Atlantis 2 Essay, Research Paper

Atlantis

An island paradise whose lush valleys and natural resources made it a perfect place for nourishing an advanced civilization who thrived while the rest of the world was still trying to bring themselves out of the “Bronze age”. The island housed many natural resources and many animals while the ocean provided fish and naval trading with the neighboring civilizations. The island’s vastness led to many tales and stories, which leads to one in particular.

Plato was a scholar who after the death of his teacher Socrates traveled the world talking to the philosophers and statesmen of the different civilizations of the time. After hearing the story of the great, lost continent, Plato wrote of his talks in Timaeus and Critias, named for the men who passed the knowledge of the island paradise on to him. Plato named the island Atlantis.

The tale of Atlantis is based on the stories passed down from an Athenian traveler, poet, and lawgiver Solon. Solon lived almost two hundred years before Plato. He passed this lore on to his friend Dropides, who, in part, told it to his great grandson Critias. Though there is no historical record of Timaeus, it is said that Timaeus and Critias told the story to Plato during their dialogue. The story states that, in twenty-eight thousand BC, there existed an island nation located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean populated by a noble and powerful race. Trade was one of the major focuses of the inhabitants because the vast amounts of natural resources of the island were scarce in the rest of the world. This made the people of Atlantis wealthy and gave the opportunity for their race to flourish.

Atlantis was the kingdom of Poseidon, the god of the ocean. Poseidon fell in love with a human woman named Cleito and created an island to protect her and surrounded it with rings of land and water. This became the famed three-ringed island of Atlantis. Soon after Cleito gave birth to five sets of twin boys. Then the island was divided between them in five sections with the oldest of the brothers, Atlas, controlling the main island, Poseidia and the surrounding areas. Atlantis is named after its ruler Atlas, meaning “Island of Atlas. The island was the most technologically advanced island of the five domains. Atlantis was governed in peace, was rich in commerce, and was more advanced then the neighboring places. This gave Atlantis power over the surrounding islands and continents. “Now in this island of Atlantis there was a great and wonderful empire which had rule over the whole island and several others, and over parts of the continent, and, furthermore, the men of Atlantis had subjugated the parts of Libya within the columns of Hercules as far as Egypt, and of Europe, as far as Tyrrhenia .there occurred violent earthquakes and floods: and in a single day and night of misfortune the island of Atlantis disappeared into the depths of the sea.”(Words of Critias to Socrates in Plato’s dialogues). Critias speaks of the rise and demise of Atlantis. It is written that the inhabitants of Atlantis became vain and their leaders arrogant. As punishment for their sacrilegious behavior, the gods destroyed Atlantis. Volcanic ash covered the sky, which triggered hail and lightning, and rained down over the island. Earthquakes ravaged the land and destroyed the cities. The ground then exploded and most of the inhabitants were killed. Then, in a final act of fury, the gods sent giant tidal waves to sink the city. The Atlantian civilization was lost in only twenty-four hours.

Plato wrote this from stories passed down over hundreds of years and different languages. Historians believe that somewhere in the translations that some vital information was lost or that in some instances were misinterpreted or embellished. Historians believe that it is quite possible that Atlantis is simply the Minoan civilization and the legend has been embellished. There are many similarities between scientific proof of the Minoans and the “tale” of Atlantis. Since the story was first told by the Egyptians then translated to Latin when told to Plato. There was most likely a loss of or gain of myths in the transferal. The similarities of the two stories are surprisingly similar in that they both were rich, plentiful people who lived in an advanced society and whose trading empire held a great part in their evolution. The giant naval trading ships provided the Minoans with the ability to create wealth and expand their empire from the Greek islands of Crete and Thera to parts of North Africa, the Mediterranean and Asia Minor. The Atlantians were said to have a naval fleet unsurpassed at the time, made up by a gigantic fleet of triremes, which led to extreme wealth. The Minoans also had some religious ceremonies, which were quite similar to the Atlantians. They included a polytheistic society and worshiped or used bulls in their ceremonies. One of the most important similarities is that Atlantis ended in a catastrophic eruption of an earthquake and form scientific knowledge we know that the Minoan society ended after a huge explosion of the once large island of Thera. There are also many differences between them. One being that Atlantis is said to be beyond the Pillars of Hercules, in the Atlantic Ocean. As where Crete and Thera are just south of Greece in the Aegean Sea. There may be an explanation for that in the translation because there is al2ways a bit of trouble in the transition from one language to the next. Another problem is that Atlantis was suppose to be larger than both Asia and Libya combined and Crete is just a small island. The remedy for this problem is that the Egyptian word for “beyond” closely relates to the Latin word for “between”, so, the translation could have been a problem once again. And thirdly, the last problem with the Minoan – Atlantian connection is that the ages in which they were believed to exist in are so vastly different. Atlantis supposedly existed twenty-eight thousand years ago, as where, the Minoans lived roughly two thousand eight hundred years ago, only a difference of a decimal place. The story of Atlantis and the true history of the Minoans are so closely related that it is quite possible that Atlantis is the long extinct Minoan culture.

The Minoans were a mysterious race who were geographically severed from the world and with the use or their giant fleets, were most likely target of stories and tales. The great advancements the Minoans made and the obstacles they had overcome are amazing considering they originate from a small island in the Greek waters. The myth of Atlantis may very well be the wild imaginations of ancient travelers and traders who passed by the Minoan fleets. If Atlantis is in fact Crete then Plato wrote of a place closer than he imagined and a lot more realistic than the tall tale he recorded for the ages to delight in. If not then it is a place in the great mind of a philosopher and will still delight in its mystical story.

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