The legend of Atlantis - a sunken island on which a highly developed civilization once existed, a strong, enlightened and happy people - the Atlanteans - has been worrying mankind for more than two thousand years.

The only source of information about Atlantis is the writings of the ancient Greek scientist Plato, who lived in the 4th century BC. e., written in the form of conversations-dialogues. In two such dialogues - Timaeus and Critias - Plato cites the story of his contemporary, writer and politician Critias about Atlantis - "a legend, although very strange, but completely reliable", which Critias heard in childhood from his grandfather, he - from the "wisest of the seven wise" Athenian legislator Solon, and Solon - from the Egyptian priests.

Egyptian priests, based on ancient records, said that once in the "Atlantic Sea" (as the ocean was then called) lay a huge island - "larger than Libya (that is, Africa) and Asia taken together." On this island “a great and formidable power of kings developed, whose power extended to the whole island and many other islands (...). In addition, they (...) owned Libya to Egypt and Europe to Tirrenia ”(as Italy was called at that time). The legend of Atlantis tells that in the original times, when the gods divided the earth among themselves, this island fell into the possession of Poseidon, the god of the seas. Poseidon settled there his ten sons, born of an earthly woman, Clito. The eldest of them was called Atlant, after his name the island was named Atlantis, and the sea - the Atlantic.

From Atlantis came a powerful and noble family of kings of Atlantis. This family "gathered such huge wealth, which had not yet happened before in the possession of kings, and later on it will never be easy to form such."

Earth fruits grew in abundance on the island, various animals were found - “both tame and wild”, minerals were mined in its depths, including “one breed, which is now known only by name, (...) - the orichalcum breed, extracted from the earth in many places of the island, and after gold, which had the greatest value among the people of that time.

The inhabitants of Atlantis erected on their island beautiful cities with fortress walls, temples and palaces, built harbors and shipyards.

The main city of Atlantis was surrounded by several rows of earthen ramparts and canals - "rings of the sea". The city walls were covered, "like mastic", with copper, tin and orichalcum, "which emitted a fiery sheen", and the houses were built of red, white and black stone.

A temple to Poseidon and Clito was erected in the center of the city. The walls of the temple were lined with silver, the roof was covered with gold, and inside “there was an ivory ceiling, colored with gold, silver and orichalcum. They also erected golden idols inside the temple - a god that, standing in a chariot, ruled by six winged horses, and himself, due to the enormity of his size, touched the crown of the ceiling.

The Atlanteans carried on a lively trade, the harbors of Atlantis "swarmed with ships and merchants from everywhere, who in their mass day and night deafened the area with screams, knocks and mixed noise."

Atlantis had a strong army and navy, consisting of one thousand two hundred warships.

The code of laws that Poseidon himself gave to the Atlanteans was inscribed on a high orichalcum pillar, installed in the middle of the island. Atlantis was ruled by ten kings - each with his own part of the island. Once every five or six years, they gathered in front of this pillar and "conferred about common affairs or sorted out if anyone had committed any misconduct, and made a judgment."

The Atlanteans were distinguished by their nobility and lofty way of thinking, “looking at everything except virtue with disdain, they valued little that they had a lot of gold and other possessions, were indifferent to wealth as a burden, and did not fall to the ground in the intoxication of luxury, losing power over himself."

But time passed - and the Atlanteans changed, filled with "the wrong spirit of self-interest and power." They began to use their knowledge and the achievements of their culture for evil. In the end, Zeus became angry with them and "in one day and a disastrous night (...) the island of Atlantis disappeared, plunging into the sea." According to Plato, this happened in the X millennium BC. e. Modern scientists are of the opinion that the death of the island was caused by a catastrophe caused by some of the man-made achievements of the ancient Atlanteans.

Disputes about whether Atlantis really existed or was invented by Plato began in ancient times. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, a friend and student of Plato, argued that Atlantis is completely fictional (according to legend, it was on this occasion that Aristotle uttered the famous saying: “Plato is my friend, but the truth is dearer”). However, many believed that Atlantis really existed and traces of it could be found.

Interest in Atlantis over the following centuries faded, then awakened again, but never completely disappeared.

It is estimated that about 3,600 scientific papers have been written about Atlantis to date (not to mention numerous works of fiction). Atlantology has become an independent branch of science. Scientists-atlantologists expressed many guesses about the location of Atlantis and the reasons for its death, put forward a hypothesis about the influence of the Atlantean civilization on the development of world civilization.

G. ALEKSANDROVSKY.

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 been alive for more than two thousand years. But only a few decades ago, people, desperate to find traces of a once prosperous state, ranked Plato's writings as utopias. And here is a sensational twist: in our days, some historians and archaeologists have recognized that Plato's dialogues do contain a grain of real facts. We present three newest hypotheses suggesting where and when Atlantis died.

