100-200 meters below ocean level. Many scientists consider these mountains to be the remains of a vast archipelago that sank in ancient times. The photographs taken by a researcher at the Institute of Oceanology of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1973 became a sensation. At that time, he took part in an expedition on the ship “Akademik Kurchatov”. Looking at the eight underwater photographs he took, you can see the ruins of a fortress wall and other buildings on top of one of the seamounts. As a result of those carried out in 1983-1984. research, scientists from the research vessels "Akademik Vernadsky" and "Vityaz" with the help of the underwater vehicles "Pysis" and "Argus", confirmed that Mount Amper is

This means that the fruitless search for Atlantis in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean only confirms the conclusions of scientists looking for traces of its presence in the Aegean Sea. True, some disagreements arose within their orderly ranks.

The reason for this in 1987 was the Russian scientist I. Mashnikov. He logically rethought the works of Plato and put forward a new hypothesis.

First of all, he disputes the time of the destruction of Atlantis, as well as some other data of Plato. For example, the number of Atlantean ground and naval forces. Judging by Plato's words, the Atlanteans had a huge armada - 1200 ships, as well as an army, which, according to experts, amounted to more than a million soldiers. Accordingly, the army of the Greeks that defeated the Atlanteans should have been no less numerous. According to Mashnikov’s quite logical reasoning, during the Ice Age there was simply nowhere for such a huge army to come from, taking into account the fact that at that time the number of inhabitants of the entire planet was no more than 3-4 million people, and at the same time they were at a fairly low level of development.

Accordingly, we are most likely talking about another, much later time. Mashnikov says that ancient people wrote down nine thousand as ten thousand minus a thousand, and, accordingly, nine hundred as a thousand minus one hundred. In the Egyptian number system, a thousand was denoted by the sign "M", and in the ancient Greek system, "M" meant ten thousand. Apparently, Solon simply rewrote Egyptian signs from ancient Egyptian documents, and Plato understood them in ancient Greek. This is how 9000 appeared instead of 900."

If we take into account the fact that Solon “stayed” in Egypt (560 BC) 900 years after the death of Atlantis, the approximate date of the disaster is 1460 BC. e. plus a possible error of 100-150 years. Scientists, looking for Atlantis in the Atlantic, according to Mashnikov, took a false trail, because they had no doubt that Plato’s Pillars of Hercules, behind which this land was located, was the Strait of Gibraltar. between the country of the Atlanteans and the Athenian state. This means that these pillars could only be located in the Aegean Sea. In another place in his story, Plato directly points out that Athens opposed the state of the Atlanteans, which can be interpreted not only as a war, but also as a geographical one, that is, they were on the other side - on the peninsula of Asia Minor. At this time, the land of the Hittites was there. In addition, according to the author, only here cities were built on a circular plan, creating canals as if outlined by a compass.

But Plato talked about Atlantis as a large island that sank to the bottom of the sea. It can be assumed that part of this state was indeed located on an island, although not as large as Plato claimed. Probably, it was this island, and not the whole country, that perished as a result of a volcanic eruption or earthquake, as a result of which only a chain of islands remained, which is now called the Sporades. It turns out that Atlantis is actually Hettia or its island part. In addition, Plato, when retelling Solon, argued that Atlantis was at war with Athens. And from sources it is known that in the XIV century. BC e. Egypt waged war with Hettia, and after some time Athens entered the war, according to the historian Herodotus, inflicted a heavy defeat on the Hittites and captured 13 of their cities. Subsequently, the Hittite empire collapsed.

According to I. Mashnikov, the war between Hettia and Athens is the key to solving another mystery. Obviously, “Atlanteans” is not a nationality, but a contemptuous name for an enslaved people. The sculpture of the enemy, who became a slave and propped up the cornice, was a symbol of the courage of the victors and the humility of the vanquished. The defeated Hittites were turned into slaves and became Atlanteans, their fallen state began to be called Atlantis." Perhaps these arguments are not far from the truth.

An unusual version of the origin of Atlantis was put forward in 1992 by the German scientist Zangger. Some researchers consider his book about the secrets of Atlantis simply brilliant. According to Zangger, Plato's narrative is a distorted memory of the once fallen Troy. This antique city, which was located near the Dardanelles Strait and was described by Homer in the 12th century. BC e. as having fallen under the onslaught of the Greeks, was considered a myth. But, in 1871, the ruins of Troy were found by the German scientist G. Schliemann. At the same time, Zangger provides quite a lot of significant evidence of this hypothesis, especially if we take into account the coincidences in the descriptions of Homer and Plato of the area in which Troy was located.

But what about the fact that Plato speaks not about the plain, but about the large island? Zangger believes that Solon is to blame for this. When reading the hieroglyphic inscriptions on the pillar when visiting the main temple in the residence Egyptian pharaohs, located in Saisi, he made a mistake. Allegedly, these hieroglyphs denoted a sandy strip or coast. A serious mistake was made in the designation of the place where Atlantis was located on the other side of the Pillars of Hercules. It is possible that the Dardanelles bore this name.

According to the author of this version, another serious mistake crept into Plato’s story, which was the incorrect determination of the time of the disaster. After all, on the column of an Egyptian temple is written the story that nine thousand years ago the Greeks overthrew a powerful power - Atlantis. This hypothesis also has weak side

– discrepancies that the author explains by the mistakes of the ancient sages. In addition, the rationale for determining the date of the war is rather unconvincing.

In general, each of the hypotheses has a certain rational grain, and which of them will ultimately turn out to be true, only time will tell. Or a new hypothesis - after all, the mystery of Atlantis has not yet been solved.

Plato's Atlantis

From the very beginning to the present day, people in relation to Plato's story are divided into romantics who accept it as truth, and skeptics who do not believe it. The first and most authoritative skeptic was Aristotle. He believed that Plato invented Atlantis to reinforce his ideas about the ideal state.
Aristotle’s famous phrase: “Plato is my friend, but truth is dearer” was said by him precisely in this regard.
The following are some excerpts from Timaeus and Critias:

"So, nine thousand years ago (Plato lived in 428 BC, which means 10,000 + 2,000 years ago, so we read: 12,000 years ago) these fellow citizens of yours lived, about whose laws and whose greatest feat I have to tell you briefly; Later, at our leisure, with letters in hand, we will find out all the circumstances and in order... After all, according to the evidence of our records, your state put a limit on the audacity of countless military forces that set off to conquer all of Europe and Asia, and kept their path from the Atlantic Sea.
In those days it was possible to cross the sea, for there was an island that lay in front of that strait, which in your language is called the Pillars of Hercules. This island was larger in size than Libya and Asia combined, and from it it was easy for travelers of that time to move to other islands, and from the islands to the entire opposite continent..." [Plato's Dialogues, Timaeus].

