Critias describes the terrain of Atlantis as generally high, and plunging down sharply to the sea. Only the area around the city was flat. “This plain surrounding the city was itself surrounded by mountains, which descended to the sea.” There is no such landscape in the vicinity of Troy. The temple in the center of Atlantis was said to be 1 stadium long and 3 plethra wide, which is equal to an area of 197 × 98 yards (180m × 90m). There is no structure in the whole of Troy that is anything like this. Excavated Troy is a muddle of rooms of no particular size, certainly not of monumental dimensions, and without any wall that one could possibly call “Cyclopic” in stature. Troy’s walls—from whatever layer—bear no comparison at all to the 20-foot (6 m) thick Cyclopic wall of Mycenae, or the massive domed “treasure house of Atreus.” They are nothing like the phenomenal stone slabs under the temple of Apollo at Delphi, or the megalithic wall of Delos.
And the walls of Troy I are absolutely unworthy of a god such as Poseidon. The legend says that Apollo had a hand in building the wall of Troy. Just compare pictures of the megalithic wall at Delos with the humble excuse of a wall at Troy, and you will see the difference. Delos was also dedicated to Troy, and is part of the geometrical network that stretches across Greece, whereas Troy is not. Wherever these sons of the gods were active—Poseidon in Atlantis or his brother Apollo in Troy—the place which has been called Troy since the days of Heinrich Schliemann shows no sign of their activity.
As I have mentioned several times, Troy lies a few miles away from the entrance to the Dardanelles. At the Dardanelles begins the narrow seaway from the Mediterranean (the Aegean part of it) to the Sea of Marmara, on whose coast lies Istanbul. From there the Bosphorus connects to the Black Sea. This is certainly an important seaway. If Poseidon’s Atlantis had been established there, then Critias or Solon would have known about it. In the Atlantis story, all other important geographical and topographical details are recorded. It is unthinkable that such an important location as this would have meant nothing for Atlantis and would therefore have been omitted from the tale. Yet Critias or Solon know nothing about it being there. Atlantis was neither founded beside a narrow seaway, nor did this once powerful realm rule over such a channel in later times.
Of course, the hinterland of Atlantis must have profited from the wealth of this legendary country. In relation to Troy this hinterland would have consisted of Ezine in the south, Cumcale in the north (right beside the channel to the Dardanelles) or Bayramic in the east. We ought to be able to find any number of relics from antiquity in an extensive circle around Troy/Atlantis. One has to remember that Troy was destroyed in 1207 BC, so the hinterland civilizations of Troy would have existed at that time. According to Homer only, Troy was destroyed in the Trojan War. So where are these splendid places which thrived on the wealth of Atlantis? There is nothing to be found in the hinterland of the “Troy” of today. And anyone who argues that Atlantis was located at the same place as Troy occupied much later on, cannot then link Homer’s Trojan War with the downfall of Atlantis. The further back we go into the past, the less likely the possibility that Troy could have been Atlantis. The excavated layers of the hill of Hissarlik show this clearly.
And one thing more: if Troy was Atlantis, wouldn’t the Argonauts have passed by it? In the Argonautica there are endless geographical details: the land of Colchis, with the mouth of the river Phasis, beside the town of Aia, where the Golden Fleece lay, is supposed to have been situated at the further end of the Black Sea. The Argonauts would therefore have had to sail right through the Dardanelles, for there is no other way to get there, and so would have come into contact with great Atlantis! But the only passage in the Argonautica in which any mention is made of “Atlandides” is definitely about an island and not the coast near Troy. (“In the evening they came ashore on the Atlantides Island. Orpheus begged them not to spurn the solemnities of the island, nor the secrets, the laws, customs, the religious rites and works…”).
