Atlantis History.com: K. PLATO'S ATLANTIS

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Descendants of Legendary Atlantis
by
Constantin Benetatos

Are Northern Europeans more pure descendants
of the Atlanteans than their Mediterranean counterparts?

K. PLATO'S ATLANTIS.

NOW LET US EXAMINE AND COMPARE A FEW FACTS AND TRY TO FIND OUT PLATO'S VIEWS ABOUT THE INFORMATION HE SUPPLIED TO US.

HE TALKS ABOUT THE WAR BETWEEN THE ATHENIANS AGAINST THE ATLANTEANS AND THEIR MUTUAL DESTRUCTION FROM EARTHQUAKES AND FLOODS.
. IF THE ATLANTEANS HAD DWELT BEYOND THE PILLARS OF HERACLES THEY WOULD NOT HAVE AN INGRESS THROUGH THE STRAIGHTS WITH THEIR FLEET TO ENGAGE IN WAR WITH THE ATHENIANS DUE TO THE EXISTING LAND-BRIDGE. OF COURSE, WE MAY NEVER KNOW THE REASON FOR THEIR CONFLICT.

CRITIAS FURTHER EXPLAINS THAT THE SURVIVING GENERATIONS ON THE MOUNTAINS REMAINED MOUNTAINOUS AND UNEDUCATED (OREION KAI AGRAMMATON) . THE SURVIVORS HAD SOME OBSCURE INFORMATION ABOUT THE NAMES OF THE LEADERS OF THE LAND, BUT THEY HAD HEARD LITTLE OR NOTHING ABOUT THEIR DEEDS. THEY WERE HAPPY TO GIVE THE NAMES OF THEIR ANCESTORS TO THEIR CHILDREN, BUT THEY WERE UNAWARE OF THE VIRTUES AND LAWS OF THE PAST.
IT IS UNDERSTANDABLE THAT THE CONCERN OF THOSE WHO SURVIVED THE WAR, FLOOD AND EARTHQUAKES BY REACHING HIGH GROUND, WAS SURVIVAL. THE SAME IS TRUE FOR THE ONES MIGRATING TOWARDS NORTHERN EUROPE. IT TOOK PROBABLY ONLY A FEW GENERATIONS FOR SMALL GROUPS OF PEOPLE, SPREAD APART IN VAST EXPANSES OF LAND, TO RETROGRESS TO NEOLITHIC CONDITIONS.

SOLON, ACCORDING TO CRITIAS, INDICATES THAT CONTEMPORARY TO THE ATLANTEAN WOMEN, THEIR ATHENIAN COUNTERPARTS DID WHATEVER THEIR NATURE AND ABILITY DICTATED. IN OTHER WORDS THEY HAD THE SAME RIGHTS AS MEN, DOING WHATEVER THEY WERE ABLE AND WANTED TO DO.
IT MUST BE NOTED THAT FREE LADIES OF HOMERIC TIMES HAD MORE RIGHTS AND FREEDOM THAN THE LADIES HAVE IN SOME OF THE DEVELOPED COUNTRIES OF OUR TIMES.

CRITIAS INDICATES THAT THE ANCIENT ATHENIAN GUARDIANS NUMBERED TWENTY THOUSAND.
IN ORDER TO SUPPORT TWENTY THOUSAND GUARDIANS WITH FOOD, (THAT WAS THE ONLY REQUIREMENT), A POPULATION OF THREE TO FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND INHABITANTS IS NECESSARY. THE LAND AREA BEFORE THE FLOOD WAS MORE THAN ENOUGH TO SUPPORT SUCH A NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO IN TURN SUPPLIED THE NECESSARY FOOD FOR THE GUARDIANS.

CRITIAS, AS HE DESCRIBES THE LAND, LAMENTS OF WHAT WAS THEN AND WHAT IS NOW. "ONLY A FEW ISLANDS AND MOUNTAINS REMAIN LIKE THE BONES OF A DECEASED AND DECAYED BODY". FURTHER HE POINTS TO THE REMAINING RUINS OF THE TEMPLES DEDICATED TO WATER NYMPHS AND OTHER DEITIES, TO PROVE THAT WATER ONCE WAS ABUNDANT. CRITIAS ALSO EXPLAINS HOW THE HEAVY RAINS AND EARTHQUAKES CAUSED LANDSLIDES BEFORE THE GREAT DESTRUCTION OF DEUCALION'S CATACLYSM.
ONE CAN ONLY AGREE WITH CRITIAS' STATEMENTS ABOUT THE LAND- SCAPE WHICH WAS ALTERED BY LAND SLIDES, EROSION, EARTHQUAKES AND FINALLY FLOOD.