In Critias, Plato tells the story of the settlement of this continent, the rise and fall of the Atlantean civilization:

"As you know, the gods divided all the countries of the earth among themselves by lot. They did this without strife... Each of the gods settled in their own country; Having settled, they began to nurture us, their property and pets, like shepherds tending a flock... So Poseidon, having received the island of Atlantis as his inheritance, populated it with children conceived from a mortal woman...
Having produced male twins five times each, Poseidon raised them and divided the entire island of Atlantis into ten parts, and to the one of the eldest couple who was born first, he gave his mother's house and surrounding possessions as the largest and best share, and made him king over the rest, and these others - archons, to each of whom he gave power over a populous people and a vast country... All of them and their descendants lived there for many generations, ruling over many other islands of this sea and, as has already been said earlier , extending all power on this side of the Pillars of Hercules all the way to Egypt and Tyrrhenia...
Much was imported to them from subject countries, but most of what they needed for life was provided by the island itself, first of all, any types of fossils, hard and fusible metals, and among them what is now known only by name, but then existed in reality: native orichalcum , extracted from the bowels of the earth in various places on the island.
The forest provided in abundance everything that the builders needed for their work, as well as for feeding domestic and wild animals. There were even a great number of elephants on the island, for there was enough food not only for all other living creatures inhabiting swamps, lakes and rivers, mountains or plains, but also for this animal, the largest and most voracious of all animals.
Further, all the incense that the earth now nourishes, be it in roots, in herbs, in wood, in oozing resins, in flowers or in fruits - all this she gave birth to there and perfectly cultivated. Moreover, every fruit and grain cultivated by man, which we use as food or from which we make bread, and various kinds of vegetables, as well as every tree that produces food, drinks or anointings, every tree unsuitable for storage and used for fun and delicacy the fruit that we offer as a snack to those who are satiated with dinner - all this the then sacred island under the influence of the sun gave birth to beautiful, amazing and abundant. Taking advantage of these gifts from the earth, the kings built sanctuaries, palaces, harbors and shipyards and put the whole country in order.
For many generations, until the nature inherited from God was exhausted, the rulers of Atlantis obeyed the laws and lived in friendship with the divine principle akin to them: they cherished the true and in everything great system of thoughts, treated the inevitable determinations of fate and each other with reasonable patience, despising everything except virtue, they did not value wealth at all and easily regarded piles of gold and other treasures almost as an annoying burden.
They did not become drunk with luxury, did not lose power over themselves and their common sense under the influence of wealth, but, maintaining sobriety of mind, clearly saw that all this owed its growth to general consent in combination with virtue and that when wealth becomes a matter of concern and turns out to be honor, it goes to dust, and along with it virtue perishes. While they reasoned in this way, and the divine nature retained its power in them, all their wealth, briefly described by us, increased. But when the inherited portion from God weakened, being repeatedly dissolved in mortal admixture, and human disposition prevailed, then they were unable to bear their wealth any longer and lost their decency.
To one who knows how to see, at that time they presented a shameful spectacle, for they squandered the most beautiful of their valuables; but unable to see what a truly happy life consists of, they seemed most beautiful and happiest just when unbridled greed and power were seething within them.
And so Zeus, the God of gods, observing the laws, being well able to discern what we were talking about, thought about the glorious race that had fallen into such pitiful depravity, and decided to impose punishment on it, so that, having sobered up from trouble, it would learn decency". [Plato's Dialogues, Critias].
This punishment was the Great Flood that occurred 12,000 years ago.

Thus, Plato described Atlantis as a continent larger in area than Libya (Africa) and Asia combined, representing big Island(or a group of islands), which was located behind the Pillars of Hercules (Straits of Gibraltar) and sank during the Great Flood 9000 years before Solon, that is, 11600-11500 years ago.

Most modern researchers who believed Plato imagine Atlantis as a continent located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean between Europe and Africa on one side and the two Americas on the other, which, as a result of tectonic processes, sank to the bottom, and there they are trying to find its remains. However, geology leaves no hope for this.

Research in recent decades has brilliantly confirmed Wegener's assumption that once upon a time, during the 1st and 2nd races, there was a single continent, Gondwana, which split apart approximately 50 million years ago, and its fragments - Eurasia, Africa and the two Americas - have dispersed over a long distance over the elapsed time.

The age of its sections is determined by magnetization and the thickness of sedimentary deposits, which continuously increases in proportion to their distance from the fault. All changes and inversions of the Earth's magnetic field, which occurred repeatedly over 50 million years, are recorded in the basalt rock of the ocean floor during its formation, as if on a tape. No anomalies in this pattern, allowing for the existence in the near or distant past of a continent in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, have been discovered. But...

The cultural influence of Atlantis on various civilizations of the world, noted by many researchers (pyramids, embalming, etc.) dates back to a much more ancient time. The laws of the Atlanteans are more reminiscent of the ancient Aryan “Laws of Manu,” which presupposed the division of citizens into varnas:
"You can imagine the laws of your ancestors from here: you will now find in Egypt many institutions adopted in those days (nine thousand years ago) and among you, and, first of all, for example, the class of priests, isolated from others, then the class of artisans , in which everyone is engaged in his craft, without interfering with anything else, and, finally, the class of shepherds, hunters and farmers; and the military class, as you must have noticed yourself, is separate from the others, and its members are required by law not to care about anything other than war…".

Finally, Sanges clearly indicated where the expansion was coming from " countless military forces (Atlanteans) set off to conquer all of Europe and Asia, and kept their path from the Atlantic Sea".
No fewer objections can also be raised against considering the American continent or the islands adjacent to it to be Atlantis, as Andrew Collins does.

The fact that Atlantis is the same Hyperborea is evidenced by the legends about the travels of Hercules for the rejuvenating apples of the Hesperides and the cows of Geryon.

For more than two thousand years, people's minds have been haunted by Plato's story about Atlantis. Information about this country was allegedly reported by Sankhes, the high priest of the temple in Sais, to the ancestor of Plato, the ancient Greek philosopher and statesman, Solon, who visited Egypt around 600. BC. Solon's information about Atlantis, which reached Plato through Timaeus and Critias, was presented by him in the sections of the Dialogues of the same name.
Hyperborea was located at the North Pole of the Atlanteans

So, when going to the garden of the Hesperides, Hercules went to extreme west, where the entrance to Hyperborea, guarded by Atlas, was located. And when going for the cows (or bulls) of Geryon, to the Hyperborean island of Erithea (Erithea is one of the names of Hyperborea, which probably comes from its location behind the Riphean mountains), Hercules goes to Erythea through Gibraltar, and returns from it through Scythia, located in the northeast of Greece: " Hercules, driving away the bulls of Geryon, arrived in that then deserted land, which is now inhabited by the Scythians. Geryon lived outside of Pontus, living on an island that the Greeks call Erythea. It is located near Ghadir, located on the other side of the Pillars of Hercules by the Ocean".

The conclusion suggests itself that in all these legends we are talking about the same country. American atlantologist I. Donnelly came to the conclusion that Atlantis was a common cultural center Old and New Worlds, and identified it with other mythological places: Eden, Garden of the Hesperides, Champs Elysees, the gardens of Alcinous, the Viking Midgard.

Hermann Wirth, in his works “The Origin of Man” and “The Sacred Proto-Writing of Humanity,” argued that Atlantis is identical to Hyperborea and the country of Altland of the sacred tradition of the Ingevons. The name Altland means old country.
The Egyptians, apparently, did not understand its meaning, did not translate it into their language and distorted the sound. And the names of the inhabitants of Midgard (Ingevons, Hermiones and Istevons) could mean: living at the entrance (to Midgard), in the middle and at its exit.

