Atlantis Pyramids Floods
Page 8
Explore the old neighborhoods of Atlantis. Zoom in and out while exploring the surrounding areas.
Flowing Well Creek
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S. Causeway
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Oyster Bay
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Diana Shores
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Weedon Island State Preserve
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Caladesi Island State Park
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Westwinds Blvd.
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THE HISTORY OF ATLANTIS
Evidence indicates that Atlantis has a place in history whether conventional university trained scientists recognize it yet or not. Currently, university professors are not willing to risk their careers by seriously considering a myth such as Atlantis; however, the puzzle of Atlantis has attracted some of the world’s brightest intellectual minds.
It started with one of the seven wise men of Greece, Solon, the first great poet of Athens as well as a political leader and traveler who lived from approximately 638 to 559 B.C. According to Plato it was he who learned of the story of Atlantis from an Egyptian priest.
In the latter part of the sixth century BC., he left Athens and traveled to Sais in Egypt, which was the Nile Delta capital of the 26th Dynasty. This is where the temple of Neith was located. Plato recorded all this information along with the rest of the story of Atlantis.
During the ten years Solon spent in Egypt, he learned about Atlantis from the Egyptian high priests. They knew the story by heart and gave Solon a verbal presentation. Later, Solon was allowed to go into the sacred temples where the records were kept so he could record information from the registers. Even though Solon may have recorded the story word for word, he recorded misinformations and errors already in the Egyptian translation. Since the story was probably first translated from the Atlantean language to Egyptian and the first translation probably had errors or misinformation, it is possible something vital from the original may have been lost,
Whether or not we believe the story of Atlantis is true, we must admit that it is common for people to make errors during translation. We should also acknowledge the possibility of additional errors entering the story when undergoing a second translation, and thereby assume that the errors from the first translation will be retained. In other words, there is no doubt that Solon had many opportunities to make mistakes during translation, even though he probably had help from the Egyptian priests.
Solon left Egypt and took the story back to Athens in the form of a manuscript. He planned to make the story into an epic poem, but political problems kept him from finishing working on it. When Solon died, he left the poem with relatives. The manuscript was then handed down from relative to relative until Plato recorded and published the story. Since then, we haven’t heard anything else about what happened to the manuscript.
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THE STORYTELLERS
All the men who took part in the discussions or were mentioned in Plato’s writings, except Timaeus, are known to have lived in ancient Greece. Their lives and the things they did were recorded in other documents from that time period.
Here are the people who took part in the discussion:
Timaeus. Timaeus gives us a brief introduction to Atlantis while describing the war between the ancient Athenians and the Atlantans. The part of the story that Timaeus told has been omitted here, because Critias tells the same story nearly word for word.
Critias. The main character who was involved with Atlantis is Critias. He was an associate of Socrates and was Plato’s relative. Some historians say that Critias was Plato’s great grandfather and some say that he was Plato’s uncle. In any case, he was a close relative and a member of the Thirty Tyrants, a pro-Sparta oligarchy installed in Athens after Athens was defeated in the Peloponnesian War in April 404 B.C.
Critias gives a detailed description of the Lost Continent and its people, as well as a wealth of information about the ancient Athenians. The details he gave about the Athenians are included to provide the full story.
As written by Plato, Critias tells the story to a group of students at Plato’s school, the Academy. However, some historians believe Plato had access to the actual manuscript and used it as the basis for the writings that went into his dialogues Timaeus and Critias. Judging from Plato’s writings, it seems he used only the verbal presentation as his source of information about Atlantis and never got the original manuscript.
Critias (the younger) was said to have learned the story of Atlantis from his grandfather, who was also named Critias (the elder), who in turn heard it from his great-grandfather, Dropides. Dropides learned it from Solon.
As Plato wrote regarding the manuscript:
Critias: My great-grandfather, Dropides, had the original writing, which is still in my possession, and was carefully studied by me when I was a child.
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THE BIOGRAPHIES
The following short biographies, taken from various sources, are included to give the reader an opportunity to get to know the people who have been involved with Atlantis down through the ages. These are only a few of the scholars who have studied and spoken about Atlantis from a positive point of view. You can learn about these scholars online on history sites, or in encyclopedias and other reference materials.
Solon (639-559 B.C.)