Science and life // Illustrations

Tradition of the Egyptian priests

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

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

The temple of the main deity of the islanders - Poseidon, the ruler of the seas, was, Plato narrates, 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 Kleito, the progenitor of all Atlanteans, is surrounded by a golden wall. There were also a golden statue of Poseidon and golden statues of Nereids - numerous daughters of the sea deity. The Atlanteans had bronze weapons and thousands of war chariots. The bowels gave copper and silver.

The people had fun with horse races, thermal baths were at their service: two sources beat on the island - cold and hot water. 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 union of kings. And then the moment came when he decided to subjugate other countries, including Greece. However, Athens, having shown valor and strength in the war, won. But, as Plato says, the Olympic gods, dissatisfied with the warring peoples, decided to punish them for their 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 the death of Plato, an Athenian citizen, Krantor, went to Egypt to see if the origins of the information used by the philosopher were really there. And he found, according to him, in the temple of Neith hieroglyphs with a text about the events described.

Search

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

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

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

To two main questions - where? and when? - already in our century, the objections of archaeologists were added, who considered the story of the abundance of gold and silver on the island a fantasy. They attributed the network of canals - circular and leading to the sea, the inner port and other hydraulic structures to Plato's inventions: such large-scale cases were beyond their strength in those days. Researchers of the philosophical and literary heritage of Plato considered that, telling about 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. (In fact, in some of his writings, Plato 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, hoping in vain to inspire humane ideas in the tyrants there.) As for the time of the death of the island in deep ocean, 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 up to 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 a people lived somewhere, in its development ahead of the human race by many thousands of years. 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 11340 years.

Is it Atlantis?

"The Russians have found Atlantis!" - with such sensational full houses, many newspapers of Western Europe accompanied photographs in 1979 seabed. In the photographs, vertical ridges were clearly visible under a 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 ones.

Underwater images were taken by the research vessel of the Moscow University "Akademik Petrovsky". Actions unfolded where Plato pointed out - "behind the Pillars of Hercules." Out in the Atlantic Ocean, the ship stopped over the shallows to test its underwater equipment. Pure chance helped to choose a parking spot just above the underwater volcano Ampère. It was possible to establish that the Amper volcano once protruded from the water and was an island.

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

A. Gorodnitsky proposed his own model of a grandiose geological catastrophe 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 Santorin volcano in the east, and in the west - a sinking into the ocean of the mentioned volcanic islands. 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 only a myth: scientists did not find any traces of the remains of the material culture of the Atlanteans.

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 unimportant.

One of the most prominent scientists of ancient Greece, Plato, in the works "Critias" and "Timaeus", mentions Atlantis, referring to data from the diaries of his great-grandfather, the no less famous Athenian poet and statesman Solon. An Egyptian priest told him about the existence of a large country of the Atlanteans, which fought with the Greeks as far back as 9000. 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 country territory, covered with dense forests, was indented by numerous irrigation canals. Atlantis was a federation of ten kingdoms. The Atlanteans hoped to expand their territory and tried to enslave Athens and Egypt, however, they suffered a crushing defeat in the fight against the Athenian army. According to the same data, as a result of a terrible earthquake during the day, the mighty Atlantis disappeared forever under water.

Scientists to this day have not come to a consensus regarding Plato's story about this mysterious country. Perhaps Atlantis was just a 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. It could not for the simple reason that at that time the end of the ice age had just come. Many scientists agree that at one time cavemen and highly developed Atlanteans could live. And can it be that an entire country suddenly disappeared without a trace. However, most scientists argue that Atlantis could well exist in reality, because the legends had to have at least some basis, and most of the myths reflected the events that took place in reality.

After all, the ruins of the once mythical ancient Troy, which was also considered a figment of the fantasy of blind Homer, were found by archaeologists. 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 country of the Golden Fleece. As for the huge and destructive power of earthquakes, then, according to geologists, it is really capable of burying a vast territory in a short time.

True, 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 consensus. 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. This statement is based on the words of Plato, who noted that the mysterious land was located in front of the strait, called the Pillars of Heracles (framed by the rocks of Abilik and Kalpa), which was located near the Strait of Gibraltar. In addition, many of the same species of animals and plants live in these lands. In addition, not so long ago, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, located in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, was discovered. A vast plateau with a number of ridges adjoins the ridge, the peaks of which form the Azores.

It is likely that this area was once land and about 12 thousand years ago, during a geological catastrophe, it sank to the ocean floor. This period just coincides with the alleged time of the existence of Atlantis. After that, 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 the island of Madeira are the very remnants of the lost mainland. According to some scientists, not all the inhabitants of Atlantis died during the collapse of their mainland - some survivors reached shores of America while others made their way to 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 similarity in their architecture, traditions and religions, all the more surprising because the countries were far from each other.