CRITIAS DESCRIBES ATLANTIS NEARLY IN THE SAME WORDS AS SOLON, HIS ANCESTOR. CRITIAS ALSO INDICATES THE SIZE AND LOCATION OF ATLANTIS.
AS IT WAS STATED PREVIOUSLY, THE SIZE AND LOCATION OF ATLANTIS IS STILL QUESTIONABLE. THEREFORE, WE SHOULD NOT COMPARE OUR PRESENT DAY SURVEYING TECHNOLOGY TO THAT OF THE PAST AND JUDGE UNJUSTLY.

CRITIAS NARRATES THE ROYAL ATLANTEAN FAMILY OF THE GOD POSEIDON AND THE MORTAL WOMAN CLEITO.
IT MUST BE NOTED HERE THAT IN THE HELLENIC HISTORY AND MYTHOLOGY, THERE ARE COUNTLESS INDICATIONS OF SUCH ENCOUNTERS BETWEEN GODS AND MORTAL WOMEN, GODDESSES AND MORTAL MEN.

CRITIAS POINTS TO THE GREAT ATLANTEAN ACHIEVEMENTS IN ARCHITECTURE, ENGINEERING AND ADMINISTRATION.
IN A WAY, IT IS UNFAIR AND UNJUST TO ALLOW OURSELVES TO BE INFLUENCED BY NEARSIGHTED SHORTCOMINGS AND BIAS, AND NOT BE IN A POSITION TO RECOGNIZE, APPRECIATE AND GIVE CREDIT TO THE ANCIENTS FOR THEIR GREAT SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENTS.

DEPENDING ON MATERIALS, MOST MANMADE OBJECTS DECAY AND VANISH WITH THE PASSING OF TIME. ONLY THE ONES CARVED OUT OF STONE TEND TO LAST. THE SPHINX AT GIZA IN EGYPT IS PROBABLY A REMNANT OF ATLANTEAN INFLUENCE IN THAT REGION AFTER THE DESTRUCTION OF ATLANTIS. IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN BUILT BY ATLANTEANS WHO EVENTUALLY SETTLED THERE. THIS MONUMENT MUST BE OVER TWELVE THOUSAND YEARS OLD. THE ATLANTEANS WERE ABLE TO PRODUCE ORICHALCUM (OREICHALKOS). USING A COMPLICATED PROCESS PROBABLY KNOWN BUT NOT EXERCISED DURING THE TIME OF PLATO BUT DUPLICATED LATER BY THE ROMANS. CRITIAS SAYS "THE MARINAS WERE FULLY EQUIPPED". THIS TELLS US THAT A CONTINUOUS FLOW OF GOODS FROM THE ATLANTEAN DOMAIN WAS TAKING PLACE DAY AND NIGHT. CRITIAS ALSO INDICATES THAT THE GUARD WAS PLACED ON THE SMALLEST WHEEL AND THE ROYAL GUARD WAS HOUSED WITHIN THE ACROPOLIS. THE ATLANTEAN ADMINISTRATION MUST HAVE BEEN WELL ORGANIZED AND THE ROYAL POWER ABSOLUTE. ALTHOUGH THE KINGS HAD TO OBEY POSEIDON'S LAWS INSCRIBED ON THE PILLAR WITHIN THE TEMPLE, EACH KING HAD ABSOLUTE AUTHORITY OVER HIS SUBJECTS. HE COULD PENALIZE OR EXECUTE ANYONE EXCEPT HIS OWN RELATIVES. IN THIS CASE HE HAD TO HAVE THE MAJORITY'S APPROVAL. ONE MIGHT CALL THIS ATLANTEAN FORM OF GOVERNMENT AN OLIGARCHY.

AFTER OUR BRIEF EXAMINATION OF THE FEW FACTS DESCRIBED PREVIOUSLY ONE MIGHT CONCLUDE THAT PLATO DESCRIBES THE FACTS AND PRESENTS THEM TO US FROM HIS OWN PLATONIAN PERSPECTIVE. UNFORTUNATELY, A ROSETA STONE ABOUT ATLANTIS HAS NOT BEEN DISCOVERED YET.

SOLON, THE ATHENIAN LAWGIVER, WROTE DOWN EXACTLY WHAT THE EGYPTIAN PRIESTS HAD TRANSLATED TO HIM, FROM THE SACRED RECORDS. SOLON, BEING WHO HE WAS, HAD NO REASON TO INVENT STORIES EITHER.


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