Solon, pronounced SOHluhn or SOHlahn, was a famous lawmaker. He was known as one of the seven wise men of Greece. He was born in Athens of a noble family and became known as a poet. His poems played a great part in urging the Athenians to regain the island of Salamis, which had long been in foreign hands. He was given command of the forces sent to take back the island, and he quickly conquered it. Afterward, Solon was elected an archon (chief government official) of Athens and was given the authority to change the lawss.
Plato (427-347 B.C.)
Plato was a philosopher and educator in ancient Greece, and was one of the most important thinkers and writers in the history of Western culture. He was born in Athens to one of the oldest and most distinguished families in the city. His mother, Perictione, was related to Solon, the great Athenian lawmaker. His father, Ariston, died when Plato was a child.
In 387 B.C., Plato founded a school of philosophy and science that was known as The Academy. Some scholars consider The Academy to have been the first university. They investigated subjects as such astronomy, biological sciences, mathematics, and political science. Plato lived in Athens and headed the Academy for most of his life. His most distinguished pupil at the Academy was the Greek philosopher Aristotle.
As a young man, Plato wanted to become a politician. In 404 B.C., a group of wealthy men, including two of Plato’s relatives, Critias and his uncle Charmides, established themselves as dictators in Athens. They invited Plato to join them, however, Plato refused to join because he did not like the group’s cruel and unethical practices. In 403 B.C., the Athenians deposed the dictators and established a democracy. Plato reconsidered entering politics again but he decided not to when his friend, the philosopher Socrates, was brought to trial and sentenced to death in 399 B.C.
Socrates (470-399 B.C.)
Socrates was a Greek philosopher and teacher. He was one of the most original, influential, and controversial figures in ancient Greek philosophy and in the history of Western thought. Before Socrates, Greek philosophy focused on the nature and origin of the universe. Socrates redirected philosophy toward a consideration of moral problems, and how people should best live their lives. He urged his fellow Greeks to consider the moral character of their souls and the search for knowledge of moral ideas like justice as the most important things in life. He is credited with saying, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
Benjamin Jowett (1817-1893)
Jowett was an English scholar and theologian. He was born at Camberwell, in London, and was educated at St. Paul’s School and Balliol College. When Jowett was twel
ve, he was placed on the foundation of St Paul’s School, and at nineteen he obtained an open scholarship to Balliol. He became a fellow, tutor, Regius professor of Greek, Master, and vice chancellor at Balliol College, Oxford.
In connection with the Greek professorship, Jowett undertook a work on Plato which grew into a complete translation of the Dialogues with introductory essays, and project that was published in 1871 after ten years or more of work; he was the first to translate Plato’s story of Atlantis from Greek to English, and his place in literature rests mainly on his essays about Plato.
Jowett had the merit of interpreting ideas, but he sometimes did not pay close attention to details, which resulted in errors in his writings.
Never married, Jowett died on October 1, 1893. His funeral was one of the most impressive ever seen in Oxford. His pallbearers were seven heads of colleges and the provost of Eton, all his former pupils.
Because Jowett discerned the capabilities of his pupils, studied their characters, and sought to remedy their defects by frank and searching criticism, they often became his friends for life. Like another Socrates, he taught them to know themselves, repressing vanity, encouraging the despondent, and attracting everyone with his unobtrusive sympathy. This work gradually made a strong impression, and those who cared for Oxford began to speak of him as “the great tutor.”
As early as 1839, Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, an English churchman and dean of Westminster, had joined with Archibald Campbell Tait, the future Archbishop of Canterbury, in advocating certain university reforms. From 1846 onward, Jowett threw himself into this movement. By 1848, it had become accepted among the younger and more thoughtful fellows, and until it took effect with the commission of 1850, and the act of 1854.
While scholars criticized particular editions (and there were indeed many small errors to be later removed in subsequent editions), it was generally agreed that he had succeeded in making Plato’s work a classic.
Despite all of these accomplishments, Jowett is primarily known for his theories on the history of Atlantis and Shakespearean authorship. He wrote several books, including one on his own theory on earth’s collision with a comet and another on Francis Bacon’s supposed writing of Shakespeare’s plays.
Ignatius Donnelly (1831-1901)
Ignatius Donnelly, born in Philadelphia, was an American politician, reformer, and author. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1852. In 1855, he married Katherine McCaffrey, with whom he had three children. The family moved to Minnesota in 1857. Together with several partners, Donnelly founded a utopian community called Nininger City. However, the crash of 1857 doomed the attempts at a cooperative farm and community, and left Donnelly deeply in debt.