Indeed, the inhabitants of both sides of the Atlantic equally worshiped the Sun, and believed in the myth of the Flood, which was 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 the north of Spain in the Pyrenees mountains is absolutely different from other European languages, but at the same time it 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 mummification of the dead, moreover, the same objects are placed in their graves. But the main thing is that in the places where the burials of the Mayan tribes are located, archaeologists find jewelry made of green jade, the deposits of which simply do not exist in America. Maybe he got there from Atlantis?

According to a legend widespread among the Indians of Peru and Mexico, which tells about the white god Quetzacoatl, he arrived on the mainland on a sailboat from the edge of the early sun - that is, from the east. God taught the Indian tribes construction and craft, revealed laws and religion to them, and then mysteriously disappeared. The Peruvians, who did not know about the existence of the Aztecs, believed in the same legend, with one amendment - their god was called Viracocha. Perhaps these people came from Atlantis? It is believed that their images are found on the walls of the cities of Chichen Itza and Tiguanacu.

Scientists refer to the evidence of the existence of Atlantis and the ruins of ancient Indian cities, the remains of which are located in the Peruvian Andes and impenetrable jungle the Yucatan Peninsula.

In the autumn 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 down under the water found giant walls more than a hundred meters long. They were built from giant blocks, each of which weighed about 25 tons. By whom were they built? Perhaps Atlanteans? True, it was soon discovered that these "walls" arose as a result of cracking of coastal rocks that had gone under water due to the gradual sinking to the bottom. Bahamas.

They are also looking for Atlantis in the Mediterranean. 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 well-known Soviet geographer L. S. Berg agreed with this opinion. Today, this theory is supported by the vast majority of scientists. This version is supported by recent studies in this area and in the Atlantic Ocean.

When studying the area of the alleged 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. At the same time, at the current rate of accumulation of such rocks, which is 10-15 mm per thousand years, this will require at least 300 thousand years, and certainly not 12 thousand, as argued by supporters of the Atlantean origin of the mysterious Atlantis.

In addition, according to evidence from oceanographic studies of recent times, 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 pattern coastlines: the western line of the African mainland and the eastern line of the South American.

Accordingly, in order for Atlantis to be located in the Atlantic Ocean, there is simply no place in it. But then what to do with Plato's message about where the disappeared country is located, allegedly located in front of the Pillars of Hercules, that is, the Strait of Gibraltar? Under the name "Pillars of Hercules" before Plato could mean a completely different place. What is it? Disputes of researchers do not subside until now.

Regarding the Mediterranean location of Atlantis, assumed by most scientists, they provide a number of fairly weighty 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 power, similar to the one that was noted in 1883 on the island of Krakatoa in the southeast Asia, including the islands of Indonesia. Apparently, it was the greatest geological catastrophe in the entire history of our planet.

In terms of its strength, the explosion of the Santorin volcano was equal to the explosion of about 200 thousand atomic bombs, identical to those that were once dropped on Hiroshima.

Scientist Garun Taziyev 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 great success in science and handicrafts. As a result of a powerful volcanic explosion, as it was found, one of the developed cities on the island of Thira and the center of the civilization of the Minoans, located on Crete - Knossos, perished.

Most of the territory of the state was absorbed by the Aegean Sea. Probably, it was this event, the echo of which reached Plato through the centuries, and was reflected in his story about the country of the Atlanteans. True, in the interpretation of Plato, the size of the sunken continent is much larger, and the time of the catastrophe is shifted many thousands of years ago.

In other words, according to the opinion of the fans of this hypothesis, in the descriptions of Plato we are talking about the state of the Minoans. Indeed, 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 fat herds of sacred bulls grazed on the island of Atlantis, of which the Minoans had a lot, and they were also considered sacred. A ditch was discovered on the seabed near Tyra, similar to the one that, according to Plato, protected the fortress in the capital of Atlantis. Now the island of Thira is a fragment left after the explosion of a giant volcano. Excavated in 1967, the ruins of the Minoan city 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 Yves Cousteau at the bottom Aegean Sea near the island of Crete, the remains of the ancient Minoan civilization were discovered. According to his calculations, it was destroyed during the crushing eruption of the Santorin volcano, which occurred in 1450 BC. e. Nevertheless, Cousteau always considered Atlantis a beautiful fairy tale by Plato.

The authority of Cousteau's opinion forced many scientists to "return" again to the hypothesis of the Atlantic Atlantis. The impetus for this decision was the discovery of a group of seamounts to the west of Gibraltar, which have table-like peaks, located only 100-200 meters below sea level. Many scientists consider these mountains to be the remains of a vast archipelago that sank in ancient times.

Pictures 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 vessel "Akademik Kurchatov". Looking at eight underwater photographs taken by him, you can see the ruins of the fortress wall and other buildings on top of one of the seamounts.