G. ALEXANDROVSKY.

In the dialogues of the ancient thinker Plato there is still a grain that speaks of the reality of the legendary island. The legend of Atlantis has lived for more than two thousand years. But only a few decades ago, people, despairing of finding traces of a once prosperous state, classified Plato’s works as utopias. And here's a sensational twist: in our days, some historians and archaeologists have recognized that Plato's dialogues still contain a grain of real fact. We present three new hypotheses suggesting where and when Atlantis perished.

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The legend of the Egyptian priests

In 421 BC. e. Greek philosopher Plato in his two works - "Timaeus" and "Critias" - outlined the story and the sad end island state Atlantis. The story is told in the form of a dialogue by Plato’s great-grandfather, Critias: he conveys the content of the conversation with his grandfather, who heard the story of Atlantis from his contemporary, Solon, an Athenian legislator and poet, who, in turn, learned about Atlantis from an Egyptian priest. And Plato more than once emphasizes in his texts that this is not a myth, but a true story about historical events.

Atlantis, according to Plato, is a huge island that lay in the ocean behind the Pillars of Hercules, that is, beyond Gibraltar. In the center of the island there was a hill on which stood temples and a royal palace. The Acropolis - the upper city - was protected by two rows of earthen embankments and three water ring canals. The outer ring was connected to the sea by a 500-meter canal through which ships entered the inner port. The life of Atlantis appears full of prosperity.

The temple of the main deity of the islanders - Poseidon, ruler of the seas, was, says Plato, lined with gold, silver and orchilac (a recently unraveled word means an alloy of copper and zinc). Another temple, dedicated to Poseidon and his wife Cleito, the ancestor of all Atlanteans, is surrounded by a golden wall. There was also a golden statue of Poseidon and golden sculptures of the Nereids - the numerous daughters of the sea deity. The Atlanteans had bronze weapons and thousands of war chariots. The mineral resources provided copper and silver.

The people entertained themselves with horse racing; they had thermal baths at their service: there were two springs on the island - cold and hot water. The ships hurried to the harbor of Atlantis with ceramic dishes, spices, and rare ores. To supply the port with fresh water, the river bed was turned.

The island belonged to a powerful alliance of kings. And then the moment came when he decided to subjugate other countries, including Greece. However, Athens, showing valor and strength in the war, won. But, as Plato says, the Olympian gods, dissatisfied with the warring peoples, decided to punish them for greed and violence. A monstrous earthquake and flood “in one terrible day and one night” destroyed the Athenian army and all of Atlantis. The ocean waters swallowed the island.

47 years after Plato’s death, Krantor, a resident of Athens, went to Egypt to make sure whether the sources of the information used by the philosopher were really there. And he found, according to him, in the temple of Neith hieroglyphs with text about the events described.

Search

The search for Atlantis began at the very beginning of the new era - in the 50th year of Christ. Almost two thousand years since that time, many hypotheses have appeared about the location of Atlantis. Many were attracted by the wealth mentioned by Plato. Just think: take possession of golden walls and statues! Most interpreters of Critias and Timaeus pointed to the existing islands of the Atlantic Ocean. But there were other landmarks. Among the 50 points on Earth identified by enthusiasts for the search for Atlantis, there are some absolutely fantastic ones, for example Brazil or Siberia, the existence of which the ancient philosopher did not even suspect.

A new surge of interest in the search for the legendary island arose after the First World War. Underwater technology improved during wartime prompted adventurous businessmen to organize companies in several countries to search for the mysterious Atlantis. For example, the following note appeared in the French newspaper Le Figaro: “A society for the study and exploitation of Atlantis has been created in Paris.” The companies, of course, collapsed one after another, but the Russian writer Alexander Belyaev found in a newspaper publication the plot for his science fiction story “The Last Man from Atlantis.”

More than 50 thousand publications are devoted to the problem of the sunken island. Cinema and television also contributed to this story. More than 20 expeditions explored places where, according to their organizers, the people of Atlantis once prospered. But they all returned empty-handed.

To the two main questions - where? and when? - already in our century, objections from archaeologists were added, who considered the story of the abundance of gold and silver on the island to be fantasy. They also included a network of canals - circular and leading to the sea, an inland port and other hydraulic structures - among Plato's inventions: it was beyond their capabilities, supposedly, such large-scale projects were possible in those days. Researchers of Plato's philosophical and literary heritage believed that by telling the story of the prosperous Atlantis, the ancient idealist thinker called on his contemporaries to build an exemplary state without dictatorship and tyranny. And in this sense, Plato is called the creator of the utopian genre. (Plato, in fact, in some of his writings called for the construction of an ideal state based on goodness and justice. He traveled from Athens to Syracuse three times, the last time as a very old man, in vain hoping to instill humane ideas in the tyrants there.) As for the time of the death of the island in ocean depths, then Plato named a date that contradicts all the data of modern science: according to his information, the catastrophe occurred 11,500 years ago to the present day, or 9,000 years, counting until the time of Plato himself. 12-10 thousand years ago, humanity was just emerging from the Paleolithic, the ancient Stone Age, and it is difficult to imagine that somewhere there lived a people whose development was many thousands of years ahead of the human race. The primary source of such an error could be incorrect determinations of the age of the Egyptian state carried out in ancient times. For example, Herodotus counted Egypt to be 11,340 years old.

Is it Atlantis?

"The Russians found Atlantis!" - with such sensational notices, many newspapers in Western Europe accompanied photographs of the seabed in 1979. In the photographs, vertical ridges were clearly visible under the layer of sand, reminiscent of the walls of a destroyed city. The impression of ancient city ruins was enhanced by the fact that other ridges ran along the bottom at right angles to the first.

The underwater images were taken by the Moscow University research vessel Akademik Petrovsky. The actions took place where Plato indicated - “behind the pillars of Hercules.” Once out into the Atlantic Ocean, the ship stopped over a sandbar to test its underwater equipment. Pure chance helped us choose a parking spot just above the underwater volcano Ampere. It was possible to establish that the Amper volcano once protruded from the water and was an island.

In 1982, the Soviet ship "Rift" was lowered into the ocean here underwater vehicle"Argus". “We were presented with a panorama of the ruins of the city, since the walls very much imitated the remains of rooms, streets, squares,” the commander of the Argus, V. Bulyga, reported to the Institute of Oceanology of the Academy of Sciences. Unfortunately, the next expedition of the Vityaz, which took place in the summer of 1984, did not confirm such encouraging impressions of the aquanaut. Two stones of fairly regular shape were lifted up from one of the walls, but their analysis showed that this was not the work of human hands, but volcanic rock. The commander of the Argus crew, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences A. Gorodnitsky, writes: “Most likely, the stone is solidified lava that once poured out through the cracks of the volcano.” Another seamount, Josephine, also an ancient volcano and formerly an island, was also examined.

A. Gorodnitsky proposed his model of a grandiose geological disaster of the distant past. It arose due to a sharp shift in the northern direction of the African tectonic plate. Its collision with the European plate caused the eruption of the Santorini volcano in the east, and in the west - the immersion of the mentioned volcanic islands into the ocean. This hypothesis does not contradict the geological and geophysical data of modern science. However, once again Atlantis turned out to be not a fascinating hypothesis, but just a myth: scientists have not found any traces of the remains of the material culture of the Atlanteans.