The contradictions between the story of Atlantis and that of Troy simply cannot be reconciled. As much as I value other works of Eberhard Zangger, in this instance he is chasing a phantom. In Plato’s Atlantis account, mention is also made of a very special type of metal, that could only be found on Atlantis: “gold-copper ore” or orichalcum, which was “second only to gold” (Critias). Why then is there no mention of this unique alloy in Homer’s descriptions? Or in Pliny? In Strabo? In Herodotus and the other historians? Because it did not exist in ancient Greece, neither in Troy nor elsewhere. Troy was not Atlantis. I know of only one country where such an alloy was found: in Peru, long before the Incas. The Indian cultures of Peru and Ecuador had mastered refined methods for making metal alloys and compounds, which were later forgotten. Their layering techniques were of such perfection that experts today shake their heads in wonder. The finest layers of copper, silver and gold have been discovered which, according to their composition, look like brighter or darker gold. Even acid tests on their surfaces do not reveal the composition of the mixtures. The goldsmiths of these Indian peoples must have known of a very ancient technology, by means of which they could “endow non-precious metals with the appearance of precious ones.”23 How did it go in the Atlantis story? “It was called orichalcum or “gold-copper ore” and next to gold was most prized by this ancient race.”
In Plato’s Atlantis story there is a staggering passage, which has been either overlooked or hardly mentioned by countless researchers. Assuming that Plato was right and this strange Atlantis island was situated in the Atlantic Ocean, then beyond this Atlantis (seen from Europe) would lie another country: America. What does Plato say?
The travellers of those days could pass from this island to other islands, and from there reach the whole continent which lay on the other side of this sea…this realm [Atlantis] held sway over all the islands and many others, and a part of the mainland beyond.
If Plato had invented the whole dialogue, how would he have known about another mainland and continent that lay further west from Atlantis? In addition he clearly distinguishes here between “islands” and “mainland.” So let’s not waste time worrying about whether the Egyptians thought all foreigners came from “islands,” and the theory that the dialogue is simply based on Plato’s wish for an “ideal state.” What we have here, as lawyers might say, are solid facts. But if Plato did not invent the whole thing, and the story came from Egypt, how did the Egyptians know about the American continent? They themselves say how: for more than 10,000 years they had kept careful written records, and in comparison to them the Greeks, who could only remember back to the most recent devastation, were like children. Since Columbus we too know about the continent beyond Atlantis. But Plato could not have known about it.
In the end I am less concerned with joining in the literary speculations about where Atlantis was, than in asking when it was, and how an island kingdom of such power and greatness could simply disappear from the face of the earth. (For those readers who are interested in further theories about Atlantis and where it might have been located, please see the section in the back of this book.)
Chapter 6
Help for Plato
Clever people can pretend to be stupid. The other way ’round is more difficult.
—Kurt Tucholsky, 1890–1935
People have short memories. Most are only interested in today’s news, in sport, and inevitable daily problems, and everything else is pointless. Our computer and television age brought information closer to people, but did not actually change them. They cherish their fixed opinions as they always have done, fall into line behind some ideology, religion, or other, and in particular give hardly a thought to the past, for nothing’s going to change it after all.
The past is definitely passé. Yet we are the product of our past, as humanity is of its history. Whoever knows something about history can draw conclusions from it, perhaps avoid mistakes which others made in the past, and assess the future more clearly. This is true both for the individu
al and for society as a whole. Perhaps our heads are round so that thinking can change track occasionally. That’s not much help if our heads are empty, of course, for those who know nothing tend to believe everything.
When something from the past doesn’t suit us, we disregard it by saying “things were different then.” Young people don’t pay much attention to the old, for they “lived in different times.” We view our present as a point of culmination of all the past, as the zenith of all knowledge and information. Unfortunately this is not really so, at least if we ignore what we can learn from the past. The mass suppression of past events renders us helpless when similar events arise anew.
In Plato’s Dialogues, it is claimed again and again that the human race has passed through several annihilations. Atlantis is only supposed to have been one of these. Most people don’t agree with this theory, particularly in intellectual circles. Atlantis? Devastation? Poppycock! I am of a different opinion, for Plato’s accounts can be proved. Absolutely definitely.
On a September morning in 1985, Monsieur Henri Cosquer, who was working for a diving school in Cassis (east of Marseilles) dove down into the deep water of the Morgiou Gape. He wasn’t looking for anything in particular, apart from a chance to enjoy the beauty of the underwater scene. Beside a small slippage of rocks 115 feet (35m) down, Henri Cosquer noticed a cave mouth and swam carefully inside. He soon realized that the cave led to an ascending underwater tunnel. But he did not feel like going any further. He only had limited time, oxygen for another half hour, and he had neither underwater lights nor cameras with him.