As a result of the conducted in 1983-1984. research, scientists of the research vessels "Akademik Vernadsky" and "Vityaz" with the help of underwater vehicles "Pysis" and "Argus", confirmed that Mount Amper is dormant volcano that once sank to the ocean floor. Well, the notorious ruins are far from the creations of human hands, but ordinary natural formations.

This means that the unsuccessful search for Atlantis in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean only confirms the conclusions of scientists looking for traces of her presence in the Aegean Sea. True, some disagreements arose in 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 death of Atlantis, as well as some other data of Plato. For example, the number of land and sea forces of the Atlanteans. Judging by the words of Plato, the Atlanteans had a huge armada - 1200 ships, as well as an army, according to experts, amounting to more than a million soldiers. Accordingly, the Greek army that defeated the Atlanteans should have been no less numerous. According to Mashnikov’s quite logical reasoning, during the ice age such a huge army simply had nowhere to come from, given that at that time the number of inhabitants of the entire planet was no more than 3-4 million people, while being at a fairly low level of development.

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

Considering 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 did not doubt that the Platonic Pillars of Hercules, behind which this land was located, is the Strait of Gibraltar. But, under the Pillars of Hercules, apparently, some other place was meant. However, Plato has direct indications that allow you to determine the location of Atlantis. Plato says that on the Pillars of Hercules was laid maritime border between the Atlantean country and the Athenian state. And this means that these pillars could only be in the Aegean Sea. In another place of his story, Plato directly indicates 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 that time there was the land of the Hittites. In addition, according to the author, only here the cities were built according to a circular plan, creating canals, as if outlined by a compass.

But after all, Plato spoke of 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, though not as large as Plato claimed. Probably, it was this island, and by no means the whole country, that perished as a result of a volcanic eruption or an 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 Hittia or her insular part. In addition, Plato, in his retelling of Solon, claimed that Atlantis was at war with Athens. And from the sources it is known that in the XIV century. BC e. Egypt waged war with the Hittites, and after a while 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 the Hittites and Athens is the key to unraveling 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 winners 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 ancient city, which was located near the Dardanelles and was described by Homer in the XII century. BC e. as 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 weighty evidence for 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 does not speak of a plain, but of a large island? Zanger believes that Solon is to blame for this. When reading hieroglyphic inscriptions on a pillar when visiting the main temple in the residence Egyptian pharaohs posted in Saisi, he made a mistake. Allegedly, these hieroglyphs denoted a sandy strip or coast. A serious mistake was also made in the designation of the place where Atlantis was located on the other side of the Pillars of Hercules. It is possible that this name was borne by the Dardanelles.

According to the author of this version, another serious mistake crept into Plato's story, which consisted in incorrectly determining the time of the catastrophe. After all, on the column of the Egyptian temple, a story is written that nine thousand years ago the Greeks overthrew a powerful state - Atlantis. This hypothesis has weak side- discrepancies that the author explains by the mistakes of the ancient sages. In addition, the justification 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 eventually turn out to be true, only time will tell. Or a new hypothesis - after all, the mystery of Atlantis has not been solved so far.

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

Legend of Atlantis. The mythical continent, or island of Atlantis, was first described Plato(427–347 BC) in dialogues Timaeus And Critias referring to one of the seven sages of ancient Greece - Solon. Plato allegedly learned about Atlantis from his grandfather Solon, who traveled to Egypt and met local priests there - experts in ancient secrets, who, according to historians and Egyptologists, relied on written evidence left by the ancients more than 30 thousand years ago on those that did not come down papyri before us. They told him the story of Atlantis. According to them, it was located somewhere in the Atlantic - west of the Strait of Gibraltar and was named after Atlanta, 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 Proto-Athenian state. She was located in the Atlantic Ocean beyond Gibraltar and died about 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 grandiose natural disaster.

Where to look for Atlantis? If we collect and publish all the data on where Atlantis could be located, we would get a fascinating book in which we would have to tell about South America, with which the famous philosopher Francis Bacon (1561–1626) identified Atlantis in a 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 Svalbard to St. Helena. Atlantis was "prescribed" in Brazil, Scandinavia, Palestine, in the Pas de Calais, 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), in antiquity the island of Thera. The Minoan culture of these islands perished as a result of a major catastrophe in one and a half thousand years BC. Among the supporters of the latter hypothesis are Anagelos Galanopoulos, Bacon, the tectonist Yevgeny Milanovsky, the famous explorer of the deep sea, the French oceanologist Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who discovered fragments of structures on the periphery of the underwater island of Tyre, 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 in order to be opened by one of the family members who would give a solemn promise to devote his whole life to research, indications of which he would find in this envelope. Pavel Schliemann took such an oath, opened the envelope and read the letter inside. In a letter, Heinrich Schliemann reported that he undertook research on the remains of Atlantis, the existence of which he does not 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 large bronze vessel, inside of which there were smaller clay vessels, small figurines from a special metal, money from the same metal, and objects "made from fossil bones." On some of these objects and on a bronze vessel was written in Phoenician hieroglyphs: "From the king of Atlantis, Chronos." But many researchers, Russian and foreign, this story is distrustful.