The legend of Atlantis has haunted humanity for the third millennium; more than 6 thousand volumes have been written about it. But did this exist? mysterious civilization? If yes, when and where? How to interpret the evidence of the ancients? Atlantis is a mystery for geologists, geophysicists, seismologists, oceanographers, as well as for historians, archaeologists, art historians and people studying ancient cultures. There is no hope of finding golden statues of goddesses, a temple of Poseidon, or anything like that in the depths of the ocean. Processes of erosion, sedimentation and other natural processes mercilessly destroy traces of ancient civilizations, but indirect evidence of their existence still reaches us.

The Legend of Atlantis. The mythical continent, or the island of Atlantis, was first described Plato(427–347 BC) in dialogues Timaeus And Critias with reference to one of the seven sages of Ancient Greece - Solona. Plato allegedly learned about Atlantis from his grandfather Solon, who traveled to Egypt and met there with local priests - experts in ancient secrets, who, according to historians and archaeologists-Egyptologists, relied on written evidence left by the ancients more than 30 thousand years ago that had not survived papyri before us. It was they who told him the history of Atlantis. According to them, it was located somewhere in the Atlantic - west of the Strait of Gibraltar and was named after Atlas, the brother of one of the titans of Greek mythology - Prometheus. According to Plato, the mysterious continent was inhabited by the Atlanteans - a fearless and powerful people who reached the highest level of civilization and fought with a certain pre-Athenian state. It was located in the Atlantic Ocean beyond Gibraltar and died approximately 12 thousand years ago (between 9750 and 8570 BC), plunging into the abyss of the ocean “in one day and a disastrous night” as a result of a tremendous natural disaster.

Where to look for Atlantis? If we collect and publish all the data about where Atlantis could be located, we would get a fascinating book in which we would also have to talk about South America, with which the famous philosopher Francis Bacon (1561–1626) identified Atlantis in his utopia New Atlantis; and about the North Sea, where, according to the German pastor Jürgen Spanut, there was a mysterious continent not far from the island of Heligoland, and about searches in the early 19th century from Yucatan to Mongolia and from Spitsbergen to St. Helena. Atlantis was “registered” in Brazil, Scandinavia, Palestine, in the Pas-de-Calais Strait, etc. Among the active supporters of its existence were the artist and philosopher Nicholas Roerich and geologist, academician Vladimir Obruchev. Recently, the views of researchers are increasingly turning to the islands of Crete and Thira (Strongele), and in antiquity the island of Thera. The Minoan culture of these islands died as a result major disaster one and a half thousand years BC. Among the supporters of the latter hypothesis are Angelos Galanopoulos, Bacon, tectonist Evgeniy Milanovsky, famous explorer depths of the sea, French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who discovered fragments of structures on the periphery of the underwater island of Thira, indicating that the city really died there. But was it Atlantis?

How they searched for Atlantis. At the beginning of the 20th century, three expeditions were equipped and sent in search of Atlantis, one of which (the second) was led by Pavel Schliemann, the grandson of the famous discoverer of Troy, Heinrich Schliemann. According to Pavel Schliemann, his famous grandfather left a sealed envelope so that it would be opened by one of the family members who would make a solemn promise to devote his entire life to research, indications of which he would find in this envelope. Pavel Schliemann made such an oath, opened the envelope and read the letter that was there. In a letter, Heinrich Schliemann reported that he undertook research on the remains of Atlantis, the existence of which he has no doubt and which he considers the cradle of our entire civilization. In the summer of 1873, Heinrich Schliemann allegedly found (during excavations in Troy) a bronze vessel large sizes, inside which were smaller clay vessels, small figurines made of a special metal, money made of the same metal, and objects “made from fossil bones.” On some of these objects and on the bronze vessel was written in Phoenician hieroglyphs: “From the king of Atlantis, Chronos.” But many researchers, Russian and foreign, are distrustful of this story.

The search for Atlantis has been and is ongoing everywhere - all over the globe. Foreign researchers Renata and Yaroslav Malina in their works about natural disasters and aliens from outer space they write that Atlantean sailors explored the Earth. They are said to have traveled through the air and under water, photographing objects on long distance, used X-rays, recorded images and sounds on video tapes, used a crystal laser, invented terrible weapons using cosmic rays, and also used antimatter energy. However, the use of the dark forces of nature for personal gain by ambitious priests and the increasing frequency of earthquakes led to the disintegration of the mainland into many islands, which subsequently also disappeared into the sea. And ten thousand years BC, an underground explosion destroyed the island of Poseidonis. Radiation emitted by a large crystal lying at the site of the destruction of Atlantis leads to the sudden disappearance of ships and aircraft in the famous Bermuda Triangle.

In 1981 and 1984, the Institute of Oceanology equipped two expeditions for test dives of the underwater diving bell and testing other equipment of the research vessel “Vityaz”. The research was carried out in the area of the Amper seamount, located in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 500 km west of the Strait of Gibraltar and part of the Hosshu seamount system. On the flat top of the mountain, formations were discovered that resembled the ruins of a city. The expedition members managed to photograph something similar to the masonry of the wall and make a number of drawings from life, which served as a reason for sensational reports in the newspapers. What they saw was surprisingly reminiscent of ancient dwellings in Chersonesus: firstly, cells ranging in size from 5 to 10 m, very similar to the rooms of houses, and secondly, scientists saw many straight parallelepipeds, buildings resembling stairs and even something like an arch. Divers broke off fragments of weathered basalt from one of the supposed masonry, and experts checked them for traces of tool processing. It was not possible to find a definite answer, however, experts were inclined to conclude that the “walls” were still not made by human hands and there were no “ruins” ancient city" does not exist. Further careful study showed that the mountain is an old volcano, broken by deep cracks, extending almost at right angles to each other and giving the impression of “rooms”. Another thing was more important: when the basalt was subjected to chemical analysis, it became clear that it was formed not under water, but in air, i.e. in those days when Ampere rose above the surface of the ocean.

How did Atlantis perish? Let's turn to Plato's dialogue Critias, where we are talking about the reasons for the death of Atlantis: “And so Zeus... thought about the glorious race that had fallen into such pitiful depravity, and decided to impose punishment on it, so that, having sobered up from trouble, it would learn good manners. Therefore, he called all the gods... and addressed those gathered with these words...". It is at this point that the narrative breaks off. What kind of punishment did Zeus prepare for Atlantis?