A few weeks later he dived again to the same place. This time he had his friends Marc and Bernard with him, and better equipment than on the first occasion. The men swam carefully through a 130-foot (40m) long corridor and arrived at last at the surface of an underwater lake. Their spotlights illumined an incredible sight: painted on the west wall of this undersea hall they recognized two horses. Bernard turned his spotlight on the roof and found a goat drawn in black charcoal which was covered in a layer of transparent calcite. The men waded out of the water, took off their flippers and tried the air in the underground caverns. It was aromatic and resinous, but fine for breathing. In the adjoining hall, which was even bigger than the first, their lights flitted over a whole painting gallery: bison, penguins, cats, antelopes, a seal, and even some geometric symbols.
Henri Cosquer showed his photos to several archaeologists. They were uninterested, remained skeptical, or even regarded the pictures as forgeries. It was not until six years later, on September 19, 1991, that a research ship of the French navy, the Archdonaute, anchored off Cape Morgiou, and 11 frogmen followed Henri Cosquer into the cave system. Eight experts waited on board the Archeonaute, among them two archaeologists. Special equipment was lowered into the depths to map the underground gallery, and even to bring small samples of the paintings to the surface. These were later tested by the carbon-14 dating method, and shown to be at least 18,440 years old.
What does all this have to do with the Atlantis tradition? It is quite simple: 18,440 years ago the surface of the Mediterranean was 115 feet (35m) lower than it is today. In those days the entrance to the underground caves was on land. The water-level has risen.
Also in the Mediterranean lies Malta, with its prehistoric temples and “cart ruts,” that is, track-like furrows in the limestone. At two places these “ruts” lead straight down into the depths of the Mediterranean. Since the creators of these prehistoric ruts were not intelligent fish nor had divers’ suits made of bronze with wooden air-pumps, the only possible conclusion is the same: the sea-level has risen.
Image 41: On the island of Malta these rail-like tracks run everywhere. Some of them vanish into the depths of the Mediterranean.
Image 42 and 43: Rail-like tracks in Malta.
Does this apply only to the Mediterranean? No, it can be demonstrated all over the world. On the Atlantic coast near the Breton village of Carnac there stand thousands of menhirs (from the Celtic men meaning large, and hir meaning stone), arranged in colonnades, so-called “alignments.” Originally, there must have been more than 15,000 such menhirs. Archaeologists are still scratching their heads about their significance. One of these stone colonnades vanishes into the depths of the Gulf of Morbihan. And off the little island of Er’Lanic lies a great underwater stone circle, which can just be seen at low tide through a diving mask. What conclusion can we draw? The sea-level of the Atlantic has also risen. There are numerous other examples that could be cited.1
Image 44: At Carnac in French Brittany, a stone circle sinks into the Atlantic Ocean.
So the rise in the sea-level of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic cannot be disputed. And what about the Pacific Ocean?
The south coast of the Japanese island Okinawa is a paradise for divers, for there, in the clear blue waters of the Pacific, lie many shipwrecks from World War II. In March 1995, divers came across strange rectangular stone structures in just over 100 feet (32 m) of water, all overgrown with coral. To begin with, the divers were not sure whether these were natural rock or stones cut by human hands. After several Japanese newspapers had reported the underwater discovery, a full-scale treasure hunt began. Many finds turned up immediately. Off the coast of the island of Yonaguni (southwest of Okinawa), but also in the waters around the neighboring islands of Kerama and Aguni, were found broad stairways which led to squares. Cobbled streets, altar-shaped structures, carved monoliths, and even a small tower were located.
The Japanese archaeologist Masaaki Kimura, of the University of the Ryukyu Islands on Okinawa, wrote a much-admired book (unfortunately only obtainable in Japanese) about these phenomenal underwater finds. Our conclusion must once more be the same: the sea-level of the Pacific Ocean has also risen.