The search for Atlantis was and is being conducted everywhere - all over the globe. Foreign researchers Renata and Yaroslav Malina in their works on natural disasters and aliens from outer space, they write that Atlantean navigators explored the Earth. They are said to have traveled through the air and under water, photographed objects at great distances, used X-rays, recorded images and sounds on videotape, used a crystal laser, invented terrible weapons using cosmic rays, and also used the energy of antimatter. However, the use of the dark forces of nature for selfish purposes 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 before our era, an underground explosion destroyed the island of Poseidonis. Radiation emitted by a large crystal lying at the site of the death 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 diving of an underwater diving bell and testing other equipment of the Vityaz research vessel. The studies were carried out in the area of the Amper Seamount, located in the Atlantic Ocean about 500 km west of the Strait of Gibraltar and part of the Hosshu Seamounts. On the flat top of the mountain, formations resembling the ruins of a city were discovered. The expedition members managed to photograph what looked like masonry walls and made a number of drawings from nature, which caused sensational reports in the newspapers. What they saw was surprisingly reminiscent of ancient dwellings in Chersonese: firstly, cells ranging in size from 5 to 10 m, very similar to the rooms of houses, and secondly, scientists saw many straight parallelepipeds, structures resembling stairs and even something like an arch. Divers chipped off fragments of weathered basalt from one of the alleged masonry, and specialists checked them for traces of tooling. It was not possible to find an unequivocal answer, however, experts were inclined to conclude that the "walls" are still miraculous and no "ruins ancient city" does not exist. Further careful study showed that the mountain is an old volcano, broken by deep cracks, elongated 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 Ampère towered above the surface of the ocean.

How did Atlantis die? Let's turn to Plato's dialogue Critias, where we are talking about the reasons for the death of Atlantis: “And so Zeus ... thinking about a glorious family that fell into such miserable depravity, and decided to impose punishment on him, so that he, having sobered up from trouble, learned goodness. Therefore, he called all the gods ... and addressed the audience with these words ... ". This is where the story ends. 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 died 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 occur as a result of earthquakes. But there are also more exotic options. The Polish astronomer L. Seidler believes that the death of the continent is connected with the fall of a comet or asteroid on our planet. Astronomer O. Mook put forward a hypothesis about the fall of a huge meteorite in the region of the Florida peninsula on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, which, according to his calculations, occurred on June 5, 8499 BC. (according to the Gregorian calendar) and became the cause of the disaster. Hans Schindler Bellamy suggested that Atlantis was wiped off the face of the Earth by giant waves that arose as a result of the Moon falling into the Earth's gravitational field. But perhaps the most probable from a geological point of view is the version according to which deep tectonic processes and mutual collisions of continental plates gave rise to both earthquakes and tsunamis that destroyed this civilization.
Testimony 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 it reached after several millennia. cultural life when there were already many separate kingdoms on the island, many rich cities and a huge population numbering in the millions. And the history of the island itself began with the division of the earth between the three brother gods: Zeus, Hades and Poseidon. By lot, Poseidon got the island of Atlantis 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, was born by the Earth, named Evnor with his wife Livkippa and the beautiful daughter Kleito." Poseidon fell in love with Kleito, 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 earth rings were dug around the circumference, one after the other. In the very center of the hill (acropolis), on a hill, Poseidon built a small temple for Kleito 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 was sure to surpass its 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. “There were reservoirs for swimming, open, and, for winter time, closed; there were special ones - for the royal family and for private individuals; still others - separately for women, and also for horses and beasts of burden; each of them was located and decorated according to its purpose. The water that came 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 building of the acropolis was the temple dedicated to the god Poseidon. It was truly gigantic in size: 185 meters long, 96 meters wide and a "corresponding" height. Outside, the large temple was entirely lined with silver, except for the "ends" made of pure gold. Inside the temple there were many statues made of gold. The largest of them depicted the god Poseidon, who, standing on a chariot, controlled six winged horses. The statue of Poseidon was so tall that it almost touched the ceiling with its head, 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 the sunbeam penetrated into the sanctuary.