Where the myth ends, the painstaking work of scientists begins. Now more and more researchers are inclined to believe that Atlantis could have perished as a result of a strong earthquake or volcanic eruption, and most likely, both at the same time. Some scientists believe that Atlantis was destroyed by giant waves - tsunamis, which often arise as a result of earthquakes. But there are also more exotic options. Polish astronomer L. Seidler believes that the death of the continent is associated with the fall of a comet or asteroid on our planet. Astronomer O. Muk put forward a hypothesis about the fall of a huge meteorite in the area of the Florida Peninsula on the Atlantic coast, which, according to his calculations, occurred on June 5, 8499 BC. (according to the Gregorian calendar) and caused the disaster. Hans Schindler Bellamy suggested that Atlantis was wiped off the face of the Earth by giant waves resulting from the Moon falling into the Earth's gravitational field. But, perhaps, the most probable version from a geological point of view is that deep tectonic processes and mutual collisions of continental plates gave rise to both earthquakes and tsunamis that destroyed this civilization.
Evidence of the ancients. What did Plato know about Atlantis? In his dialogues, he reports that Atlantis disappeared within one day and one tragic night - “in one terrible day.” Russian symbolist poet V.Ya. Bryusov in his essay “Atlantis” notes that “Plato describes Atlantis already in the state that it reached after several thousand years of cultural life, when the island already had many separate kingdoms, many rich cities and a huge population numbering in the millions.” And the history of the island itself began with the division of the land between three brother gods: Zeus, Hades and Poseidon. Poseidon was given the island of Atlantis by lot and, in addition, he became the ruler of the seas. When Poseidon received Atlantis, only three people lived on the island - “one of the husbands, at the very beginning brought into the world by the Earth, named Eunor with his wife Livkippe and the beautiful daughter Cleito.” Poseidon fell in love with Cleito, she became his wife and gave birth to five pairs of twins - the first ten kings of Atlantis.

Poseidon was the first to fortify the island to make it inaccessible to enemies. Around a low hill, gradually turning into a plain, three water and two earthen rings were dug in a circle, one after another, alternately. In the very center of the hill (acropolis), on a hill, Poseidon built a small temple for Cleito and himself, surrounding it with a wall of pure gold. A palace was built on the acropolis, which was expanded and decorated by each king, and the new one certainly sought to surpass his predecessor. “So it was impossible to see this building without being amazed at the size and beauty of the work.” The kings - the children of Poseidon, of course, could not do without bathing, and therefore they built numerous baths on the acropolis. “For swimming there were reservoirs, open, and, for winter, closed; there were special ones - for the royal family and for private individuals; still others - separately for women, and also for horses and pack animals; each of them was located and decorated according to its purpose. The water coming out of these reservoirs was directed to irrigate the forest of Poseidon, where the fertility of the soil produced trees of amazing height and beauty.” The largest and most majestic structure of the acropolis was the temple, dedicated to god Poseidon. It was truly gigantic in size: 185 meters long, 96 meters wide and “appropriate” in height. The outside of the large temple was entirely lined with silver, except for the “ends” made of pure gold. There were many statues made of gold inside the temple. The largest of them depicted the god Poseidon, who, standing on a chariot, controlled six winged horses. The statue of Poseidon was so high that its head almost touched the ceiling, which was trimmed with ivory and all decorated with gold and silver. The walls, pillars and floors inside the temple were entirely lined with precious stones. Everything literally sparkled and “lit up” as soon as a ray of sunlight penetrated into the sanctuary.

Plato also reports many wonderful things about the capital of the Atlanteans, and then moves on to describe the entire country. “The island of Atlantis was very elevated above sea level, and the shore rose up like an inaccessible cliff. All around the capital was a plain, surrounded by mountains reaching to the sea.” Everyone said about this plain that it was the most beautiful on earth and very fertile. It was densely dotted with flowering villages, separated by lakes, rivers, and meadows, where many wild domestic animals grazed. Much came to the Atlanteans from outside, due to the extent of their power; but the island itself produced almost everything necessary for life. “Firstly, all metals are hard and fusible, suitable for processing, including the one that we now know only by name: orichalcum: deposits of it were found in many places on the island; after gold it was the most precious of metals. The island supplied all the necessary materials for crafts. Lived on an island a large number of domestic animals and wild animals, by the way, there are many elephants. The island provided abundant food for all kinds of animals, both those living in swamps, lakes and rivers or on mountains and plains, and these (elephants), although they are huge and voracious. The island produced and delivered all the aromas that now grow in different countries, roots, herbs, juice flowing from fruits and flowers. There was also a fruit that produces wine (grapes), and one that serves as food (cereals), along with those that we also eat, called in general terms- vegetables; there were also fruits that provided drink, food and incense at the same time (coconuts?). Such were the divine and amazing riches that this island produced in incalculable quantities.” Further, Plato describes the political structure of the capital and itself, because “with such bounty of the soil, the inhabitants built temples, palaces, ports and harbors for ships and tried to decorate their island.” On happy island each of the ten brother kings had absolute power in his kingdom, but general board The kings ruled the state of Atlantis by the Council, to which they gathered every 5-6 years, alternating even and odd numbers. The highest power always remained with the direct heir of the Atlas, but even the main king could not sentence any of his relatives to death without the consent of the majority of the kings, “as long as the Atlanteans followed the principles of virtue during their reign and while the “divine principle” dominated in them, they succeeded in everything.” But when “human morality” triumphed - the base principle, when they lost all decency and unbridled greed began to boil in them, when people began to present a “shameful spectacle”, then the God of Gods - Zeus, seeing the depravity of the Atlanteans, once so virtuous, decided to punish them. “He gathered all the gods in the heavenly sanctuary and addressed them with these words...”

As mentioned above, at this point Plato’s dialogue “Critias” suddenly ends and the story of Atlantis and its two thousand year long search begins. The priests mourned the spiritual wisdom of Atlantis, which had defiled itself. Philosophers talked about the divine rulers of this island, poets sang of the fabulous perfection of its structure. However, some researchers believe that Plato needed dialogues about Atlantis to express his thoughts about the ideal structure of the state. The story of Atlantis, as Valery Bryusov notes, is not something exceptional in the works of Plato. He also has other descriptions of fantastic countries, clothed in the form of myths. But none of these stories is provided, like the description of Atlantis, with references to sources. Plato, as if anticipating future doubts and objections, takes care to indicate the origin of his information with the greatest accuracy that ancient authors only knew.

Probably, the Greek Plato would think seriously if he knew what kind of excitement would surround his two works in which he mentions Ancient Atlantis. Some consider them almost the main books - revelations of humanity, others - false fabrications, a kind of ancient Greek yellow press, desperately distorting the facts. His "Dialogues" - "Timaeus" and "Critius" - by today's standards, these are two thin brochures, the contents of which could easily fit, for example, on the pages of a newspaper. But after Plato mentioned the superstate of Atlantis, more than 300 thousand articles have already been written on this topic.
In addition to the philosopher Plato, who described Atlantis in 360 - 370. BC e., other ancient writers also mentioned it. For example, a century earlier, the famous historian Herodotus wrote: “Mount Atlas stands near a salt lake. It is narrow and high, so much so that its top is shrouded in clouds all year round. From her they got their name and local residents who are called Atlanteans." However, skeptics say that these people have nothing to do with Plato’s Atlantis. Another ancient Greek philosopher, Theopompus, who, like Plato, lived in the 4th century, described a certain giant island - a state with many cities. One day they sent an army of 10 million people across the ocean to conquer Hyperborea. But when the conquerors saw how the Hyperboreans lived, they considered them unhappy and returned home overseas.” True, Hyperborea is also a mythical state, and Theopompus did not mention the name Atlantis. These are the main literary sources where you can glean information about the mythical state. There were other authors, but they all worked much later and can be considered to have used the works of the ancient Greek trinity. Valery Bryusov at work Teachers of teachers defends the authenticity of Plato's story about Atlantis. In his opinion, if we assume that Plato’s description is fiction, we will have to recognize him as a superhuman genius, who foresaw the development of science for thousands of years to come and foresaw the discovery by historians of the world of Aegea, Columbus’s voyage to America, the discovery of the Mayan civilization, etc. With all due respect to the great philosopher, such insight is impossible, so a more plausible explanation arises: Plato referred to Egyptian manuscripts that came from ancient times.

