The legend of Atlantis never gets old. The more arguments scientists have, the more new theories arise. There are a lot of people who claimed that it is more than possible that Atlantis existed. Among them, there were very well-known people who thought similar way. Some of them thought that Atlandyda was situated close to Giblartar coast, others that it was in Antarctica. Who has right?
Maybe it may be surprising, but the first person who mentioned Atlantis was the ancient philosopher – Plato. Almost 400 years before the common era, he described it in two duologues: ‘Timajos’ and ‘Kritias’. According to the philosopher, Atlantis was established in 19,000 BC and it was a rich kingdom located on a large island in the Atlantic Sea. Plato claimed that it was a very rich country, strong militarily and technologically advanced. In the legend, the cataclysm hit Atlantis and sank the island under water. This is exactly the same as Plato described it. The philosopher claimed that it was a natural disaster. Anyway, no one believed him, not even his own student – Aristotle.
Nowadays, scientists also believe that Plato invented Atlantis for the purposes of his story. It is very strange that no one else has ever mentioned such a powerful kingdom before. Surely someone else would have also mentioned that, for example because Atlantis could be a military threat or a source of knowledge. However, over the centuries politicians, writers and also some scientists believed in the existence of Atlantis. From century to century, people began to forget about Atlantis. The legend came alive again after the discovery of America. But not for long. After several years of colonization, it was obvious that it was not Atlantis. Besides, the ancient country was supposed to be under water, right?
Well, the next generation of followers of the theory appeared in the 19th century in the USA. In 1882 Ignatius Donelly, the American congressman from Minnesota wrote the book ‘The Antediluvian World’. He wrote that technological progress took place thanks to Plato’s island. The debuting writer was convinced that he was right and sent his text to Charles Darwin. However, Darwin did not share his sentiments…
Recently, Atlantis has returned to favor. Pop-culture has meant that even scientists began to do serious research on the legendary country. In 2004 Atlantis was spotted on satellite images near Cadiz in southern Spain. The German scientist, Rainer Kühne from the University of Wuppertal thinks that the pictures match Plato’s descriptions. Kühne believes that Atlantis was not a mythical land. He created the theory that in fact it was the ancient city of Tartessos, destroyed in the sixth century BC. by Carthaginians. According to him, the inhabitants of Atlantis were the peoples of the sea, which in the thirteenth century BC. they threatened ancient Egypt. The same year, Robert Sarmast and the team of American scientists discovered underwater structures between Cyprus and Syria. Scientists have found that their shape resembles the shape of Atlantis. Using sonar technology, a team of researchers came across a flat surface surrounded by 2 km long hills and a single underwater hill.
Still, these are speculations. Scientists do not exclude that Atlantis existed. The problem is that they also think that it could have been completely different compared to Plato’s description. Atlantis could be an average state without amazing technology and military strength. Perhaps the oral message was a problem: People colored the story, and Plato when he wrote his dialogues also added fantastic elements to make his story more interesting.