Plato also tells a lot of wonderful things about the capital of the Atlanteans, and then proceeds to describe the whole country. “The island of Atlantis was very elevated above sea level, and the coast rose in an inaccessible cliff. Around the capital stretched a plain, surrounded by mountains that reached to the sea. Everyone said about this plain that it is the most beautiful on earth and very fertile. It was densely dotted with flourishing villages, separated by lakes, rivers, meadows, where many wild domestic animals grazed. Much came to the Atlanteans from outside, in view of the vastness 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: its deposits were found in many places on the island; after gold, it was the most precious of the metals. The island delivered all the necessary materials for crafts. Lived on an island a large number of domestic animals and wild animals, among other things, a lot of elephants. The island gave abundant food to all kinds of animals, both those living in swamps, lakes and rivers, or on mountains and plains, as well as these (elephants), although they are huge and gluttonous. The island produced and delivered all the fragrances that now grow in different countries, roots, herbs, juice flowing from fruits and flowers. There was also a fruit that gives wine (grapes), and one that serves as food (cereals), along with those that we also eat, calling the common word - vegetables; there were also fruits that simultaneously gave drink, food and incense (coconuts?). Such were the divine and amazing riches, such, in innumerable quantities, this island produced. Plato goes on to describe political structure the capital and itself, because "with such bounties of soil, the inhabitants built temples, palaces, ports and harbors for ships and tried to decorate their island." On a happy island, each of the ten brothers - kings had absolute power in his kingdom, but general rule The state of Atlantis was ruled by the kings by the Council, to which they gathered after 5-6 years, alternating even and odd numbers. The supreme power always remained with the direct heir of Atlantis, but even the main king could not sentence death penalty none of their relatives without the consent of the majority of the kings “as long as the Atlanteans followed the principles of virtue during their reign and as long as the “divine principle” dominated in them, they succeeded in everything. But when the "human disposition" triumphed - the base beginning, when they lost all decency and unbridled greed began to boil in them, when people began to present a "shameful sight", then the God of the 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, this is where Plato's dialogue "Critias" suddenly breaks off and the story of Atlantis and its search for two thousand years begins. The priests lamented the spiritual wisdom of Atlantis, which defiled itself. Philosophers talked about the divine rulers of this island, poets sang about the fabulous perfection of its structure. However, some researchers believe that Plato needed dialogues about Atlantis in order to express his thoughts about the ideal structure of the state. The story of Atlantis, as noted by Valery Bryusov, is not something exceptional in the writings of Plato. He also has other descriptions of fantastic countries, dressed 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 knew.

Probably, the Greek Plato thought seriously if he knew what a stir would surround his two writings, in which he mentions Ancient Atlantis. Some consider them almost the main books - the revelations of mankind, others - false fabrications, a kind of ancient Greek yellow press, desperately distorting the facts. His "Dialogues" - "Timaeus" and "Critias" - by today's standards, these are two thin pamphlets, the content of which could easily fit, for example, on the pages of a newspaper. But after Plato mentioned the superstate 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 years. BC e., it was mentioned by other ancient writers. For example, a century earlier, the famous historian Herodotus wrote: “Mount Atlas stands by the salt lake. Narrow and so high that its top all year round shrouded in clouds. From her the name was given to the local inhabitants, who are called Atlanteans. However, skeptics say that these people have nothing to do with Plato's Atlantis. Another ancient Greek philosopher Theopompus, who lived, like Plato, in the 4th century, described a giant island - a state with many cities. Once they sent an army of 10 million people across the ocean in order to conquer Hyperborea. But when the conquerors saw how the Hyperboreans live, they considered them unfortunate and returned home across the ocean. True, Hyperborea is also a mythical state, and Theopompus did not mention the name Atlantis. These are the main literary sources where you can get information about the mythical state. There were other authors, but they all worked much later and we can assume that they used the works of the ancient Greek trinity. Valery Bryusov at work teacher teachers defends the authenticity of Plato's account of Atlantis. In his opinion, if we assume that the description of Plato is a 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, the voyage of Columbus 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 for 10 thousand years from the moment of the catastrophe at the bottom of the sea, there would be little left of it. If the Atlanteans used iron, then there are no traces of it in sea water long gone. Salt water is too aggressive an 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. Smaller items can not be found at the bottom. Another question: what did the natives of Atlantis build their houses from? If from granite, basalt and shell rock - 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 of baked clay bricks. Only buildings made of marble could survive.

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

History of Atlantis: myths, conjectures, riddles and real facts

More than one generation of researchers has been arguing about the existence of Atlantis, a mighty ancient state that once and for all disappeared from the face of the Earth. Interest in this topic arose after the works of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato saw the light. It was Plato who first wrote about Atlantis, described the ancient civilization, the strength and power of the Atlanteans. Was it a deliberately and skillfully created myth, or are we dealing with a description of real facts ancient history human civilization remains a mystery. Neither before nor after it was possible to obtain and find evidence of the existence of the Atlantean state. The secrets of Atlantis remain unsolved until now, forcing historians to put forward new hypotheses, and researchers to look for the place of the disappeared island-state on the planet's map.