The only way to prove that Atlantis existed is to find it. But in 10 thousand years from the moment of the catastrophe at the bottom of the sea, little would have remained of it. If the Atlanteans used iron, then there are no traces of it in sea water it's long gone. Salty water- too aggressive environment. Only gold has a chance to survive to this day. But it is unlikely that the Atlanteans erected golden statues tens of meters high. It is impossible to find smaller objects at the bottom. Another question: what did the Atlantean aborigines build their houses from? If granite, basalt and shell rock are the building materials of the ancient world, then all of them have already turned into sand. In ten thousand years, nothing will remain of both wooden buildings and those built from baked clay bricks. Only buildings made of marble could survive.

Numerous artifacts found in all corners globe, suggest the existence of a pre-civilization in the past. And it doesn’t matter what it was called: Hyperborea, Lemuria or Atlantis. 2500 years have passed since Plato. Was there really an Atlantean civilization, was their fate so tragic, and why has not a single material evidence of their existence been found yet? Almost all peoples of the world have legends about a certain mysterious land, which one day went under water. Scientific research recent years show that it is too early to put an end to this problem. And many serious scientists and researchers are confident: the next ten years of research on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean will give us irrefutable facts of the existence of the legendary Atlantis. The search for Atlantis can become a unique interdisciplinary study using methods of geology, oceanology, history, and analysis of ancient manuscripts and documents. But the biggest difficulty faced researchers are interpreting data and correlating dates. The fabulous Atlantis, a powerful and mysterious wonderland, still keeps its secrets and awaits discoverers.

“Atlantis Supposed to have been Discovered, Not in the Atlantic, but in the Aegean Sea,” was the headline of an article in the Norfolk Ledger-Star for July 19, 1967. The same article, headlined “Minoan City Found After 3,400 Years, connected with Atlantis” appeared in the New York Times on the same day. The articles are devoted to the discovery of the city of Minoa, buried under a 9-meter thick layer of volcanic ash on the island of Thira in the Aegean Sea. The excavations were carried out under the supervision of Dr. James W. Mavor of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Emily Vermeuli, professor of art and Greek at Wellesley College. Mavor and Vermeuli connected their discovery with Atlantis, since evidence of the existence of a highly developed civilization was discovered on the island, as well as its sudden and violent death... Pay attention to both headings. The value of these messages was seen not only in the discovery of a practically preserved city that flourished around 1500 BC, but in its possible connection with the mythical Atlantis. This was the latest attempt to make the legend of Atlantis a reality by changing its location and time of existence.

The most ancient and known references to Atlantis are contained in Timaeus and Critias, two dialogues by Plato that date back to the 5th century. BC Plato introduces information about Atlantis into a conversation between Solon and a certain Egyptian priest in Sais. It is spoken of as a large island in the Atlantic Ocean, which sank into the water as a result of a volcanic eruption about nine thousand years earlier.

Since Plato's time, mostly in the last two hundred years, hundreds of books and articles have been written about Atlantis. Some have tried to prove that Plato's story of Atlantis is not only possible, but also probable. Others argued that Atlantis was just a myth or viewed it as historical fact, but they were correlated not with the Atlantic Ocean, but with other places and with a later time.

A significant portion of the literature about Atlantis consists of numerous works by esotericists of various kinds, as well as the chaotic production of eccentric personalities. The attention that pseudoscientists and adherents of various cults paid to the legend of Atlantis was the reason why representatives of official science avoid even discussing this issue.

Several medieval authors mention this legendary country, probably the best known and most popular is Ignatius Donnelly's Atlantis: The World Before the Flood. First published in 1882, it was revised and edited by Egerton Sykes in 1949. No book published before or since contains such a volume of geological, archaeological material, information from legends and presents so many simple, artless and eloquent arguments , confirming the legend of Atlantis.

Donnelly's arguments are based largely on the evidence of similarities between cultures ancient egypt and Indian cultures of Central and South America. On both sides of the Atlantic, a 365-day calendar was used, embalming of the dead was practiced, pyramids were erected, legends about the flood were preserved, etc. Donnelly argues that both ancient cultures - Egyptian and American Indians - were the product of Atlantis, and when it was destroyed, they spread west and east. According to Donnelly, the legacy of Atlantis can explain the fact that the Basques of the Spanish Pyrenees differ in appearance and language from all their neighbors. (“The Basque language is the only non-Aryan language in Western Europe.” Lincoln Library, vol. 1, p. 516). Also, the inhabitants of the Canary Islands bear little resemblance to any African people and had the custom of mummifying the dead. Donnelly says Spain, Portugal and Canary Islands could have been a possible refuge for immigrants from the dying Atlantis. He compared the names of the cities of Asia Minor and those cities of Central America that already had names by the time the first European explorers appeared:

ASIA MINOR CENTRAL AMERICA

Chol Chol-ula

Colua Colua-kan

Zuivana Zuivan

Cholina Colina

Zalissa Gzalisko

According to Donelly, it would be too bold to attribute such similarities to coincidence. He provided 626 references to sources. Despite the weaknesses that critics found in his argument - he was accused of "building a mountain of conjectures on the molecules of facts" - the work was an astonishing achievement. Donnelly's arguments are still interesting to read today, so it would make sense, using modern methods, to do the work of separating fact from speculation in his intriguing book.

Egerton Sykes, an Atlantean scholar who has probably the world's richest collection of Atlantean literature, claims that thousands of books and articles have been written on the subject since Plato. However, only a few authors have added anything substantive to Donnelly's arguments. For example, an article supporting the possibility of Atlantis appeared in November 1948 in Science Digest. Originally published in MIT's Technical Engineering News in June 1948, it revisits Donnelly's strongest arguments regarding the possibility of the existence and sinking of an island country. The article discusses the presence on the ocean floor of a relief close to the continental one, namely mountains, valleys, plains with trenches and basins similar to the beds of rivers and lakes. Interestingly, a relatively small deformation of the Earth's crust (amounting to 1/8000 of the Earth's diameter) can lead to the raising of a large area of the ocean floor above the water level and the submergence of other parts of the land. Confirmations of such phenomena that occurred in the past are discussed in detail in the article. In 1898, the crew of a ship that was laying an underwater cable in the Azores area tried to use “cats” to locate this cable, which was lost at a depth of about 3.7 km. The rugged, rocky ocean bottom made the task difficult, and the instrument had to be frequently cleared of stuck pieces of soil. I further quote the article: “It was determined by microscopic examination that these pieces of soil were lava, which had a glassy structure and, therefore, must have hardened under atmospheric conditions. (Lava that solidifies underwater has a crystalline structure.) Since the lava has weathered significantly over the past 15 thousand years, we can assume that at that time the surface covered by it was located above sea level.” This is another recent confirmation of the existence of land in the Atlantic. An article by R. W. Kolbe in 1957 (Science, vol. 126) reports on studies of a deep-sea core recovered from a depth of 3.7 km in one of the sections of the underwater Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Findings of exclusively freshwater diatoms in sediment samples confirm that the studied section of the ridge was above sea level.

