The Science of Conspiracy Theories

Where is Atlantis?

Where is Atlantis?

The mystery of Atlantis has captivated archeologists and ancient history pundits for centuries. Ever since Plato wrote 'Timaeus and Critias', people have been searching for this lost island that was once inhabited by an advance civilization that tried to attack Athens but was repelled. Plato revealed in his story that Atlantis fell into the sea because of some conflict with the gods.

Most historians accept the story of Atlantis as being fictional, but that hasn't stopped people from searching for it and even claiming that they have evidence that Atlantis was real, suggesting that Plato borrowed the idea from the Egyptians. In other words, he didn't make it up and it was actually a real place.

The other strange thing about this is that many ancient writers mentioned Atlantis: Philo, a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher, mentioned it in the 1st century as being destroyed by a powerful earthquake. The philosopher Crantor, a student of Plato's student, Xenocrates, thought it was real.
In more modern times, many scholars speculated as to where the Atlantis Island had gone and what sort of civilization lived on it. Many referred to Egyptian writings. Recent times have seen all sorts of crazy ideas popping out in media. Most of these deal with the location of Atlantis.

Most people believe that Atlantis was in the Mediterranean Sea near Cyprus, Crete, Sicily and places like that. One particularly interesting location is the Island of Santorini, which was the location of the ancient Minoan civilization that was destroyed by a volcanic eruption. This has some merit because it could have been the basis for Plato's story.

The Minoan civilization was believed to have flourished in the period from 3650 to 1400 BC on Crete and other islands in the Aegean sea. This puts them in the Bronze age, which began approximately 2700 BC. Historians believe the Minoans were plagued by at least two major catastrophes, including a tremendous volcanic eruption around 1600 BC. The Minoan culture was fairly advanced and resembled the Greeks. Are the Minoans the inhabitants of Atlantis? No one knows for sure, but they could have been, at least the people that Plato wrote about.

However, this is not the extent of the location theories. Some claim that Atlantis was in the Atlantic Ocean all the way from the Viking Bergen Island to the Canary Islands near Gibraltar. A team from the National Geographic Channel thinks it's in or near Andalusia, a region in the south of Spain and claimed it was destroyed by a tsunami. A German group placed it near Cadiz. Most of these purported locations are based on the idea that the mythical Atlantis empire extended all over the Roman Empire's lands and also into the New World, even being responsible for much of the Mayan culture.

The most recent proposed Atlantis location is in Indonesia.

All of this has created lucrative ammunition for books, movies, TV series, and the creation of a resort on an island in the Bahamas. The idea here is that Atlantis was essentially a paradise on Earth. I don't think that was Plato's take on it. So much of the idea has been glamorized because little is known about the civilization itself. For Plato, it was a Greek idea. The Egyptians thought is was their invention.

I doubt that anyone will find the actual island of Atlantis, especially if it had been destroyed by a volcanic eruption. The only way that debris from the catastrophe could be verified is if some of it could be dated and it was consistent with a unique Greek-like race. I realize that people claimed to have found evidence of the Atlantis civilization, but for the most part none of it has been proven to be authentic. Maybe someone will eventually find it.

Thanks for reading.