The civilization of Atlantis is a source of controversy

Today about the disappeared mighty civilization ancient world a huge number of works have been written, ranging from poetic essays and literary descriptions to serious scientific treatises. In each individual case, you have to deal with a huge set of assumptions and hypotheses that the ancient world looked different than today's map of the world looks like. Another new hypothesis gives rise to a new myth, which instantly acquires new details, assumptions and details. Another thing is the complete absence of facts capable of answering the question: did Atlantis exist in reality or not. This meager research material remains the lot of science fiction writers and atlantologists. Skeptics believe that the history of Atlantis is an artificially created phenomenon in modern historical science.

It is necessary to consider the problem of Atlantis in two aspects: from the point of view of the historical epic, and using scientific approach. In the first case, one has to deal with the evidence base and materials, the existence of which is never disputed by anyone. The palm in this area belongs to the works of Plato. The ancient Greek philosopher mentioned the mighty state of antiquity in the dialogues Critias and Timaeus, which were compiled on the basis of the diaries of another prominent ancient Greek philosopher Solon, who was Plato's great-grandfather. With the light hand of Plato, the name of the ancient state appeared, and its inhabitants began to be called Atlanteans.

In his notes and books, the ancient philosopher relied on a legend according to which the ancient Greeks fought against the state of the Atlanteans. The confrontation ended with a grandiose cataclysm that led to the death of Atlantis. According to the ancients, it was this catastrophe that led to the fact that the city-island of Atlantis disappeared forever from the face of the planet. What catastrophe on a planetary scale has led to such consequences is still not known and has not been proven. Another question is that in scientific community on this moment there is a point of view that 12 thousand years BC. the world really befell major disaster that changed the geography of the planet.

Plato's dialogue "Timaeus" quite accurately indicates the location of the country of the Atlantes, is full of descriptions of the details of the culture and life of the Atlanteans. Thanks to the efforts of the ancient Greek philosopher, the lost civilization is being persistently searched for in the Atlantic Ocean. Just one phrase "opposite the Pillars of Hercules", recorded by Plato, indicates the location of the legendary country. More accurate data on the location of the mysterious ancient state are not available, so many researchers on this topic believe that Atlantis could be located in any other part of the ancient world.

The inconsistency of many of the facts set forth in the works of Plato raised a number of questions for subsequent generations. The main secrets of Atlantis are as follows:

whether there is a high probability of the existence of an island of such a large size, traces of which are almost completely absent today;
what catastrophe that occurred in antiquity could lead to the instant death of a large state;
could there have existed in such ancient times a civilization with such a high level of development, which is attributed to the Atlanteans by ancient and modern researchers;
why today there are no real traces from the past, indicating the existence of Atlantis;
whether we are descendants of a highly developed culture of the Atlanteans.

How did the contemporaries of the ancient Greeks see Atlantis

Studying Plato's works, one can briefly summarize the information that has come down to us. We are dealing with the history of the existence and mystical disappearance of a large archipelago or a large island, which was located in the west of the then ancient world. The central city of the superpower was Atlantis, which owes its name to the first king of the state, Atlantis. Island location explains state structure empire. Probably Atlantis, like many cities of ancient Greece, was a union of island rulers united under imperial rule. Perhaps there was a different state system in Atlantis, but Plato's dialogues give the names of kings, after whom other islands of the empire are named. Hence, ancient civilization took the form of a union or confederation.

Another question is detailed description Plato of the life arrangement of a mysterious power. All the main buildings and structures of the state are located on the central island. The acropolis, royal palace and temples are protected by several rows of earthen ramparts and a system of water channels. The inner regions of the island are connected to the sea by a huge shipping channel, so we can safely say that the power of Atlantis was focused on achieving sea power. Moreover, according to Plato, the Atlanteans worship Poseidon (the ancient Greek god, the ruler of the seas and oceans - the brother of Zeus). In Plato, the temples of the Atlanteans, their architecture and home improvement shine with luxury and wealth. Reaching the shores of Atlantis, surrounded on all sides by water, and the path to the island lay only by sea, was not an easy task for sailors of that time.

Plato in his narratives is very fond of describing the improvement of the capital of the Atlanteans. The most interesting thing in this aspect is that the descriptions of the ancient Greek philosopher strongly resemble the descriptions of other ancient Greek cities found in other ancient sources. The described infrastructure, weapons, ships, religion and lifestyle of the inhabitants of Atlantis look like the height of human perfection and a model of well-being.

The mystery of Atlantis in Plato's descriptions is present at every turn. Is it not surprising that people live far from the centers of civilization known to the then world, but they have enough high level development, can make long sea voyages, trade with everyone around, eat spices and other crops. The Atlanteans have a powerful army and a numerous fleet capable of confronting the armies of the ancient states of the Mediterranean.