O. Mellis in 1958, studying the origin of deep-sea sands in the Atlantic Ocean, showed that the sands of the Romanche Trench probably resulted from the weathering of a section of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge that once rose above the surface of the ocean.

In 1959, the Military Engineer reported that “during hydrographic surveys by the US Coast and Geodetic Survey, flooded depressions more than 90 m wide and up to 150 m deep were discovered in the Straits of Florida. They are located 25 km from the Florida Keys, where the ocean depth is 270 m. It is assumed that they were freshwater lakes in an area that then sank.”

The most important expert arguments in favor of the existence of Atlantis can be found in the article by René Malais “Research of the ocean floor in connection with geological structure", which appeared in "Geologiska Foreningens" in "Stockholm Forhandlingar" (March-April, 1957). Malais argues that many of the continental-type landforms of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, in particular the canyons on the ocean floor, could not have been cut by underwater turbulent currents, but must have been formed when the modern sea floor was above water level. He looks at ocean currents and their impact on the glacier that covered Europe and America 10-12 thousand years ago. His paper also includes drawings comparing flint points found at Sandia Cave, New Mexico, with Solutrean tools from Morocco and France. The similarity of these finds indicates the unity of their origin. Since their origin is estimated at 25 thousand years ago, Malays believes that their owners could have spread west and east from Atlantis.

However, all these facts cannot serve as confirmation of the existence of Atlantis. At best, they indicate that parts of the Atlantic Ocean floor in the recent past were located above the water level.

From time to time, newspapers and magazines publish articles or statements citing authoritative statements both in support and against the legend of Atlantis. For example, the San Jose Mercury on July 17, 1958 quoted the Soviet physicist and mathematician Professor N. Ledner, who stated that he had studied the legends of Atlantis for 20 years and was convinced that ancient historical documents and cultural structures, together with the latest scientific discoveries, show that such an island continent actually existed. However, despite the efforts of authors such as Donnelly, Malays and others to collect and connect archaeological, geological and mythological evidence in support of the legend of Atlantis, there is no scientific evidence for the existence of Atlantis. There are no unmistakable remains of its culture and inhabitants. Myths and legends of the past, along with Plato's story, live to remind humanity of the ancient era. Some credible evidence is capable of suggesting "it could have been" propositions. But no evidence has been found that allows us to say with certainty: “it happened.” However, this does not mean that such facts will never be found. But for now, Atlantis seems to remain a myth in scientific circles.

What's on back side medals? Are there any scientific evidence that Atlantis never existed? Of course, the strongest argument against Atlantis is the lack of clear evidence of its existence. Most geologists agree with the concept of uniformitarianism, which assumes relatively slow changes. They do not believe that any catastrophic events that could lead to the submersion of the continent took place in the recent past, in the last 10-20 thousand years. There is evidence of certain, probably abrupt climatic shifts in the interval from 11 to 13 thousand years ago, but reputable scientists do not agree to connect them with earth movements. The uniformitarian position is well expressed by Elizabeth Chesley Batey in her very interesting book America Before Man. Referring to the legend of Atlantis, she says: “It is not surprising that so little satisfactory evidence has been found, since Atlantis, if it existed at all, disappeared long before it could be recorded in human memory. At normal crustal speeds, it takes millions of years for such a large island to sink into the depths of the sea.”

You only have to read the chapter on Atlantis and Lemuria in Martin Gardner's book In the Name of Science (in the cheap edition called Fads and Errors) to understand why most scientists brush off this topic. The mentioned chapter is full of angry, sarcastic comments about the Atlantean theory and those who wrote about it. Gardner's main arguments against the existence of Atlantis boil down to the fact that there is no real geological and archaeological evidence to the contrary. E. Bjorkman in his book “In Search of Atlantis” draws material from the Bible, the Odyssey and the works of the Greek historian Herodotus, trying to connect the idea of Atlantis with the ancient Spanish or Portuguese city. L. Sprague de Camp and Willie Ley in the book “The Lands Beyond” question the very authority of Plato, using the opinions of his contemporaries, and being unable to draw a positive conclusion, they conclude the section with the following statement: “What did Plato mean when he said about the Atlantic Ocean and the continent on the other side remains not entirely clear to this day.” Even broad-minded scientists feel the need to demote Atlantis to the category of myths.

The Spring 1936 edition of The American Scholar carried an article by E. D. Merrill, curator of the botanical collection at Harvard University, entitled "The Sunken Atlantis and Mu," in which the author attempts to deny the possibility of the existence of Atlantis using scientific arguments and seeks to show that there is no philological connection between the languages of the Americas and the Mediterranean region, and that there are no common cultivated plants and domestic animals in Mexico and the Mediterranean. The theme of his discussion is the similar development of agriculture in America and in the Old World, but based on different plant species: most cereals, as well as vegetables and fruits of the temperate zone, are of Eurasian origin, while most American species originate from the tropics and subtropics. He leads impressive list types of fruits and vegetables from the Old and New Worlds, respectively; claims that man came to America from Asia and that the highly developed civilizations of Central and South America developed without the influence of Atlantis and without communication with Europe and Asia. Merrill believes that no common cultivated plant or domestic animal other than the dog existed before 1492. This point of view about the lack of connections between Europe and America before Columbus is not shared, however, by all scientists.

T. S. Ferguson, archaeologist and writer, in his book One Fold and One Shepherd, builds an impressive series of facts demonstrating the similarities between the cultures of the Middle East and Central America. The illustrations comparing seals, pottery designs and architecture are compelling. In addition, he provides a list of 298 items of general culture. It may be assumed that ideas and designs of a similar and even identical nature arose independently of each other in different parts of the world, but when one reads this extensive list of objects and practices common to the Old and New Worlds, the possibility of an independent emergence of all these in both hemispheres seems very unlikely . Us. Books 22 and 23 contain an image of a seal excavated at Chiapa de Corzo in Mexico. Ferguson then quotes a letter from Dr. Albright of Johns Hopkins (Marilyn State University, Baltimore, founded in 1876 - Ed.), which states that "the seal contains several clearly recognizable Egyptian hieroglyphs." Us. 49-52 quotes Dr. George F. Carter, also from Johns Hopkins: “Some plants undoubtedly existed in the Old and New Worlds in pre-Columbian times. There is a huge list of plants, most of them belonging to the territories of middle America and South-East Asia, which run the gamut from possibly to very likely transported with human culture. The long-standing doctrine of the absolute separation of agriculture of the Old and New Worlds does not currently have a strong position. Botanical evidence should be reconsidered with an open mind.”

Such statements, although they do not confirm the existence of Atlantis, nevertheless indicate that there are certain ambiguities in the ideas of scientists about the origin of developed civilizations in South and Central America, and discrepancies on the issue of the early stages of plant domestication. The modern view is set out in W. C. Bennett's beautifully illustrated book The Ancient Arts of the Andes, a publication subsidized by the Museum contemporary art in New York, the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the California Palace of the Legion of Honor. Bennett comments on the situation: “The problem of the migration of the earliest inhabitants of South America is fascinating and confusing, but hardly more so than the problem of the origin of advanced civilizations in the Andes. This includes the question of the introduction of plants into cultivation, and it is as far from being resolved as the question of where the plants of the New World were first cultivated.”