Buildings over which the sea has closed can also be found near Bimini (in the Caribbean) or near Ponape (in the Caroline group of islands in the Pacific). But even above the surface something is not quite right with our simplistic textbook models. On the eastern edge of Mexico City rises the pyramid of Cuicuilco, nowadays long since surrounded by the suburbs. It is a rounded cone-shape, and consists of three levels. The apex is flattened, and the whole structure was built from head-size stones. Three sides of the pyramid were once engulfed in the lava and ash of a volcanic eruption. The layer of volcanic material is from 3 to 10 feet (1 to 3m) deep. Now logically the pyramid must have existed before it was covered by lava. Geologists think that the nearby volcano last erupted 7,000 or 8,000 years ago.
That is impossible, object the archaeologists. The cone pyramid of Cuicuilco must have been built between AD 500 and 800. There would be no sense in an earlier dating, because in Mexico 7,000 years ago there was no civilization capable of building such a pyramid. To resolve the dispute between geologists and archaeologists, small holes were drilled into the volcanic layer for 330 yards (300m) alongside the pyramid, and samples taken. All the samples contained charcoal and could therefore easily be dated using carbon-14 dating. This was carried out in 1957 and 1962 by the Radio-Carbon Laboratory of California University (UCLA) in Los Angeles.2 The 19 samples gave astonishingly varied results, varying between AD 414 and 4765 BC. So everyone was free to endorse the date that fit in with his own theory.
But mistakes were made when the samples were taken. Commissioned by the Mexican Direccion de Antropologia, the American archaeologist Dr. Byron Cummings had, in 1920, excavated parts of the pyramid deep into the ground. In doing so, he had opened three layers of volcanic material, and between each layer the remains of a different civilization had been clearly revealed. The three layers of lava and volcanic ash proved to be sterile, but in between—as though in a sandwich—bones, remains, and broken pieces of ceramic appeared. And there was evidence that the pyramid wall went down to the deepest layer. Dr. Cummings thought that the pyramid had first been built and then engulfed by the volcanic eruption; then another civilization had left its traces beside the pyramid until the volcano became active once
more. This drama was repeated three times, and each time the pyramid was affected.3
Cuicuilco is only one example among many which have come to light in recent years, and which have been suppressed by classical archaeology.4. 5 Many of the worthy men and women who belong to the archaeology fraternity don’t even know about the new discoveries and false datings. Yet for the last 50 years at least, a document has been available for public scrutiny which, without any shadow of doubt, gives proof of the existence of an advanced civilization more than 12,000 years ago. This was a civilization that drew maps, very precise ones too, both of the coastline of Antarctica and the islands off it—an Antarctica that was free of ice! The Antarctic continent, of course, has been hidden under a thick armor of ice for as long as human beings can remember. Here is the incredible story.
In 1929 the Topkapi palace in Istanbul was transformed into a museum of ancient artifacts. During the clearance work, a fragment of an old map fell into the hands of Halil Eldem, the director of the Turkish National Museum. The map had been drawn by Piri Reis, an admiral of the Ottoman fleet (see picture 39). Piri Reis had begun it in 1513, but did not hand his completed work to Sultan Selim I until four years later. The map, now known as the Piri Reis map, was painted on gazelle hide in delicate colors. Piri Reis had added handwritten remarks to the left edge of the map. As well as being in charge of the fleet, he was also deeply interested in the maritime sciences of his day. He is also the author of a booklet entitled Bahriye, in which he refers to various aspects of his map and explains how he created it. Towns and castles are marked with red lines, uninhabited regions with black lines, cliffs and rocky areas with black dots, sandy spots with red dots, and hidden reefs with crosses. Piri Reis also explains that he composed this map from 20 different older maps, and even used a map by Christopher Columbus. This would have been possible, for the discoverer of America had come back to Europe in 1500 before his third voyage. In the Mediterranean of those days, there were frequent pirate attacks and conflicts between various neighboring nations. It might well have happened that a Portuguese or Spanish ship fell into the hands of the Turks. Piri Reis says he also used maps which had come from the time of Alexander the Great (died 323 BC), and still others which were based on geometric tables. It was clear that the Turkish admiral was well aware of the uniqueness of his map, for he also wrote, “No one owns a map like this at present!”
Odyssey of the Gods Page 17