This should be the point. Only Plato was able to describe the life and structure of the legendary state in such a clear and detailed way. To find other sources that would point to such facts was not, is not, and probably will not be. Neither the Sumerians nor the ancient Egyptians say anything about a large state in the Western Hemisphere. The ancient ruins of the Indian civilizations of North and South America are silent about interaction with the mysterious and powerful state. How many years ago could such a powerful civilization be located in the central Atlantic, about which there is still no real evidence.

Secrets of Atlantis: myths and legends against real facts

Some researchers continue to feed the world with illusions that Atlantis really was. Following the lead of Plato, who pointed out the exact location of the island, researchers in search of Atlantis check the territories in the area Azores, in the Bahamas. This is facilitated by the consonance of the names of the Atlantic Ocean and the legendary island.

According to one version, Atlantis was located in the Azores. Studies of the seamount Ampere, located on the way from Europe to America, and the adjacent areas of the Atlantic mid-ridge did not give any results. The geological and morphological structure of the seabed does not give grounds to believe that a large geological formation existed in this area of the earth's crust in ancient times. Even the gigantic cataclysm that wiped out such large island or archipelago, would have left behind undeniable evidence. If the island sank as a result of a successive chain of earthquakes and floods, then its remains could be found today.

Modern scientists do not have data on a major geological and tectonic catastrophe that befell the earth in antiquity. The biblical data about the global flood that befell the Earth and mankind take us to a completely different era. All information, events and facts that speak in favor of the existence of Atlantis in this part of the globe do not stand up to criticism, if you rely on the theory proposed by Plato.

Supporters of another hypothesis, the Mediterranean one, have stronger evidence in their favor. However, there are also a number of points that cause controversy. What were the real boundaries of such a powerful union, and where could such a big Island or a small continent. Western border known to people that time of the world, runs along the Pillars of Hercules - now the Strait of Gibraltar, connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic. Why, with such a richness of events and closeness, the ancient world did not have cartographic data on the location of a large state that influences the political and economic structure of the world. On the maps compiled by the ancient Greeks, Phoenicians and Egyptians, which have come down to our times, the known areas are limited to the Mediterranean region, the territories of Southern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

Many atlantologists increasingly agree that a civilization of this size could exist in the Eastern Mediterranean, in the explored sphere of political and economic interests of ancient states. The disappearance of the island and the death of the country of the Atlanteans can be tied to the catastrophic eruption of the Santorin volcano, which erupted around the 17th century BC. This hypothesis takes place, since it is during this period that the heyday of the Cretan state falls. According to this theory, the volcanic eruption not only destroyed half of the island of Thera, but also destroyed the numerous city-states that existed in this region. If we put aside the question of names and the link to Plato's statements about the Pillars of Hercules, such a picture of the ancient world has the right to life.

In this context, the version about the existence in ancient times of a powerful state that competes with the ancient Greek cities-policies coexists perfectly. The facts of the strongest cataclysm of that time were also noted in ancient sources. Today, volcanologists and oceanologists reasonably consider this version of the death of Atlantis to be quite real. Scientists have found evidence that the Minoan civilization really had a huge military power and had a high level of development, allowing it to confront the Greek states.

Sparta and Athens are located 300-400 kilometers north of the islands of Thira and Crete, which are ideal for the location of the Atlantean state. The explosion of the volcano, which destroyed a mighty state in one night, destroyed the balance in the world that existed until that moment. The consequences of such a large-scale catastrophe affected the entire Southern Europe, North Africa and the coast of the Middle East.

Versions in favor of another location of the legendary power today have no basis. Researchers are increasingly linking the existence of Atlantis with Plato's philosophical view of the existing world. This is echoed by other sources in which the land of the Atlanteans is associated with other mythical territories and states that existed in the imagination of the ancient Greeks.

Hyperborea and Atlantis - ancient mythical states

When asked where to look for Atlantis today, the answer may sound prosaic. You have to search everywhere. Relying on ancient sources is possible only in cases where the question is raised about cultural heritage that has come down to our times. In the sense in which we perceive Atlantis today as an imaginary country and highly developed civilization, the ancient Greeks at one time represented Hyperborea. This mythical country, located in the far north, a thousand kilometers from the coast of Ancient Greece, was considered by the Greeks as the habitat of the Hyperboreans, the descendants of the gods. Is this not the Atlantis that Plato wanted to tell the world about when writing his treatises?

Hyperborean lands, according to modern scientists, should have been located on the territory of the current Scandinavian countries: in Iceland or in Greenland. The Greeks directly pointed out that even Apollo himself, the god of the sun, was considered the patron of this people. What are these lands, do they really exist? It was assumed that Hyperborea is a fictional country for the ancient Greeks, where perfect and powerful people live, the gods rest. The country that Apollo regularly visits may be the same Atlantis - the state that the ancient Greeks aspired to in their development.