In the April 1949 issue of Science Digest, another scientist, Dr. Maurice Ewing of Columbia University, published a short article entitled: "The Lost Continent Called Myth." Ewing, in his words, “since 1935 he has been mapping, taking samples, echoing the ocean floor and going down into the depths himself.” He took underwater photographs down to a depth of 5.5 km and "found no evidence of sunken cities anywhere." His research focused along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, stretching from Iceland to Antarctica. At first glance this may be taken as evidence against the existence of Atlantis, but some reflection leads to a different conclusion. Suppose the United States of America is destroyed by severe earthquakes and volcanoes over a period of months or years. Our cities are reduced to ruins and then buried under deposits of ash and lava. Huge tidal waves crashed onto the earth, sweeping away and destroying the remains of structures and all evidence of human creations. Finally, the whole country sinks into the ocean, and within 13 thousand years tidal currents dissipate, and ocean sediments cover all the remains of our civilization. In 14,967, someone will photograph several tens of square centimeters of the ocean floor or drill a hole 10 cm deep at the bottom. Can we expect him to see cities or the inside of a car, plane or factory? Everything speaks against this. But he will have no doubt that he has the right to conclude: America never existed.

The October 1953 issue of Atlantic Monthly featured an article by Robert Graves, “What Happened to Atlantis?” Graves drew attention to Greek myths and tried to show that the myth of Atlantis arose as a result of a mixture of different events - the flood of Libya with the splendor of civilization on the island of Crete and its end. He says that the Cretans turned Pharos, a small island near the mouth of the Nile, into a port, one of the wonders of the world. The dramatic sinking of this island shortly after the destruction of Knossos, the main city of Minoan culture on Crete, was combined in legend with the legend of the flood of Lake Tritonis, which brought disaster to the people of Libya. (This lake was once vast inland sea, now it has turned into the Marets salt marshes). These stories were passed down to posterity by the priests of Sais through Solon, who embellished the legends and thus shaped our understanding of Atlantis. However, the dating of the events that Graves talks about is so much younger than the time of the catastrophe of Atlantis described by Plato that after reading the article one is left with the feeling that all this may be interesting, but there are no less fabrications in it than in some of Donnelly’s arguments.

One of the last attacks against the possibility of a continent in the middle of the Atlantic appeared on October 21, 1961, in the Saturday Evening Post. In an article entitled "Ocean Floor Spreading," Dr. Robert S. Dietz develops a theory of crustal structure and ocean floor spreading that he says appears inconsistent with the existence of Atlantis. If, as he says, the continents are moving relative to each other by about 2.5 cm per year, then over the last 10 or 15 thousand years this will amount to too small amounts of change. Dr. Dietz is a respected oceanographer, but his theory may only be partly correct. If we assume the existence of catastrophic events on Earth, then on the scale of Earth's history there will always be enough time for one or two continents to slip into the ocean.

In the end we seem to be going in circles. The harder you try to solve the problem, the clearer the impossibility becomes clearer. The current literature does not provide convincing evidence for either view or the other. Until written sources about its history other than Plato's are found, or until there is definitive evidence that it never existed, Atlantis is likely to remain a mystery.

How does the legend of Atlantis relate to Edgar Cayce's "life readings"? If evidence of Atlantis is never discovered, Cayce will be in an unenviable position. If his records are confirmed to be correct, he could become as famous an archaeologist or historian as he was a clairvoyant diagnostician in the field of medicine.

There are 2,500 documented "readings" given to approximately 1,600 people. About 700 of them - almost half of those who received information about their past lives - had incarnations in Atlantis that influence their present lives. Moreover, Casey did not mention all the incarnations of each individuality, but only those of them that most influenced his current life, as well as those that could be most useful to a person. Therefore, it is not impossible that almost everyone living today had incarnations in Atlantis at one time or another.

The amazing property of this specific trend in “life readings” is their internal consistency. Although the "readings" were given to hundreds of people over a period of 21 years (from 1923 to 1944), they can be collected into a series of related, non-contradictory events. Individual strengths and weaknesses are reflected in subsequent lives. When many entities that lived together at the same time are reincarnated again in another era, group or national tendencies become apparent.

According to the "readings" of Edgar Cayce, many individual souls who had one or more reincarnations in Atlantis are reincarnating on Earth in this age, especially in America. Along with technical abilities, they also bring with them a tendency towards extremism. They often exhibit individual and group karma, marked by selfishness and the desire for exploitation as it relates to relationships with other people. Many of them lived during the destruction or geological disasters in Atlantis. If Cayce's prophecies are correct, then a similar period of earthly changes is inevitably approaching.

Unfortunately, few questions were asked regarding the timing of events, and this information was rarely given without questioning. Only a few “readings” give specific dates for events in Atlantis. However, by comparing names and events in dated and undated cases, we have obtained a picture, probably in places hazy and incomplete, extending into the distant past beyond recorded human history. Instead of the continent collapsing in one day, as Plato's account suggests, we have the impression of human activity on a continent being destroyed in at least three major cataclysms, significantly separated in time.

There is a statement that we should consider especially carefully: land areas have undergone many changes - lowering, raising and lowering again - and millions of years have passed between the first of them and modern times. There is evidence of disturbances (for the continent of Atlantis - Ed.) around 50,000 BC. Another shift probably occurred around 28,000 BC, during which the continent was broken up into islands. The final destruction of the remaining islands occurred around 10,000 BC. I think it was this last catastrophe that Plato described in his writings. Each period of destruction lasted for, most likely, not days, but months or years. In any case, there were significant warnings, so many of the inhabitants escaped by moving to Europe, Africa and America. Thus, according to Cayce’s “readings,” both Americas and some areas of Europe more than once experienced an influx of Atlanteans in the prehistoric past.

Why does Edgar Cayce claim that incarnations in Atlantis have such an effect? big influence on people, especially in our time? He answers this question in a general “reading” conducted to prepare material for a lecture on Atlantis:

“If the fact of reincarnation and the existence of souls that once lived in such an environment (i.e. in Atlantis) are true, and are now penetrating the earthly sphere and dwelling in individuals, is it surprising if in the past they made such changes in affairs Lands that brought them self-destruction, and if they come now, they can cause many changes in the affairs of nations and individuals” (364 – 1).

When we look at people who seem to have once been citizens of a country strikingly similar to twentieth-century America, we can often discern both personal and national flaws. This is the first step to salvation, as shown in the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15: 11-32). The evils, when understood, can be corrected, and America can yet be spared the fate that befell Atlantis. At the very least, individuals, such as Robert Dunbar, may be capable of change and lead more constructive rather than destructive lives. (The story about this man is presented in the 2nd chapter of this book. – Ed.).

What nonsense is all this? Is there any basis for such ideas other than the imagination of Edgar Cayce? Let's look first at the source of this information and then see if it is supported by the light the latest discoveries. If this happens, then we will be able to look into the future with the help of clairvoyant consciousness and try to catch a glimpse of our changing destiny.