Donnelly was lieutenant governor of Minnesota from 1860-1863 and served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1863 to 1869, as a Republican representing Minnesota. He later quit the party; he was also a state Senator from 1874-1878. As a Congressman, Donnelly advocated extending the powers of the Freedmen’s Bureau to provide education to the freedmen, so they could protect themselves once the bureau was withdrawn. He was also an early supporter of women’s suffrage.
Donnelly wrote part of the Populist Party platform in 1892. This platform called for a federal income tax, government ownership of railroads, an eight-hour work day, and unlimited coinage of silver.
After leaving the state senate in 1878, he returned to the practice of law and writing. In 1882, he published Atlantis: The Antediluvian World, his best known work. It detailed his theories concerning the mythical lost continent of Atlantis. He ran for public office several times during the 1880s, including a losing run for Congress, this time as a Democrat, in 1884. In 1887, he successfully ran for the Minnesota State Legislature as an Independent. During this period, he was also an organizer of the Minnesota Farmers’ Alliance.
R. Cedric Leonard
Belonging to the Oklahoma Anthropological Society enabled Leonard to participate in field archaeology for a number of years. His Sanskrit studies, under Prof. J. N. Mohante of the University of Oklahoma, also allowed him to indulge his interest in ancient Hindu epic literature involving yantras and vimanas (i.e., ancient Indian flying machines described in the Puranas). Seeing Leonard’s interest in the subject, Prof. Mohante brought certain fundamental Sanskrit texts to his attention, sometimes helping with translating particularly difficult texts into English—some of which can be found in the Ancient Aeronautics section of the website.
Bio: www.atlantisquest.com/bio.html
William Smith, West Chester, OH, United States
William M. Smith, born in Indiana in 1942, Graduated from Purdue University in 1966 in Mechanical engineering. He worked in manufacturing for the automotive industry for 39 years, but has spent the last 35 years working in the research and identification of tools used in ancient navigation. He is the finder and owner of the Ohio Rock, as well as an online Yahoo group called THOR (The Hunters of Ohio Rock). He has published several papers relating to technology in navigation, from Europe to America prior to Columbus in Ancient American Magazine and Migration and Diffusion. Smith has also given presentations to many groups devoted to the research of ancient world travel, and currently works in the field of Archaeology at various sites around the United States.
Edward H. Thompson, Worcester, MA, United States
Thompson was initially inspired by the books of John Lloyd Stephens. He devoted much of his career to study of the Maya civilization. In 1879, Popular Science Monthly published “Atlantis Not a Myth”, an article by Thompson in which he argued that the ancient Mayan monuments, which he had never seen except in books, were proof of the lost continent of Atlantis[1]—an opinion which his later research would change.
The article attracted the attention of Stephen Salisbury III, scion of an American railroad baron and a benefactor of the American Antiquarian Society, who persuaded Thompson to move to Yucatán to explore the ruins on his behalf. Senator George Frisbie Hoar of Massachusetts agreed to help subsidize Thompson’s efforts by recommending him for the post of United States consul to Yucatán.
Read more about him online:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Herbert_Thompson
About the References
Normally, websites on the Internet are not ideal sources to cite as references, but with research on subjects such as Atlantis, there are no current academic journals, papers, or positive articles to use as references. Most academic journals and papers about Atlantis simply state that the story was probably made up by Plato for various reasons. The Internet references in this book are used to paint a positive picture of the Americas as the former Kingdom of Atlantis. Therefore, it is up to the researchers and readers to verify the Internet sources themselves for truthfulness, accuracy, and reliability.
The Original Book
Atlantis: Ten Tribes of the Americas was the original book. It was designed to act as a discussion starter for people who are not locked into their beliefs regarding Atlantis and whether the story is true or not. It also presents physical evidence, which speaks for itself. It is up to the readers to study, do more research, and to make up their minds about Atlantis.
About the Author
Dennis Brooks has spent over 20 years researching Atlantis. In 1995 he found that the Florida Plain matched the description Plato gave as the Plain of Atlantis. Since then, he has been looking for other ways to connect Atlantis to the Americas and Egypt. In 2012 he published a book called Atlantis: Ten Tribes of the Americas.
Since then Mr. Brooks has added new discoveries, ancient stories, and new terrain features that help tell the story. He believes that with enough interest in the subject, credibility may return to Atlantis as a topic of research. Atlantology may one day go to college. Brooks has used this book to explain the features of Atlantis in a way that will allow you to explore and reference the information online. That makes this an interactive workbook.
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